Customer Reviews

Reefer Madness

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This restored edition is not only digitally restored, it's in one of a kind color. Never have I seen this movie looking so good. You don't have to among the 'smoking' crowd to appreciate it and with Mike Nelson's commentary, it's hilarious. That's right the guy from Mystery Science Theatre 3000 does a voice over that makes this "bad" movie - Great.

After hearing about this movie for years I finally picked it up, and its better than I ever expected. This one dude smokes a reefer and appears to drive around the block 2 times then hits this old man and then he drives away. oh, yeah, this other guy named Ralph really loves his reefers, he smokes a few hits, then laughs, then he falls in love with Mary, he tries to win her heart by ripping her clothes off and groping her. It doesnt really work out for Ralph, because his fanciful advances cause Mary to get capped, and then Jimmy gets blammed for it because he's a total dork. In the end everything works out, because this stupid girl spills the beans to judge turtlehead, and Jimmy gets aquitted then the stupid girl jumps out of the window. all in all I loved this movie, it really opened my eyes to the evils of the demon weed. thanks for saving me from a life of crime and dispair Reefer Madness!

To address xerxes59's question about the urban legend:

I never heard any evidence about Dupont funding Reefer Madness, but they would have a motive.

Dupont was facing enormous loses because their inventions rayon and nylon could not compete with natural hemp (in quality, cost effectiveness, not to mention environmental friendliness). Andrew Mellon, US Treasury Secretary and chairman of Mellon Bank, one of the major financers of Dupont, did appoint Harry Angslinger (who was also married to his niece) as Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. As seen in Ron Mann's documentary "Grass", Angslinger was an extremist zealot who managed to criminalize marijuana and create ridiculous sentences for smoking pot. One of Angslinger's methods was to demonize pot with completely false evidence throughout the various media (newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, whose financial interests in paper mills was also being hurt by hemp, was a great ally). Of course this is a tenuous connection between Dupont and Reefer Madness, but Dupont clearly had a direct financial interest in demonizing reefer, just like the movie attempts to do.

Bill and Mary were just two typical all-american 25 year old highschool students, playing tennis, drinking hot cocoa, and reciting Shakespeare. Then, Bill got mixed up with the "wrong crowd". He ended up at their house of evil, where He took a "hit" from a marijuana cigarette and "freaked out". Bill joined in with "satan's children" as they danced uncontrollably, played piano jazz, and had wanton abandon sessions! Meanwhile, Mary's brother borrowed her car, took a puff from a "hemp-joint" and drove uncontrollably, running over a pedestrian, laughing mercilessly. Ultimately, poor Mary ended up at the "drug den" herself, being introduced to the "killer weed" by Ralph, a crazed "pot fiend" given to uncontrollable fits of hysterical laughter. Ralph took advantage of Mary, causing Bill (who was having a wanton abandon session with a female "pot-head" in another room) to lose control and attack Ralph. Suddenly, the swinging "dope pad" was turned into a murder house, as the co-owner of the hangout drew a gun. Bill fought him and Mary was inadvertantly shot dead! Bill was framed for Mary's homicide and Ralph was committed to an insane asylum. And, remember the wicked girl Bill was having wanton abandon with? Well, she was called upon to testify in court, and wound up diving out a window! Let us learn the lessons here! Remember, smoke only good wholesome tobacco, or drink harmless, invigorating alcohol; and leave the "reefer" to the ne'er-do-wells and hepcats of the world...

If anything, this movie demonstrates that the ï¿War on Drugsï¿ goes way back before Nancy Reaganï¿s ï¿Just Say Noï¿ campaign. Watch 1930ï¿s era police and federal agents make drug busts and incinerate thousands of dollars worth of drugs. But we all know that for every pound of weed seized by the U.S. Government, a thousand pounds is enjoyed by decent law abiding pot heads. Nothing has changed in seventy years.

The movie starts out with a scrolling written warning of the perils of the ï¿demon-weedï¿. It could happen to you, youï¿.or YOU! Then a preachy, holier than thou high school principle is addressing parents of the student body. He begins to tell a story that happened ï¿right here in our neighborhoodï¿.

Our story unfolds and lo and behold, decent, clean-cut, American youth succumb to the evils of Mariuhana. Watch a decent youth smoke a joint in his car, then run down an old man in the street. He doesnï¿t even slow down after he clobbers the guy. Remember, this is the 30ï¿s cars weigh half a ton and are made of steel. And watch the crazed piano player at the soda stand takes a ï¿smoke breakï¿. He looks like an insane derelict as he smokes a joint in the closet.

Anyway, May and her drug-dealer boyfriend lure young kids into their house and offer ï¿cigarettesï¿ to get them high and hooked. Of course the evil drug causes insanity, jealousy, rage, horniness, and nervousness. A girl gets shot, the drug dealer gets beaten to death, and his girlfriend launches herself out a window after she confesses.

Of course everybodyï¿s favorite is the dude who needs to go to the loony bin for the criminally insane. He is so enslaved to demon weed that he no longer has a brain of his own.

This film is hilarious. How sad it is to think how much money and effort has gone into the losing battle of fighting drugs.

To set the proper mood for writing some old jazz will do the trick. I am speaking of Jethro Tull when they first began and an album of theirs called 'This Was'. Now playing: "My Sunday Feeling"...

As the norm for the era that was represented and time this was filmed, every one is clean cut, including the dealers and pushers. The kids being led astray are innocent to the pushers' intentions who offer joints as cigarettes. They get immediately hooked, laugh a lot and want to have sex. Drugs aren't really necessary for this. Anyway, as the storyline goes...

Innocent youth is invited to parties non-suspect that they are being offered joints instead of cigarettes to smoke. As the wildness carries on a youth gets killed and his best friend is set up by the dealer as the perpetrator. The scene changes to the courts where jury-moms are more than willing to make an example of the young man for all youth to take note, who becomes suitable to be hung by the neck until dead. The girlfriend of the dealer has a fit of conscience to the chagrin of her boyfriend and confesses all to the police. Thanks to her confession, a gross miscarriage of justice is prevented and all the bad guys get arrested in the end.

Appropriately in black and white, besides being the way films were made then, this film is an hilarious documentary depicting the sanctimonious, narrow mindedness of the establishment, law courts and parents, as the parents of the victim youths are as trapped as the youths are by the judgement of society. Originally made in 1936, the film is very 50's in flavor and may well be giving a futuristic conception of society, similar to HG Wells' Time Machine. The wild piano playing throughout, that might accompany a silent film now moves with more modern times and the talkie.

In any case, its a 'B' rated cult classic, and if your a collector, this film is for you. Show it at your next rave.

This Tull is real smooth...

Now, this is a really awful movie, but good for some kicks. The reason I rate this movie so high is because it shows how the war on cannabis was fought -- which is wonderful if you are a progressive and looking for change. It seems obvious to a lot of us that this movie is full of nothing but lies -- but have some conversations with children and adults and you will find that the lies put forth by this film are still accepted as the truth by many. Cannabis is not addictive, and is the least dangerous thing you can put in your body. You can not OD and violence takes too much effort when you're high.

The story of the boy who kills his family with an ax was a story being ran by news papers owned by a perticular paper manufacturer who feared new methods of paper making from hemp (making their trees and machines worthless). It never happened. It was a very important story for the prohibition and introduced Harry Ainslinger's main method for the ban; Mixing racist feelings towards blacks and mexicans, destroying the feeling of security people had in their home with their family, with a word Americans had never heard before - Marijuana. Previous to the outlawing of Cannabis, no one had heard the word marijuana. Cannabis was such an important medical drug that no one would have agreed to outlaw it had they known what it was. The doctors who approved the ban had never heard this new word, and believed Marijuana was the dangerous drug Ainslinger told them it was. After it was illegal and the doctors found out it was actually Cannabis, they tried hard to have the act reversed (until being squashed by America's... Joseph MacArthy.

This is part of the still running war on American people (on behalf of corporations who still fear the wonder plant). It's important that people see where the hilarious lies, that keep so many Americans in prison, came from.

Industries that fear Cannabis:
Alcohol (do an internet search on Beer and Marijuana and you'll find some wonderful modern Cannabis Propaganda. Beer companies fear Cannabis the most because it provides a non-addictive alternative to their product. Busch spends more money on the "drug war" than any other private org.)
Cotton
Paper
Oil
Some say Tobacco, but I don't see how the two are connected in any way. Tobacco allows it's addicts to be normal as long as they have the nic in their system, while pot gets you high but doesn't fill the nic craving.

In the 70s, NORML spread the myth that the government sponsored Reefer Madness. The truth, however, is that the film was made to play the Exploitation circuit... and was made with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Thelma White (Mae) has said that the cast was specifically asked to "hoke it up." And the scene in which Ralph demands that the piano be played "Faster... Faster!" comes straight out of 42nd Street--a film in which actor Dave O'Brien (yes, Ralph himself) had played a chorus boy.

So, if the makers of this film weren't serious about their message, why did they make the movie? Well, why did anybody make an Exploitation film in the 30s? To show more skin than the Hays Code allowed, of course, and to capitalize on public fears. Simply put: they wanted to make money. And make money they did.

Unlike most Exploitation fare, Reefer Madness was shot over a period of three weeks, on a relatively large budget (by sub-Poverty Row standards). Using an experienced director and a couple of actors who would go on to do respectable work in Hollywood, this production is the creme-de-la-creme of 30's Exploitation cinema.

Reefer Madness is every bit as hyperbolic as it was intended to be. Just watch it knowing that its makers are laughing at you, and you'll realize that this film is perhaps one of the greatest jokes ever played on an audience in the history of cinema. It's certainly one of the most entertaining.

i laughed out loud once, when that kid ran over that guy. the rest of this movie was boring and annoying. it was also kinda weird because it reminded me of the to kill a mocking bird movie, don't know why. i would have to recommend that you pick youself up a copy of the 'Grass' documentary, for more entertianment value than the refer maddness could give you.

You mean they used to think pot was bad!!! Wow! Actually I saw this film and it was boring. It wasn't suprising, it had no point. It probably wasnt even that great back in '38. This movie is for children who just learned how to roll one and now they want to be cool. This movie SUCKS!!!