Rating: 
Summary: Perfect
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: I TRIED TO LIKE IT.
Review: I knew going into this movie that my expectations shouldn't be too high. A film from back in the '30s trying to warn people about the dangers of marijuana isn't exactly what I would call quality entertainment. However, I thought it might be somewhat humorous in some places. Who knows...maybe even a bit educational. Instead, it was really pathetic. It's filled with a lot of phony propaganda and there isn't any real compelling story being told. To make things even worse, the sound on this DVD is awful. I'm sure it isn't the transfer and is probably due to this film's age. You might be glad if you miss some of this dialogue though...it stinks!
Rating: 
Summary: Every Good Host Should Have One
Review: Even in spite of its unintentional humor, REEFER MADNESS is a very badly made film, so don't go plunking yourself down on the sofa with the idea that you're going to have a good laugh watching it from start to finish, because you probably won't: the joke wears thin too quickly. On the other hand, REEFER MADNESS is a great little party film, particularly after every one has had a few drinks (or... whatever) Drop it in the VCR and you'll find that--as long as they aren't expected to actually sit and watch it with full attention--your guests will gravitate toward it and collapse with laughter at its absurdities. Who knew pot could make you play the piano like a fiend and throw yourself out of a windows? paying just enough attention to enjoy the "good parts" while tuning out the rest in favor of conversation. It provides some amusement AND acts as an ice breaker... So when you're breaking out the cocktail and the Cheese Whiz, keep this little movie close at hand just in case the party starts to falter. It goes over big!
Rating: 
Summary: It's the facial expressions
Review: I think the funniest thing about this movie isn't the dialog but the facial expressions the characters use while smoking. Bottom line, if you have the patience to watch a black and white movie and you are high also, this movie is top notch!
Rating:
Summary: nothing funny about it
Review: OK, I can see calling this interesting from a sociological view but to call it "FUNNY"? No way. This is a dull drama that is a cult classic only in that it demonstrates clumsy propaganda. Don't buy this movie, there are plenty of worthwhile movies about drugs. If you want something funny about smoking dope, you are better off with a Cheech and Chong movie.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT movie! Horrible DVD.
Review: Please refer to the other reviews for plot synopses. I just want to comment on the DVD. WHAT a disappointment! Skips all over the place -- most often, it seems, during crucial dialog. Almost as if this movie was deliberately mangled. If you tried showing this flick to someone who had never seen it (the most fun way to watch it), you'd be spending half your time filling in the missing pieces for your bewildered friend. It's not as if the DVD manufacturer couldn't find a good print. I've seen it myself on TV at 100% better quality, with no skips and all dialog intact. SEE the movie! But beware the DVD.
Rating:
Summary: You Know, It Was Legal Then....
Review: After the success, and then the crushing failure of temperence and Prohibition, I guess the Fun-Must-be-Bad-for-You crowd went after something they thought they had a little better chance at banishing-- or at least demonizing, and eventually legally prohibiting. When this film was made, pot was still legal, although it was an, um, hmmmm, exotic pleasure that wasn't familiar to most middle class whites, who were happy with their scotch, thank you. I seriously doubt that Reefer Madness had much to do with the success of the anti-weed campaign, however. In fact, it may have set it back a few years. This movie is so stupid that the first time I saw it, I assumed it was a parody. Anyway, I hope the VHS is good quality; me, I own a 16mm print. Obviously no one who worked on this film has ever been high. Or even drunk. Heck, I doubt anyone who worked on this film has ever spun around in a circle until he felt dizzy. My favorite part is the hardcore addict sucking on his doobie like a dying emphysematic sucking on an oxygen tube, all the time shaking and giggling at a private joke. I won't give away the "plot," such as it is, but the nice middle class kids here are doing things after a couple of tokes that would drive most heroin addicts to the nearest methadone program. By the way, that reefer, if you didn't know it, is a gateway drug to listening to jazz music, and implicitly to association with such low-lifes as dealers, addicts and musicians. (An' mebbe dem culored people as well.) This movie is everything that's wrong with didacticism. But it's so freaking silly, that everything it says is an antithesis. If this film is racist, then racism must be wrong. If the film looks down on jazz, then jazz must be pretty cool. Don't watch this alone, however. You need a friend to keep assuring you that you aren't hallucinating.
Rating:
Summary: A great film, if you don't take it seriously at all.
Review: I can't honestly say that this movie was ever taken seriously or not,(at least I hope it wasn't) but it serves to demonstrate the level of scare tactics that have been used to villify anything that both the government or the moral right wing kooks that purport to be trying to save us all from ourselves will stoop to. According to the first ten minutes of this quasi-documentary, Marijuana is more insidious and addictive than heroin and cocaine. it causes hallucinations and violent behavior, and it eventually ends up driving a person insane with no hope of recovery. And here I always thought smoking pot led to chronic munchies followed with long naps and a decline in wanting to do anything more strenuous than watching "The Wall".
The rest of the movie demonstrates that by showing how these "drug dealers" lure high school kids up to their apartment (no not a club that they can skip out of if the cops move in but to their actual residence) to engage in marijuana induced orgies. Well, before you know it they're running people down and being framed for killing their girlfriends by the mobsters. Poor kid is too wigged out on weed to know that they planted the gun in his hands after shooting the girl. I guess they didn't check for powder burns back then.
There are some hysterical parts like when they show the pianist at a soda shop wigging out on the keyboard with a wild look in his eyes, and later you see him toking up in the back closet, or when the good kid is asked to go to the soda shop by a friend and he adamantly says "I don't drink that stuff!". The only problem with this movie is that it is extremely dated. Try to sit through it at least once with an open mind and you should enjoy it. And try to pity those lost souls to the dread drug marijuana.
Rating: 
Summary: I need rehab after viewing this.
Review: I'm sorry to say I really didn't like this movie. I know this old B&W titilation flick disguised as an expose' is supposed to be campy and funny - it's not. It's grossly acted by a company of hams who weren't aware of the term "moderation." Had the actors been doing this movie tongue-in-cheek, well, maybe then it would have been worth a chuckle or two. But you just know they were playing this thing straight which makes it painful to look at. Watching a person unknowingly making a fool of himself isn't funny to me. Watch this only if you are smoking reefer, or to say you've seen it, or to get your Hacker Card punched. If you must watch it, watch it for free. Don't spend your hard earned money on this relic.
Rating:
Summary: You never see money change hands
Review: This was intended to show the depravity of pot smokers and even worse, the evil pushers making money off these poor naive kids - but you never see any money change hands. What kind of idiot dealers are these people? That is just one of the glaring contortions in the movie and is one of the things that makes it the funniest flick till Ed Woods' Plan 9 From Outer Space. If you can get this for under $10.00 I highly reccomend it.
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