# Movies with/about Heroin addiction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2017, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137 "2017-09-12T03:31:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/21 "2017-09-12T15:37:51Z")
[Liquid Sky](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085852/?ref_=nv_sr_1) is about heroin, sort of. I’m actually not quite sure what that movie was about, but I remember being entertained. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/22 "2017-09-12T21:51:17Z")
It’s been a while, but I think “The Rose” (Bette Midler) played an addict singer based on Janis Joplin. Also, a bit off beat: “Tropic Thunder” (Jack Black’s character) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/23 "2017-09-12T22:29:04Z")
> [@Tread](#): > > Less Than Zero Was there any heroin in that movie? I thought it was all cocaine. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/24 "2017-09-12T22:34:14Z")
Got it in two. _Requiem for a Dream_ is the quintessence of heroin addiction. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/25 "2017-09-13T00:05:11Z")
The little-known [Animals](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3297554/) from 2014 fits the bill. It’s good -not great and realistic for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/26 "2017-09-13T01:33:13Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Drugstore Cowboy. Excellent movie. All healthcare professionals should see it. Matt Dillon taught himself to shoot up for the movie, and in fact did so on camera, with normal saline. :eek: My favorite scene? One of the women fakes a seizure in a drugstore, and while the pharmacist is calling an ambulance (the movie is set in 1971, prior to 911), the other addicts run behind the counter and grab a locked box. When they break it open, they find out that it’s full of laxatives. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/27 "2017-09-13T01:43:19Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Drugstore Cowboy. That was the first movie I thought of when I saw the thread title. I remember seeing it back when I was in grade school and stayed up waaaay too late watching B movies on Bravo when USA Up All Night (with Rhonda Sheer or Gilbert Gottfried) wasn’t on. It’s a super underrated movie that far too many people haven’t seen or even heard of. You’d think even 10 or 15 years later it would have started to get more popular as those actors got huge (Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham, Grace Zabriskie had already been around but Twin Peaks came out very soon after) and people went to look at their older works. On top of that, I’m always surprised as other movies that have been mentioned here like Requiem For A Dream and Trainspotting got so popular this one just sort of fell by the wayside. Granted it was less visual than them, but I do still recall it being a very good movie. I really should watch it again, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it. But I’ve probably seen it at least 8 or 9 times over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/28 "2017-09-13T03:47:00Z")
Another Day in Paradise 1998 ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/29 "2017-09-14T05:43:11Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > [Liquid Sky](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085852/?ref_=nv_sr_1) is about heroin, sort of. I’m actually not quite sure what that movie was about, but I remember being entertained. :p:p:p Way back, not long enough ago, a bunch of us would recite essentially the entire dialogue from that film, and then just as stupidly spew it out, basically whenever. I was going to link to a disgusting-for-disgusting-sake shoot-up from “Combat Shock”, ('86) but then I thought, mmm-naaawww, not really. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/30 "2017-09-14T13:13:44Z")
I recommend _Remedy_, a 2005 film. Most of the characters use cocaine but the male lead is a heroin addict, and that addiction is very central to the plot. I don’t know how to classify the film. Noir? Whodunnit? N.Y. lifestyle look? But it is much _ **much** _ better than the 4.5 stars shown at IMDB. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/31 "2017-09-14T19:05:35Z")
_Layer Cake_ has a couple of encounters with heroin addicts but only briefly. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/32 "2017-09-14T23:48:19Z")
[Permanent Midnight](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120788/), based on Jerry Stahl’s autobiography. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/33 "2017-09-15T00:17:58Z")
The cult Australian film (with Michael Hutchence in the lead role) _[Dogs In Space](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogs_in_Space)_ is worth tracking down. ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/34 "2017-09-15T00:57:26Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Drugstore Cowboy. I still won’t put a hat on a bed to this day. Insert 400 word rant about how much I love this movie. Just love the traveling with dope…meeting it at every bus depot. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/35 "2017-09-15T02:52:40Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > [Naked Lunch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Lunch_(film)) – Although the protagonist is shown to be an all-purpose junkie addicted to whatever type of opiate he can get his hands on, including bug spray, it IS about William S. Burroughs, so heroin is definitely in there. Well… _every_ heroin addict is addicted to whatever opiate they can get their hands on. Pharmaceutical opiates are generally regarded as _better_ than heroin (especially the really potent ones like fentanyl), but heroin can just (sometimes) be cheaper/easier to obtain. ---
**Author:** ![Tread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Tread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tread)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137/36 "2017-09-15T21:17:42Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Was there any heroin in that movie? I thought it was all cocaine. You may be correct, the novel had quite a bit of heroin, but the movie might have been strictly cocaine. I probably merged the two. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-about-heroin-addiction/796137.md?page=1)