Reefer Madness

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Cast & Crew

Dave O'Brien
Ralph Wiley

Dorothy Short
Mary Lane

Lillian Miles
Blanche

Warren McCollum
Jimmy Lane

Carleton Young
Jack Perry

Thelma White
Mae Colman

Kenneth Craig
Bill

Joseph Forte
Dr. Carroll

Louis Gasnier
Director

Paul Franklin
Writer

Arthur Hoerl
Writer

Lawrence Meade
Writer

George A. Hirliman
Producer

Jack Greenhalgh
Cinematography

Carl Pierson
Film Editing

Robert Priestley
Art Director

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Audience Reviews for Reefer Madness

• Nov 29, 2016

  Some 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
• Mar 07, 2013

  Dr. 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
• Dec 27, 2010

  a 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 degree
  scott g Super Reviewer
• Oct 14, 2010

  Filmmaking 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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