After the crazy trip that was My Own Private Idaho, I thought I should watch this earlier film by Gus Van Sant. Oddly enough while this does begin as literally a drug-fueled trip, it is actually a much more conventional film than I expected. Perhaps one of the most interesting stylistic choices is the use of slow, moody music as the soundtrack to reflect the main character’s contemplative nature even as he lives a fast, dangerous life.

Bob Hughes is the leader of a small gang of drug addicts who raid pharmacies to feed their addiction. After executing one such heist by having a girl in his group fake a seizure as a distraction, they are visited by police detective Gentry who is familiar with their activities and assumes that they are responsible. They move to another house to escape the heat but the police manage to follow them anyway. Bob again demonstrates his cunning by tricking a neighbor into shooting one of the police officers who are skulking around hoping to find evidence of wrongdoing and is beaten up. Being very superstitious, Bob interprets a request from one of his crew about getting a dog as a bad omen and decides to lay low by leaving town and going “crossroading” in the countryside.

I’m leery of films that are only crazy hallucinogenic drug trips and there is some of that here. But the drug use here seems to mostly put Bob into a chill or even philosophical state which is less obnoxious to me. Mostly this film consists of Bob and his crew getting into all kinds of adventures for the sake of ensuring that they are always well supplied with drugs. The fact that Bob really is quite intelligent and comes up with clever plans makes this entertaining to watch even as he insists on holding to various superstitious beliefs, such as being deathly afraid of seeing a hat on a bed. The other characters are well sketched out too. Bob’s wife Dianne seems assertive but it is eventually obvious that she follows him only due to his seemingly infallible ability to get a hold of drugs. Even Gentry makes for an interesting character as he knows Bob well and while he isn’t above dispensing some rough justice when he deems it fit, he does actually seem to mean well.

Still while this is a solid film there doesn’t seem to be anything special about it that would merit it being considered a classic. Bob’s change of heart makes it fairly conventional even without anything like the stylistic touches of My Own Private Idaho to make it stand out. One thing that is interesting is that while the film is frank about the damage that drug addiction can do to individuals, it maintains that drug use remains a private, personal choice and strongly resents the government demonizing the habit and using it justify intrusive police action. Overall I found this to be a good film but probably not one unique enough to make it truly noteworthy.