Tag Archives: River Phoenix
Forever Idaho
I saw My Own Private Idaho in the theater when it was released back in 1991. I mention this because the seemingly-timeless ‘Idaho simultaneously feels like a movie of its time, and of my time. In the 1990’s Generation X took over the culture: Nirvana, Bill Hicks, Tarantino. Anna Nicole Smith brought back the bombshell, [...]
Private River
25 years ago in 1991, Gus Van Sant released his masterpiece, My Own Private Idaho. The film starred Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix as street hustlers in the Pacific Northwest in a loose re-telling of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV.” Idaho was one of the first flicks I saw at the first art house theater to become [...]
River Phoenix Rises Darkly
Actor and musician River Phoenix died from drug-induced heart failure in 1993. Only 23 years old, Phoenix had delivered intense, emotional performances in movies like Stand By Me, Running on Empty, Dogfight and My Own Private Idaho, and he was working on a film called Dark Blood when he passed away. That film will finally [...]
