My Own Private Idaho [Criterion Collection]

Director: Gus Van Sant Gus Van Sant

Overview

Gus Van Sant's dreamtime riff on Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Parts I and II" features River Phoenix as Mike Waters, a narcoleptic male hustler who is first seen drifting on a stretch of highway in Idaho. Mike shifts from Seattle to Portland, where he has taken up with Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves), who is also a hustler. The difference between them is Mike's sleepy state betrays an uncertain future, while Scott is ready to inherit a fortune from his father within a week. Mike feels a real affection for Scott, but Scott does not believe men can really love each other. Besides, Scott is mostly hustling as a means of slumming and killing time before he inherits his money. Mike, however, delusionally thinks Scott will continue with his life as a drifter after receiving his inheritance. Mike's belief is shared by the dregs of Portland, who live out of an abandoned hotel with their spiritual leader Bob (film director William Richert). They're convinced Scott's fortune will benefit them all, when in reality Scott has other plans.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/16/2022
UPC:	0715515276412
Original Release:	1991
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English
Time:	1:44:00
Sales rank:	12,045

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

River Phoenix	Mike Waters
Keanu Reeves	Scott Favor
James Russo	Richard
William Richert	Bob
Rodney Harvey	Gary
Chiara Caselli	Carmella
Michael Parker	Digger
Jessie Thomas	Denise,Denise
Flea	Budd
Grace Zabriskie	Alena
Tom Troupe	Jack Favor
Udo Kier	Hans
Sally Curtice	Jane Lightwork
Robert Lee Pitchlynn	Walt
Mickey Cottrell	Daddy Carroll
Wade Evans	Wade
Matt Ebert	Coverboy,Coverboy
Scott Patrick Green	Coverboy/Cafe Kid
Tom Cramer	Coverboy
Vana O'Brien	Sharon Waters
Shaun Jordan	Cafe Kid
Shawn Jones	Cafe Kid
George Conner	Bad George
Oliver Kirk	Indian Cop
Stanley Hainesworth	Dirtman
Joshua Halladay	Baby Mike
Douglas Tollenen	Little Richard
Stephen Clark Pachosa	Hotel Manager
Lannie Swerdlow	Disco Manager
Wally Gaarsland	Rock Promoter
Bryan Wilson	Rock Promoter,Rock Promoter
Mark Weaver	Rock Promoter
Conrad 'Bud' Montgomery	Rock Promoter
Pat Patterson	Cop
Steve Vernelson	Cop
Mike Cascadden	Cop
Eric Hull	Mayor's Aide
James A. Arling	Minister
James Caviezel	Airline Clerk
Ana Cavinato	Stewardess
Melanie Mosely	Lounge Hostess
Greg Murphy	Carl
David Reppinhagen	Yuppie at Jake's
Tiger Warren	Himself
Massimo DeCataldo	Italian Street Boy
Pao Pei Andreoli	Italian Street Boy
Robert Egon	Italian Street Boy
Paolo Baiocco	Italian Street Boy
Mario Stracciarolo	Mike's Italian Client
Jesse Merz	Mean Kid (uncredited)

Technical Credits

Gus Van Sant

William Shakespeare

Gus Van Sant	Director,Executive Producer,Screenwriter,Producer
Laurie Parker	Producer
William Shakespeare	Screenwriter
Solomon J. LeFlore	Producer
Allan Mindel	Producer
Tom Arndt	Special Effects
Peter Appleton	Sound Effects
Forrest Brakeman	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Gus Van Sant's third feature further established him as a spokesman not just for alienated gay men but also for disaffected youth in general. A harsh, beautiful, and fervently original portrait of alienation, betrayal, and unrequited love, My Own Private Idaho was one of the defining films of both Van Sant's career and the New Queer Cinema of the 1990s. While Drugstore Cowboy (1989), Van Sant's previous film, had focused on a group of people driven to society's fringes by their drug addiction, Idaho dramatizes a group of people driven to society's fringes by their sexuality. As in Cowboy, Van Sant refrains from grand pronouncements about the lifestyle of the social/sexual outlaw; and his focus on the relationship between River Phoenix's Mike and Keanu Reeves' Scott gives the film emotional resonance. Phoenix in particular is heartbreaking as the lovelorn, narcoleptic Mike, whose campfire-side declaration of love for Scott remains one of the most poignant and honest depictions of male-to-male longing ever captured onscreen. Phoenix's quiet, raw portrayal of the young hustler would be constantly referenced in tributes to the actor following his untimely death in 1993, and the close association seems fitting: with its bleak, dreamy ambience and mournful yet unsentimental story, My Own Private Idaho feels less like a narrative than like an elegy for the romantic aimlessness of youthful alienation.

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