
Reefer Madness
1936, Drama, 1h 7m
28 Reviews 10,000+ RatingsYou might also like

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Where to watch
Reefer Madness Photos
Movie Info
High-school principal Dr. Alfred Carroll (Josef Forte) relates to an audience of parents that marijuana can have devastating effects on teens. In his story, a drug supplier entices several restless teens, including sister and brother Mary (Dorothy Short) and Jimmy Lane (Warren McCollum) and Mary's boyfriend, Bill (Kenneth Craig), into frequenting a "reefer" house. Gradually, Bill and Jimmy are drawn into smoking dope, which affects their family lives and leads to a terrible crime.
Cast & Crew
Dave O'Brien
Ralph Wiley
Ralph Wiley
Dorothy Short
Mary Lane
Mary Lane
Lillian Miles
Blanche
Blanche
Warren McCollum
Jimmy Lane
Jimmy Lane
Carleton Young
Jack Perry
Jack Perry
Thelma White
Mae Colman
Mae Colman
Critic Reviews for Reefer Madness
Audience Reviews for Reefer Madness
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Nov 29, 2016Some movies are so bad they're actually good, or at least, entertainingly bad. This one is not. It became a cult favorite in the 70's, but unless you're seriously high, it's hard to sit through, and not because it's propaganda, that's part of the fun, but because it's boring. The main message of the film to parents clearly comes through - that your daughters will become promiscuous (gasp) and your sons will become violent if they smoke, and they'll both descend into addiction and insanity. Interestingly enough, marijuana was made illegal the following year. I loved the wild look the pot smoking piano player had, but not much else.Antonius B Super Reviewer
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Mar 07, 2013Dr. Carroll: Yes. I remember. Just a young boy... under the influence of drugs... who killed his entire family with an axe. "Tell your children!" I finally broke down and watched Reefer Madness after being told by countless friends and family that it is a hilarious movie to watch high. Hilarious? No. I mean sure, I chuckled a couple of times at the extreme exaggeration with the subject, but it was not all that funny to me. It was more infuriating to me. The film was pure propaganda which was thrown out as the truth to the masses and this film and likeminded thinking lead to the demonization of marijuana. So basically the plot of this so call movie, is about a group of teenagers who fall under the "addictive" and "dangerous" "drug" called marijuana. Before long they go into fits of uncontrollable laughter as they slowly lose their minds underneath the spell of the all destroying reefer. Then pre-marital sexual activities go on(Oh, my god. Teenagers having sex? Who'd of thought that?), then there's a hit and run while driving high, then there's cheating, lying, and failing. Then ultimately there's murder, and you know what? This could happen in your home. So tell your children. Since the making of Reefer Madness, the public has become aware of what the government already knew. Marijuana isn't a, quote on quote, "dangerous drug." We can look back at this film and see it for what it really is, propaganda. We can also look back and say that anyone who watched this shit and believed it is a complete moron. So it's a propaganda film that is terribly made, acted, and scripted. I see why some get a kick out of watching the extreme exaggerations, but for me it is just sick exploitation and a disgusting piece of propaganda.Melvin W Super Reviewer
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Dec 27, 2010a film of its time, a film depictinmg the use of reefers or marijuana, especially amounst the young, and the evils that it does, how the establishment is dead against its use and wanting parents to take a stand, oviously watching it today, it seems silly, and its oviously dated, but for its time you could imagine the time it was released, and outrage, its oviously a pro stance on banning it, the so called victims commit crimes, and ruin there lives, and the filmmakers certainly bring this to forefront, and also the effects of the reefers, uncontroled fits of laughter coming of both funny and again thinking, at the time this was seen as what it is, a entertaining film from the 30s, that shows the times for what it was, and considering marijuana is banned here, a cutting edge film to a degreescott g Super Reviewer
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Oct 14, 2010Filmmaking isn't just the art form that aspiring directors yearn for, but a means to exclude and brainwash the public. The thirties and forties saw an increase in films with skewed views towards the US government, lack of immoral behavior, and patriotism with our entrance into WWII. Because of the Hays Code, instituted around this time but not fully enforced for several years, many propaganda films were produced, including the infamous Reefer Madness. Nowadays the public has dubbed this as campy comedy, a sad remnant of the paranoia fueled ignorance of the early twentieth century. I was disappointed in viewing this film, as I was expecting some shenanigans and tomfoolery so inconsistent with drug use that it was over the top. The film does have some corny lines and strange scenes, but is very serious in its message of keeping people drug free. Watching the sheer inaccuracy of the subject material, and the supposed research into it just made me increasingly angry, the authority this film held and the lack of objectivity in reviewing the effects of the drug seriously harmed America's education of magician (spelt wrong throughout the film). Not only do characters in this film uncharacteristically laugh in cackles like a maniacal crow, but they murder, lie, commit suicide, and apparently become promiscuous, leading to rape in some cases. There are even links to insanity, deep circles under the reefer user's eyes, a madness on their lips. Neither funny nor medically relevant, this is good for a curious venture but not a serious view.Spencer S Super Reviewer
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