Drugstore Cowboy

Author: Gus Van Sant

Genre: Buddy Love. It's basically Bonnie & Clyde on dope made all the more infectious by its use of the Bonnie & Clyde inspired song "Israelites" by Desmond Dekker.

Log Line:  A young adult male junky enjoys a lifestyle of hitting pharmacies and running and hiding. He loves the freedom of not having to be in control, but his paranoid superstitions and the cops are closing in.

Synopsis:

Opening Image: Bob is riding in an ambulance. “I was once a shameless, full time dope fiend.”

Theme Stated: Nadine asks “What about Dianne?” What is Bob going to have to give up if he gets out? He’s in love with this life and with his wife. The movie is about sacrifice. He’s going to give up even more than Dianne. He’s going to give up the secure certainty obtained by reading the labels on the pharmaceutical bottles for the scary uncertainty of the life of an everyday Joe.

Save the Cat: Bob tells an elderly woman walking a dog that he likes her hat. It makes her day. It’s also a setup to both Bob’s fears of dogs and hats and to how an elderly neighbor woman will warn him that the cops are watching his apartment. Later still, an elderly neighbor woman will call for an ambulance and save his life.

Set-Up: Bob introduces himself and his crew. They rob a drugstore. Bob shoots up in the car. They bicker about dividing up the spoils. We see Bob’s life.

Catalyst: Next door drug dealer David tempts Bob with more drugs and more scores to be had.

Debate: Dianne tells Bob he’s got enough for now. She wants him to make love to her. He’s too drug addled to do so. “You won’t fuck me and I always have to drive,” she says. Cops raid their house and leave it in a shambles. They pick up new clothes from Bob’s mom’s house. She tries to talk them out of their lifestyle. “You cannot run and play all your life Dianne,” she says while standing in her doorway watching them leave.

Break into Two: The crew moves into an apartment building on the “West Side.”

B Story: The head cop on the chase is an unspecified friend from Bob’s past. They were school friends, most likely. He has mixed feelings about Bob.

Fun and Games: The crew hangs out watching TV. They discuss Bob’s paranoid fears of dogs, mirrors, and hats on beds. The most humorous dialog is in this section. Bob can’t even quite remember why he fears mirrors. It also contains the literal fun and games (from Bob’s perspective) of his setting up the cops who are holding their apartment under surveillance, getting one of them shot by an angry neighbor.

Midpoint: In retaliation, Bob is beat up by the cops. His cop friend delivers the punches.

Bad Guys Close In: The crew hits the road. They arrange to pick up drugs as they go and ditch them if cops close in. They end up in a motel. They rob another pharmacy. Nadine screws up her task of simply putting the drugs in the truck. She gets on Bob’s bad side and senses she’s about to be kicked out. Nadine stays behind while the other three rob a hospital pharmacy. Bob barely escapes. His head is bloodied.

All Is Lost (whiff of death): Nadine is found dead of an overdose. Bob sees a hat she left on the bed.

Dark Night of the Soul: They are surrounded by a sheriff’s convention at the motel. Bob’s paranoia gets the best of him and he decides to get out of the drug life. Dianne won’t go with him. Bob knew she wouldn’t be able to follow him. Bob buries Nadine and he’s deeply troubled that he can’t clean the dirt from his hands. (Interestingly, Dianne and Nadine are anagrams, emphasized by Van Sant’s uncommon spelling of Dianne.)

Break into Three: Bob travels back home and settles into a cheap apartment. In the bathroom mirror, he checks out the bandage covering his wound. It will soon be healed.

Finale:

Gathering the Team: Bob interviews with a social worker. “What do you want? You want my life’s story? Lady, I’m a junky. I like drugs. I like the whole lifestyle. It just didn’t pay off.”

Executing the Plan: Bob runs into W. Burroughs. Bob’s tempted. He knows for him it’s also just a matter of time. Bob starts a job drilling holes in metal where he once poked holes in his arm. He drinks tea. He sits in a rehab group meeting. His cop friend catches up with him and likes the changes. “For once, I’m not here to hassle you,” he says. W. Burroughs also gets some great dialog lifted, I believe, straight out of “Testimony Concerning a Sickness.”

The High Tower Surprise: Dianne knocks on Bob’s door. “Jesus, what kind of dump is this?” she says of his apartment, and new life. She gives him a bag of drugs. He wants to make love to her, but she’s moved on and is still on drugs.

Dig, Deep Down: Dumped by Dianne and bored by his job, what will Bob do? His concerned cop friend watches him walk by. The bag of drugs is on the table waiting. Bob gives the bag of drugs to W. Burroughs.

The Executing of the New Plan: Bob is going straight, but David breaks into his apartment wanting drugs. David shoots Bob.

Final Image: Bob is riding in the ambulance. Bob says “The irony was fucking brilliant. The chicken shit cops were giving me an escort to the fattest pharmacy in town. I was still alive. Hope they keep me alive.” (Note: It’s no surprise that one of Van Sant’s favorite movies is A Clockwork Orange with the final line, “I was cured all right.”)