As we all pretend to be into Weed Culture for a day, let's look at an obscure bit of silliness. This is 1949's Wild Weed (later re-released under the Title below). It's time for some Hollywood History, folks! In 1948, a Drug Sting Operation caught some famous people including Lila Leeds and Robert Mitchum. Obviously, the latter managed to take it all in stride quite well. The former, however, had less luck with that hurdle. As such, she agreed to star in a Marijuana...er, Marihuana Scare Film a year later. What does it have that others don't? Well, it's about a Stage Dancer and doesn't have that creepy old (and fake) Doctor from Reefer Madness. It has a young Lead beside Lila, but...well, I'll get to him. Aside from Lyla, how about a shout-out for Ed Wood Alumni Lyle Talbot (aka the Original Major Tom)? He's here playing another Police Chief, seemingly walking straight off of the Batman Serials. Will Batman catch the Drug Fiends? Amusingly, this Film actually exploited the Government to make back its Budget, claiming that the Film was sponsored by the US Treasury. Classic. Is it a forgotten gem or not much to remember? To find out, read on...
As always, we get a 'thank you' to the Government and a 'this is about saving kids' text crawl.
Was this required by Law (or just the Hays Code)?
We learn that the real dangers are Tomatoes (and not Mushrooms, like Bob thinks).
Oh right- it's because people apparently-smuggled 'joints' in them.
Figures- the Mexican Tomatoes are the drugs in this picture too.
Lyle here puts his best men on the case. They'll narrate the next Scene and...then disappear for about 20-30 minutes.
Hard at work, eh?
We meet out heroine in the form of Anne (aka Lila- the one on the left). She's a Dancer, who's coworker is 'on the pot' and her Dealer wants Anne.
All he needs is literally an hour at a party, it seems...
...as the group uses Peer Pressure to make her take a big toke and apparently get hooked.
Yep, that's all it takes.
She, I guess, stops being as good of a Dancer now that she smokes Pot (citation needed) and gets fired.
Meanwhile, she hides her drug-related dealings (working directly for her Dealer now) from her Brother Bob, who's back from College.
He sees her handing out 'jays' and...promptly kills himself. What the actual f#$k?!?!?
The Cops enter back into the picture (literally and figuratively) with this and catch her with the others (but not her Dealer).
They try to 'scare her straight' with some people who represent broad, vaguely-possible outcomes for her, but she doesn't squeal on her man.
60 days in Prison (thank you, pre-Rockefeller Law days!) makes her snap, however, as she's taunted by voices calling her a 'kid-killer.'
I guess she's at fault for Bob's death...somehow
She sets up a new deal with her Dealer and his Boss, but it is obviously a trick.
The Police catch the bad guys and our Heroine is just clean from the dangers of Pot forever, I guess.
As for Lila, this was her second-to-last Role in Film. She died...50 years later. The End.
It's your classic Melodrama over substance. This one on its own merits is not great. Lila does her best to elevate this, but it is a cheap, quickie of a Film. There's no subtlety or nuance. Reefer Madness managed to beat just as dour and dreary for its current audience, but goofy enough for modern, ironic fans. This one has a long montage of her being called 'kid killer,' so maybe not so much here. In Reefer, you get the wacky piano guy. In this one, you get a piano player who...imagines himself playing like Liberace while actually just noodling on the keys. The random aside sure added nothing. What is a nice addition is some juicy Theremin music for dramatic moments. It really dates the Film in a fun, silly way. There's not much Plot here, so don't worry about getting lost. The morals here are interesting as we get the usual 'Pot makes you eventually do heroin/cocaine' thing. Thanks for ruining it for everyone, Shannon Hoon! I'd blame Hendrix, but, as you recall, he was killed by the CIA. There's a weird refrain with the Police talking about how 'they could bring in the users whenever they wanted to.' Later, we see them try to scare Anne/Lila with people who are 'too far gone.' Hmm...maybe arrest the people then, dummies!
Wild Weed could be a good time if you like very old-school melodrama, but just isn't as fun (unintentionally) as others. At least it makes for a neat historical foot-note...
I hope you all did *whatever* on this day. Looking at the news, it was probably a good time to be 'chill' anyhow.
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