Movie
Reefer Madness (1936)
This unabashed propaganda film (also known by the title Tell Your Children, a dead giveaway) has become a cult classic
of comically bad cinema due to its dated, alarmist views on the dangers of "marijuana addiction" and the exaggerated
symptoms thereof. After the onscreen prologue that declares "Something must be done to wipe out this ghastly menace,"
Reefer Madness launches into a case study of clean-cut WASP couple Bill (Kenneth Craig) and Mary (Dorothy Short), high
schoolers who play tennis and drink tea on the back porch. Their friend Jimmy (Warren McCollum) introduces them to a pot
dealer named Jack (Carleton Young), who invites Bill up to his den of inequity, where stoned ne'er-do-wells laugh
fiendishly, dance, and play the piano. After one joint, Bill is hooked, and his life begins to plummet down the tubes -
he starts flunking school and becomes a promiscuous regular in Jack's apartment. When a worried Mary tracks Bill down,
she too is given a joint and begins giggling uncontrollably while being aggressively fondled by the bizarre addict Ralph
(Dave "Tex" O'Brien). When Bill bursts out of the bedroom to tangle with Ralph, hallucinating and blacking out, Mary is
accidentally shot. This prompts a string of guilt and calamitous occurrences, including several more deaths and
courtroom sentences to mental institutions, all because of the devil weed. The film ends with the ominous warning, "The
dread marijuana may be reaching forth next for your son or daughter...or yours ...or YOURS! " Derek Armstrong, Rovi.
69 minutes, region 0, NTSC.
Price
Genre
Format
DVD - 1 disk
Release
01-01-1970
Label
Item-nr
1233165
EAN
0760137892496
Availability
Not in stock