{"id":1457,"date":"2024-07-30T22:24:46","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T22:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1457"},"modified":"2024-10-13T18:38:56","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T22:38:56","slug":"reefer-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/07\/30\/reefer-madness\/","title":{"rendered":"Reefer Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Reefer Madness <\/strong>(1936)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Motion Picture Ventures\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 67 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not Rated (violence, drug abuse and mild sexual content involving teens)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Louis Gasner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Paul Frankin Music: Abe Meyer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jack Greenhalgh\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Release date: N\/A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Dorothy Short, Kenneth Craig, Lillian Miles, Dave O’Brien, Thelma White, Carleton Young, Warren McCollum, Patricia Royale, Joseph Forte, Harry Harvey Jr.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> ****<\/p>\n

If any movie advocates the use of marijuana, Reefer Madness <\/strong>is it! For a movie that’s supposed to discourage drug use by youths, it\u2019s sure to have the opposite effect. It makes smoking pot look like so much fun, they\u2019ll want to spark up a doob right then and there.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although it\u2019s classified as a drama, a warning film for concerned parents to be exact, it plays more like a comedy albeit an unintentional one. What\u2019s so funny about it? A lot, that\u2019s what. For one thing, the filmmakers appear to have no idea what smoking weed is all about. It’s absolutely NOT true that one puff will turn the user into a homicidal maniac. That\u2019s pure fabrication meant to scare viewers away from experimenting with marijuana. It didn\u2019t quite work out that way.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Originally titled Tell Your Children, Reefer Madness<\/strong> is actually aimed at parents who want to know about the latest scourge that was invading the high schools across the country. Financed by a church group, it quickly found fame and notoriety as an exploitation film. It didn\u2019t scare audiences straight, it made them laugh hysterically. It\u2019s clearly the work of an outsider, somebody who knows almost nothing about drug culture except what they read in the newspaper. Without going into too much personal detail, I can tell you that being stoned in real life is nothing like you see here.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The future cult classic is framed as a PTA meeting where the local high school principal (Forte) warns parents of the dangers of marijuana by relating a sordid tale of crime, addiction and murder that happened right there in their town. The central figure is a clean-cut lad named Bill Harper (Craig) who falls prey to the bad influence of Ralph Wiley (O\u2019Brien), a sociopathic addict who funds his habit by luring potential new customers to the apartment of drug dealers Mae Coleman (White) and Jack Perry (Young) along with his siren girlfriend Blanche (Miles). It\u2019s where all the cool kids go to party which entails dancing and smoking funny cigarettes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Bill soon discovers he likes smoking weed more than playing tennis with his sweet girlfriend Mary Lane (Short) whose brother Jimmy (McCollum) also spends an inordinate amount of time at the apartment. His addiction is about to cause him more trouble than he bargained for. On the way back from an errand with Jack, the stoned teen accidentally runs over a pedestrian. He agrees to keep it quiet, but the worst is yet to come in this drama.<\/p>\n

\u00a0After learning Bill has ditched her to hang out at Mae’s, Mary shows up at the apartment where she\u2019s almost immediately accosted by horny Ralph. Bill sees him attacking Mary and attempts to intervene. A fight ensues and Mary ends up getting shot in the back by Jack. Everybody present swears that Bill murdered her. He goes on trial while Jack and Mae try to cover their asses by keeping Ralph and Blanche at their apartment until it\u2019s over. Ralph becomes more and more unraveled until he is completely consumed by reefer madness.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The acting in Reefer Madness<\/strong> is terrible. There’s not one iota of talent among all the players. The actors are forced to read some ludicrous dialogue like when Jack tells a nagging Mae, “Oh, why don’t you button up your lip? You’re always squawkin’ about something. You’ve got more static than a radio.” This is so typical of something that a man would say to woman in a bad 30s movie like this one. Or how about the opening crawl of the movie which states, “The motion picture you are about to witness may startle you. It would not have been possible, otherwise, to sufficiently emphasize the frightful toll of the new drug menace which is destroying the youth of America in alarmingly increasing numbers. Marijuana is that drug- a violent narcotic- an unspeakable scourge-The Real Public Enemy Number One!” Oh please!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Reefer Madness <\/strong>is melodrama at its highest (pun absolutely intended) with the unlikely events that unfold over 67 shocking minutes. My tongue is firmly in my cheek as I write these words. I find it difficult to believe that an all-American boy like Bill Harper would be so quick to descend into a world of drugs and debauchery. I also don\u2019t believe a nice boy like him could be so easily seduced by a slut like Blanche. It must be the wacky weed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Bill may be unbelievably idiotic, but Ralph takes the proverbial cake. He\u2019s a first class loon when he\u2019s high which is always. The scene that best illustrates his mental state is when Blanche plays the piano for him at the apartment. He keeps asking her to play faster. She\u2019s pretty good, but she doesn\u2019t hold a candle to the Kramer look-alike who pounds the keys at the local malt shop. That guy\u2019s a real trip, especially when he sneaks off to the coat room to catch a \u201csmoke\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although it cost about $100,000 to make (a lot of money in 1936), Reefer Madness <\/strong>is low-budget, no-frills filmmaking all the way. Its intentions are clearly altruistic, but they\u2019re undone by the heinous overacting and heavy-handed delivery of its anti-drug message. One of the most memorable scenes is the closing address by Dr. Alfred Carroll (Forte) who concludes with “the next tragedy may be that of your daughter’s…. or your son’s…. or yours…. or yours…. [points at camera] OR YOURS!” This final emphatic declaration only increases the comedic value of the film.\u00a0 It takes away the last shred of credibility it might have had at one time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Reefer Madness<\/strong> is one of the most hilarious unintentional comedies I’ve ever seen. The characters are ridiculous, the acting really bad, and the situations ludicrous. It’s an all-around bad movie, no question or room for debate. Yet I can\u2019t dismiss it as a total failure. This is what cult movies are all about, the idea of a movie made in all seriousness only for it to come out as anything but. This is the main reason I gave it a four-star rating. It’s not an effective message movie, but it’s definitely something that will remain with the viewer longer than most serious anti-drug movies.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reefer Madness (1936)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Motion Picture Ventures\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 67 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not Rated (violence, drug abuse and mild sexual content involving teens)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Louis Gasner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Paul Frankin Music: Abe Meyer\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jack Greenhalgh\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Release date: N\/A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Dorothy Short, Kenneth Craig, Lillian Miles, Dave O’Brien, Thelma White, Carleton Young, Warren McCollum, Patricia Royale, Joseph Forte, Harry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cool-cult-flicks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Reefer-Madness-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1457"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2021,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions\/2021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}