Gus Van Sant

Gus Van Sant

GusVan Sant
1)began his career as an independent filmmaker and was instrumental in bringing
    queer cinema to the mainstream with My Own Private Idaho (1991).
2) Following his debut Mala Noche (1985),
3)Van Sant made Drugstore Cowboy (1989) about four drug addicts who rob pharmacies.
4)Drugstore Cowboy, like many of Van Sant’s films, deal with young people living
   on the fringes of society.

Annabelle Boyd
Provides an overview of Drugstore Cowboy in a piece for MIT from 1989:

"Gus Van Sant's Drugstore Cowboy brings the world of drug addicts to the screen with an intensity and honesty not seen since Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy. The gritty scenes and often sharp dialogue portray dope fiends as society's ultimate rebels: People who have chosen against everything society stands for -- jobs, order, and security, but who still cannot overcome the fundamental human contradiction between what is desired and what is possible.

Set in Portland, Oregon, in 1971, Cowboy follows the adventures of two couples who meet the demands of their drug habits by knocking-off drug stores and hospitals. Bob Hughes (Matt Dillon) is the crew's leader and the film's narrator. Bob's voice-overs are arrogant and defiant, and invariably contradicted by the squalor and craziness in which he lives. He and his wife, Dianne (Kelly Lynch) have been shooting together since they were in high school, and have elevated drug store rip-offs to a high art. Along for the ride are Rick (James Le Gros) and Nadine (Heather Graham), younger users who work for a lesser share of the take, but who reap the benefits of Bob's expertise.

In developing the relationship among the four addicts, Van Sant creates a parody of the American suburban family. Bob, as head patriarch, practices a volatile brand of family politics which, while delivering dilaudid and morphine, fails to provide a solid emotional unity."

The following clip introduces the drug addicted "family" of Drugstore Cowboy as they rob a pharmacy.

Drugstore Cowboy (Gus Van Sant, 1989):
Clip we saw in class was them robbing a drug store and then getting high

Here's a partial clip Click Here
Here's the other half Click Here

Gus Van Sant on the making of the film Click Here

The First film he made Mala Noche was amazing. 

Tim Streeter in Mala Noche