# My Own Private Idaho

My Own Private Idaho is a cult 1991 road movie set mainly in Portland, Oregon. A character study about a young street hustler's search for home and family, the film incorporates parts of William Shakespeare's Henry IV parts 1 and 2.
    Written and Directed by Gus Van Sant.

## Mike Waters

* I'm a connoisseur of roads. I've been tasting roads my whole life. This road will never end. It probably goes all around the world.
* I always know where I am by the way the road looks. Like, I just know that I've been here before, I just know that I've been stuck here like this one fucking time before, you know that? yeah.
* There's not another road anywhere that looks like this road, I mean exactly like this road. It's one kind of place, one of a kind. Like someone's face. Like a fucked-up face.
* This is a nice home. Do you live here?... I don't blame you.
* This chick's living in a new car ad.

## Scott Favor

* When I left home the maid asked me where I was off to, I said 'Wherever, whatever, have a nice day.'
* When I turn 21, I don't want any more of this life. My mother and father will be surprised at the incredible change. It will impress them more when such a fuck-up like me turns good than if I had been a good son all along. All my bad behavior I'm going to throw away to pay my debt. I will change when everybody expects it the least.
* I never thought I could make it as a real model, you know fashion-orientated modelling, 'cause I'm better at full body poses. It's alright so long as the photographer doesn't come on to you and expect something for nothing. I'm trying to make a living. I like to have a professional attitude. 'Course if the guy wants to pay me, then hell - yeah. Here I am for him. I'll sell my ass, I do it on the street occasionally for cash. Or I'll be on the cover of a book. It's when you start doing things for free that you start to grow wings. Isn't that right, Mike?
* Hey Mike, stay here and when you wake up come back into town and I'll be waiting for you. You'll be safer here in this comfy neighbourhood than in a city. I grew up in a neighborhood like this. With my dad. He has more fucking righteous gall than all the property and people he lords over. And those he also created. like me his son, but I almost get sick thinking that I am a son to him. You know you have to be as good as him to keep up, you have to be able to lift as big a weight, you have to be able to throw that weight as far. Or make as much money. Or be as heartless. To hold your ground. My dad doesn't realize I'm just a kid. He thinks I'm a threat.
* When you wake up, wipe the slugs off your face. Be ready for a new day.
* Why, you wouldn't even look at a clock unless hours were lines of coke, dials looked like the signs of gay bars, or time itself was a fair hustler in black leather. There is no reason to know the time. We are timeless.

## Others

Gary: Dude, if we can't steal from them going into the bar, Dude, we can get them coming out! See, Bob-dude?

## Dialogue

    Scott Favor: It's when you start doing things for free, that you start to grow wings. Isn't that right, Mike.
    Mike Waters: What?
    Scott Favor: Wings, Michael. You grow wings, and become a fairy.
    Daddy Carroll: I am so lucky, i was born on April 4th 1944, that's 4.4.44, if you add that up it comes to 16: 1-6, one plus six is seven: luckiest number of all.
    Mike Waters: You know your math.
    Daddy Carroll: It's more than math, Mike, it's... immaculate perfection!
    Mike Waters: How'd we get home?
    Scott Favor: That German guy. Hans. He brought you downtown, you were passed out. He said he was heading to Portland, so I asked him for a ride.
    Mike Waters: For some reason I'm forgetting a German guy named Hans.
    Scott Favor: Well. You were sleeping.
    Mike Waters: How much do you make off me while I'm sleeping?
    Scott Favor: Just a ride, Mike. I don't make anything. What, you think that I sell your body while you are asleep?
    Mike Waters: Yeah.
    Scott Favor: No, Mike. I'm on your side.
    Mike Waters: If I had a normal family, and a good upbringing, then I would have been a well-adjusted person.
    Scott Favor: [Laughs] Depends on what you call normal.
    Mike Waters: Yeah, it does. Well, you know, normal, like, like a mom and a dad and a dog and shit like that. Normal...normal.
    Scott Favor: So you didn't have a normal dog?
    Mike Waters: No, I didn't have a dog.
    Scott Favor: Didn't have a... a normal dad?
    Mike Waters: Didn't have a dog or a, or a, or a normal dad. anyway, that's alright. I don't feel sorry for myself, I mean, I feel like I'm, I feel like I'm, you know, well-adjusted.
    Scott Favor: [Laughs] What's a normal dad?
    Mike Waters: I don't know. [pauses] I'd like to talk with you. I mean I'd like to, uh, really talk with you. I mean we're talking right now, but, you know. I don't know. I don't feel like I can be... I don't feel like I can be close to you. I mean we're close, you know, right now we're close, but, I mean, you know...
    Scott Favor: How close, I mean...
    Mike Waters: I don't know, whatever.
    Scott Favor: What?
    Mike Waters: [pause] What do I mean to you?
    Scott Favor: What do you mean to me? Mike, you're my best friend.
    Mike Waters: I know, man, I know... I know... I know I'm your friend. We're good friends, and it's good to be, you know, good friends. That's a good thing.
    Scott Favor: So...?
    Mike Waters: So I just...
    [pauses]
    Mike Waters: That's okay. We can be friends.
    Scott Favor: [flustered] I only have sex with a guy for money.
    Mike Waters: Yeah, I know...
    Scott Favor: And two guys can't love each other.
    Mike Waters - Yeah. [pauses] Well, I don't know, I mean, I mean for me, I could love someone even if I, you know, wasn't paid for it. [pauses] I love you, and... you don't pay me.
    Scott Favor: Mike....
    Mike Waters: I really wanna kiss you man.
    [pauses]
    Mike Waters: Well goodnight man.
    [pauses again]
    Mike Waters: I love you, though. [pause] You know that. I do love you.
    Scott Favor: Alright, come here, Mike.
    [Pats the ground]
    Scott Favor: Let's just see. come on, man. I Just wanna see, come on.
    Richard Waters: That guy. He was your real dad, Mike.
    Mike Waters: Don't fuck me in the head anymore man! I know the fucking truth! I know who my fucking real dad is!
    Richard Waters: Who?... Who?
    Mike Waters: Dick, you. Richard, you're my dad. I know that.
    Richard Waters: You know too much.

## Taglines

* Some people take your heart, others take your shoes, and still others take you home.
* It's not where you go, it's how you get there.
* Wherever, whatever, have a nice day.

## Cast

* River Phoenix - Mike Waters
* Keanu Reeves - Scott Favor
* William Richert - Bob Pigeon
* Flea - Bud
* Udo Kier - Hans
* James Russo - Richard Waters
* Grace Zabriskie - Alena
* Rodney Harvey - Gary

## External links

* My Own Private Idaho at Rotten Tomatoes
* Criterion Collection essay by Amy Taubin
* Fan site