Drugstore Cowboy
Some of the recovery films I’ve reviewed, such as Clean and Sober and 28 Days, are pro-single movies. In them, romance seems to keep the addict in the misery of using. But, by the end, they’re both single, and there’s hope they’ll get and stay clean and sober.
Drugstore Cowboy is not such a film, but it’s pro-single just the same. And way darker than the other two films. Released in 1989, it stars Matt Dillon as Bob, leader of a band of junkies (consisting of two couples, consisting of his wife Diane, his friend Rick, and Rick’s girlfriend, Natalie) that chase their high by robbing pharmacies throughout the Pacific Northwest. The young innocent of the group, Natalie, fakes a seizure and distracts the pharmacist while the rest of them grab random pills that they’ll sell, or more likely, indulge in.
One night, after Natalie dies of an overdose, Bob has what 12-step programs refer to as a “spiritual awakening” and decides to check into rehab. In doing so, he has to leave his wife, Diane, behind. We see him enter a methadone program, rent an apartment, and obtain a steady job operating a drill press. He might enter another romantic relationship someday, for now, he’s living a good single, sober life.
But then Diane comes back. She’s now “Rick’s old lady,” and they’re still robbing pharmacies. Diane leaves him a bag of drugs, which he promptly gives to a neighbor, a drug-addicted former priest. From there, he’s confronted by an old using acquaintance, David, who wants to rob him of what he thinks is drugs. In a haze, he shoots Bob, who ends the movie in an ambulance on the way to a hospital. Sadly, his voiceover claims that he’s on his way to “the fattest pharmacy in town.” So much for clean, single living.
That said, the movie pities him and his condition. In his last interaction with Diane, he kisses her and asks her to come back, but they’re just not running in the same direction. One might infer whether that interaction is what might ultimately lead him back to using. Had he remained single, he might be on the way to a better life.
Sadly, this is the way it often goes with addicts with codependency issues.
Drugstore Cowboy is not such a film, but it’s pro-single just the same. And way darker than the other two films. Released in 1989, it stars Matt Dillon as Bob, leader of a band of junkies (consisting of two couples, consisting of his wife Diane, his friend Rick, and Rick’s girlfriend, Natalie) that chase their high by robbing pharmacies throughout the Pacific Northwest. The young innocent of the group, Natalie, fakes a seizure and distracts the pharmacist while the rest of them grab random pills that they’ll sell, or more likely, indulge in.
One night, after Natalie dies of an overdose, Bob has what 12-step programs refer to as a “spiritual awakening” and decides to check into rehab. In doing so, he has to leave his wife, Diane, behind. We see him enter a methadone program, rent an apartment, and obtain a steady job operating a drill press. He might enter another romantic relationship someday, for now, he’s living a good single, sober life.
But then Diane comes back. She’s now “Rick’s old lady,” and they’re still robbing pharmacies. Diane leaves him a bag of drugs, which he promptly gives to a neighbor, a drug-addicted former priest. From there, he’s confronted by an old using acquaintance, David, who wants to rob him of what he thinks is drugs. In a haze, he shoots Bob, who ends the movie in an ambulance on the way to a hospital. Sadly, his voiceover claims that he’s on his way to “the fattest pharmacy in town.” So much for clean, single living.
That said, the movie pities him and his condition. In his last interaction with Diane, he kisses her and asks her to come back, but they’re just not running in the same direction. One might infer whether that interaction is what might ultimately lead him back to using. Had he remained single, he might be on the way to a better life.
Sadly, this is the way it often goes with addicts with codependency issues.
