My Own Private Idaho

1991 • 103 minutes

About this movie

"I always know where I am by the way the road looks..." Keanu Reeves ("The Matrix" trilogy, "The Day the Earth Stood Still") and Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominee River Phoenix ("Running on Empty," "Stand by Me") star in Academy Award-nominated director Gus Van Sant's ("Milk," "Good Will Hunting") seminal meditation on the nature of innocence as two young men living on the fringes of society peddle their bodies for sex. Amiable, none-too-bright street hustler Mike Waters works the streets of the Pacific Northwest with his best friend Scott Favor. Mike secretly loves Scott, and Scott, the son of Portland's wealthy mayor, secretly yearns to cast off the friendship of his fellow lowlifes and assume his birthright of wealth, power and respectability. Based on William Shakespeare's play, "Henry IV, Part I."