Texas good ol’ boy Ron Woodroof was a player — drugs, alcohol, women, gambling. As Dallas Buyers Club starts, he’s at a rodeo, snorting cocaine, with a fistful of bets, when he gets it on with two prostitutes. Not a “healthy” lifestyle — one that’s left him gaunt, weak, coughing.
With the advantage of hindsight, what’s ailing him seems obvious now. Back in 1986, it didn’t, until doctors did a blood test and told him he had 30 days to live.
Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) won’t accept that. He offers to pay cash for experimental drugs, but until the Food and Drug Administration approves a drug therapy, you can’t just buy it — in this country.
So Ron heads south of the border, where he discovers other things the FDA hasn’t approved — proteins, vitamins. Realizing folks in the U.S. are desperate, the hustler in him starts hustling. He fills the trunk of his car with pills to bring back, again and again — far too many for his own use, which is something the border agents start to notice.
Turns out importing drugs for sale is a federal offense. But early AIDS activists came up with a workaround: a club. Pay a monthly membership fee and get “free” drugs. Woodroof’s club soon has people lining up, which alarms the medical establishment, including a doctor (Jennifer Garner) who’d caught his eye when he was diagnosed.
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