"Reefer Madness"?

Ever heard of this movie? I think it also went under the title 'Tell your Children". I found it looking through the “Cult Classics” section of the video store. I Thought it was an interesting film, if not complete propaganda. But what really interests me is the way they depict drug abuse, they actuslly state in the film that drugs like heroin and cociane are bad, but that Marhuana* is by far the worst drug that one could ever take, “Public enemy number one”. Anyone else out there seen it? Any thoughts?

  • Thats the way it was spelled in the film, “Marhuana”.

Absolutely hilarious!

There’s a new colorized (yech!) version coming out with MST3K’s Mike Nelson doing commentary.

“Faster! Play faster! Faster!”

Heh heh. That’s sort of like saying the Pacific Ocean is “a rather large body of water.”

Yes, the film is 100% hysterical propaganda, without any basis in fact. You found it in the “Cult Classics” section because stoners love to laugh at how bizarre and stupid it is.

Hmmm, I too, could do with out the color, but the commentary sounds interesting.

And yes Ferrous,I aggree, the film was complete propaganda, quite funny propaganda.

I have it on a single DVD along with Sex Madness and Cocaine Fiends. It’s cute. The best part is The Trial: two lawyers, the prosecution and the defense, agree that Ralph the defendant is quite simply beyond hope from smoking too much reefer and should be committed for life. The judge says “yeah, sure. Why not?” and off goes Ralph to the loony bin.

The “fastah! Play fastah!” scene is good for a laugh too. As are the cars that sleep twelve.

“Sex madness”? “cociane fiends”? Theres more of them? Sounds interesting.

I have it on DVD. Every summer, when I teach a graduate alcohol and drug detection and intervention course, I have the students watch it. Each must write down 10 statements from the film that are presented as facts about marijuana. For homework, they must find evidence to confirm or disconfirm these statements, with page citations from the textbook, and correct them if necessary. It’s the greatest teaching video ever.

Propaganda?Probably.The Marijuana tax act was passed in 1937,putting it on equal footing with narcotics.(controlled manufacture/distribution).

But all the excesses pictured in the movie where brought about by 2 things IMO.
1-Most people were never exposed to it(pot) except for the sensationalist headlines of it’s prior prohibition.In Tex or New Mex.it was presented as the “Negro/Mexican” drug that made them commit those crimes that were punishable by lynchings in most precincts.

2-In mostly all 30s movies,with the exception of the dusters,one punch KOs were the order of the day.Down and unconcious for minutes by a cross usually starting at the shoulder with no leverage.Contrast that with today’s barfights lasting minutes with bottles broken over heads and bodies thrown against objects.Neither present reality

One kiss was enough for most women to climax.And that didn’t even have tongue in it.Then think about the 4 hour stints discussed in Tequila Sunrise.Ditto.

Different times-different standards of morals and communication.

Can only imagine what a 30s time traveller would have thought of the SB halftime show.

Marihuana ,BTW is a phonetic spelling of the Spanish pronounciation of Maryjewana.And Mexico was the point of origin of it’s earliest impact in the US (the Southwest),and it’s assorted “evils”

One of the best jokes for a die-hard movie fan is realizing it’s Dave O’Brien as the hopped up drug fiend.

O’Brien starred in a lot of the “Pete Smith Specialties” shorts as an everyman figure, and also played a lot of straight shooting cowboys. Imagine someone like Jimmy Stewart or John Wayne in the part and you get some idea of how bizarre the casting was.

There’s an off-Broadway musical based on the movie which Showtime is bringing to the small screen.

Yes I use to watch it back in those days at the midnight movies. Very funny to see at the time, but the story behind the man who made it is a little sad. I believe his name was Harry Anslinger, and he went on an evangilistic crusade to make all drug possesion a felony. These movies were supposed to show the avreage American how evil drugs were, of course it backfired. Anslinger is responsible for the current drug laws, IMHO. I think that by making drugs illegal it just jacked up the profit to be made selling them, which led to organized crime making huge profits which continues to feed the endless cycle of drug traffic.

I’ve also got this on a DVD with “Cocaine Fiends”. Great fun, and I love how it makes people insane. The shaky hands, wild eyes, shrieking voice…awesome. I also love the sex scene in it. One joint, and a man will envision any woman as his one true love. I never knew the hellucinogenic effects of Marihuana were so powerful! This movie is a lot of fun…everyone should own a copy.

Someone (not me) needs to find the thread that gave the synopsis of this film. Happened a few months ago I figure. Funniest thread ever, Daddy-O!

It’s great viewing if you are really off your face. Pass me the bong man.

Over here, man.

This was always a big hit whenever it was shown on campus when I was in college in the 1970s. The weed was always so thick at the showings that you didn’t even have to bring your own - you could get high anywhere in the theater just by breathing.

Same here, Colibri. Does anyone else find it amusing that a poster named Flower Child is just now discovering this gem? :wink:

Jackaroe, not to make a big deal of it, but where does your information about Anslinger come from? I always had the impression that the whole “cautionary tale” angle was just a pretense to show a lot of racy stuff, not unlike Moll Flanders.

I’ve posted this before, but if you don’t know the story of this movie,. it goes like this.

Jack is a reefer pusher who is keen on getting teenyboppers hooked on dope at Mae’s apartment - which is a juice joint for wayward teens getting a wiggle on to the sounds of a screwy ivory tickler named Hot Fingers Peronie. Mae is a dolled up flour lover who thinks the whole caper is apple sauce, but Jack has something over on her and she plays the game just fine.

Bill and Mary, who were once so swell together, start to fall to pieces because Bill hooked up with Jack and has started smoking the devil weed. Bill decides to spend more time at Mae’s joint while Mary turns into a real wet blanket and goes to play tennis instead of cutting the rug and drinking giggle water at Mae’s.

As it turns out one of Mae’s other regulars, this tomato with a nice pair of stilts named Blanche, seems to have eyes for Bill. This choice bit of calico and Bill do some floorflushing before they blow to the bedroom for a bit of nookie. Of course they think everythings Jake because they’re hopped up on dope.

Meanwhile Ralph, this blonde fella, stays parked in a chair smoking reefer in Mae’s living room laughing like it’s nobodies beeswax.

As it turns out, Mary is still goofy for Bill and decides to gatecrash the lollapalooza at Mae’s because she’s got a beef with him being there round the clock. Plus, she’s bent out of shape because some G-men showed at her pad asking about her breezer, which her brother and Jack used to hit and run an old slob in the street a few days before. She gives the G-men a line and ankles down to Mae’s.

So the dame gets there and Ralph, who thinks of himself as a real cake-eater, makes the moves on her. He breaks up the petting party and tells the other teenagers in the room to scram so he can check out Mary’s bubs. Mary gives him the icy mitt. Ralph decides to light up some reefer and pass it as a everyday ciggy to relax this skirt. Mary smokes some and takes a flight, but the banks still closed for Ralph.

At the same time Bill and Blanche have ended their blanket bugaboo and are coming down from their reefer high. Of course they both feel bugged out for having sex before getting hitched. Bill scrams the bedroom only to find Ralph forcing the moves on his old sheba. A fight begins.

Jack, who was in the kitchen with Mae, hears the ruckus and decides to give Bill what-for with the blunt end of his six shooter. The gun goes off during the hoopla, Jack smacks Bill on the melon and knocks him out cold. We find Mary got rubbed out on the couch from the stray lead.

Jack wipes down the pop gun and puts it in Bills mitts. He tells Blanche and Ralph and the other teens to scram. An old geezer in the lower apartment tips off the coppers and they find the gun with Bills mitts all over it. Bill gets pinched and gets tried for Mary’s murder. He’s found guilty.

Meanwhile, Jack has Blanche and Ralph go on the lam and tells them to dry up about the whole caper. After a few weeks Ralph goes off his nuts from the devil weed and clubs Jack with a fireplace poker. The coppers arrive again and haul everyone away.

Blanche decides to make things copacetic for Bill and gives the Judge an earfull. She’s still not ducky with the whole affair and takes a dive from the court house window.

The Judge suspends the verdict for Bill but makes him sit through Ralph’s trial. We learn Ralph is forever off his nuts from the dope and is sent to spend the rest of his years in a home for the criminally insane.
The End

Yeah, I know. I’ve already posted that. But it took me a while to write out the first time around so why waste it. :slight_smile:

If you watch That '70s Show, they did a parody of it when Hyde was arrested for posession and Red and Kitty are discussing how the kids are smoking dope.

On Oliver Beene tonight, his parents went to a beatnik bar, where they discover they had been breathing in pot smoke. They freak out and have flashbacks to the time they saw the movie, Reefer Madness.

As for That 70s Show, will Kelso have to arrest his friends if and when he becomes a cop? Then, acc ording to Chong in, I think, Up In Smoke, “Cops always have the best dope.”