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Review

Van Sant's gritty and provocative exposé of the down-and-out lives of four drug addicts living in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s is highly original and profoundly honest.

Dillon is perfectly cast as an icy-cool and unrepenting "drug fiend" who plays daddy to a rogue family of three fellow junkies - Lynch as his statuesque wife and LeGros and Graham as his mindless junkie pals. Drawing its power from a surprisingly wry sense of humor and its wholly unapologetic tone, the film follows Dillon and crew as they wantonly romp from town to town and burgle the drugs they need from local apothecaries.

It seems inconceivable that in the Reagan-Bush era of rampant antidrug hysteria a film as brazenly nonjudgmental on this issue could have been made, much less enjoy the tremendous acclaim which this film deservedly received. Burroughs has a terrific cameo as a weathered drug addict.