Stoned On Screen: Drugs In The Movies (Part 2)
The Man With The Golden Arm (1955) poster
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During the 1950s the portrayal of drugs in movies took a nose-dive, with almost a zero tolerance attitude from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). It wasn'y until the mid-50s that one movie broke through, as a mainstream movie, and in its own little way changed the game. The Man With The Golden Arm (1955) directed by Otto Preminger, who would become known as a director that pushed the boundaries of taboos in mainstream cinema. .Based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Algren, The Man With The Golden Arm tells the story of an ex-heroin addict who on release from prison struggles to stay clean in the outside world. The movie starred heart-throb Frank Sinatra, the script originally offered to Marlon Brando. The MPAA refused to certify the film, and was released anyway. It became successful despite the uncertified subject matter, which caused a change in the production codes, that allowed movies more freedom to explore previously censored and taboo subject areas.
Two years later Monkey on My Back (1957) came out , a biopic loosely based on the life of world champion boxer Barney Ross. Telling the story of his addiction of opiates, the MPAA objected to a scene of the protagonist taking morphine by hypodermic injection. Despite appeals, the movie was released without approval. The producer Edward Small claiming that as he not heard back from the MPAA he'd release the movie anyway. Thus becoming the first movie since The Man With The Golden Arm and subsequent changes t the code, to fault the rules and release anyway. In each of the last two years of the 1950s, two more movies came out that pushed the boundaries at the time. The Cool and the Crazy (1958) was a drive-in exploitation cash-in of teen rebel movies of the time. The movie has gone on to be a cult classic for its depiction of teen-angst and marijuana use, even though the message over-all was an anti-drugs one. In 1959 LSD raised it's head, something that would be seen in many movies of the 60s, with a production by the king of exploitation cinema William Castle. It was the first ever depiction of LSD in a mainstream movie at the time. |
The Tingler was written by Robb White, starring Vincent Price it tells the story of a scientist who discovers a parasite in human beings, called a Tingler, which feeds on fear. Castle was well known for using gimmicks to sell his movies, and The Tingler was no different. It was sold under the use of the gimmick Percepto! Which was a vibrating device used in some cinema chairs, which vibrated to match the action on screen. The writer Robb White had experimented with LSD after hearing about it from Aldous Huxley, and decided to use it as a thematic element of the script. At that time LSD was till legal in the USA, one of the most famous scenes of the movie being when Vincent Price reads a book with the title Fright Effects Induced By Injection Of Lysergic Acid LSD25, before taking LSD himself. Interestingly for cult film fiends, the title was printed on the back of the book, and done purely for aesthetic cinematic reasons.
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It wasn't until the late 1960s, and an often drug fuelled counter-culture had started to have an influence on the mainstream, that drug culture in movies really started to bite. We saw the beginnings of the hard-bitten cop dramas that would define the 70s with the release of Coogan's Bluff (1968). A genre of movies that regularly featured the seedy under belly of of city life, including drug use that continues to this day. Another notable example of drug use being shown in mainstream cinema is multi-Academy Award winning Midnight Cowboy (1969). The first X-Rated movie to ever win an Academy Award, the movie foreshadowed the brief period of realistic gritty dramas that would become the mainstay of Hollywood during the early to mid-70s.
During the late 60s there was a change in the cinema going audience and the people who were making movies. Underground and exploitation film-makers were beginning to find mainstream success, and they weren't afraid to tackle previously taboo subject matter. Influenced by the now tame Marlon Brando flick The Wild One (1953) and the publication of Hunter S. Thompson's expose of biker culture Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs in 1966, the drug-fuelled outlaw biker movie of the late 1960s was primed for popularity. The Wild Angels (1966) was a Roger Corman movie starring Peter Fonda, pre-dating his Fonda's cult classic East Rider by three years. The film has become most famous for Fonda's speech to a preacher about life, which has been sampled on a number of records including Primal Scream's 1990 track Loaded. Hells Angels On Wheels (1967) was another of the exploitation outlaw biker movies of the period, featuring Jack Nicholson who with Fonda and Dennis Hopper would make the break-through movie Easy Rider (1969). Apparently Fonda came up with the idea for Easy Rider while signing autographs for The Wild Angels and another Corman drug exploitation movie The Trip (1967). |
The Trip (1967) poster
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Easy Rider garner fame for many reasons, but one being the rumour (which turned out to be true) that the cast actually took drugs on-screen. In fact at the time the two main stars and makers of Easy Rider, Fonda and Hopper were both open and vocal advocates of drug use, especially LSD and marijuana as the psychedelic movement was at its height For many though by 1969, the trip was over. LSD had gone mainstream, it had become illegal in the United States in 1966, the Corman movie featuring Fonda and Hopper and written by Nicholson The Trip (1967) had come out, followed a year later by the minor cult classic The Acid Eaters (1968). Also in 1968 Nicholson co-wrote and co-produced the psychedelic comedy Head, starring the squeaky clean manufactured TV band The Monkees. The influence on cinema of drug use both on and off camera had reached a peak by the end of the 1960s. The 1970s and into the 1980s would be a much different animal when it came to how drugs were represented on screen.
Other notable examples of movies made outside of the United States that either featured drug use or were heavily influenced by the drug culture of the period were Yellow Submarine (1968) and More (1969). Yellow Submarine was The Beatles seminal one-long trip of an animation, while More directed by Barbet Schroeder featured a crazy array of drug combinations. So much that the French censor had the audio track of the movie removed at the point where a drug concoction is mixed up that included benzedrine and banana peel!!!
Other notable examples of movies made outside of the United States that either featured drug use or were heavily influenced by the drug culture of the period were Yellow Submarine (1968) and More (1969). Yellow Submarine was The Beatles seminal one-long trip of an animation, while More directed by Barbet Schroeder featured a crazy array of drug combinations. So much that the French censor had the audio track of the movie removed at the point where a drug concoction is mixed up that included benzedrine and banana peel!!!
Stoned On Screen: Drugs In The Movies (Part 1) - Since the dawn of motion pictures, the portrayal of illegal drug use or references to drugs at all has been a controversial one in the United States.
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The Naked Screen: Sex & Nudity In Cinema (Part 1) - Since the first movie cameras were cranked into action, sex & nudity has been a provocative subject for film-makers.
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Users Are Losers: A History Of Drugs In Comic Books - From the Weird Retro archive, a list of some of the best and worst of comic books about the dangers of drugs on the youth of America.
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Elephant On Acid: Tusko Takes A Trip - The infamous and sad story of Tusko the elephant from Oklahoma Zoo , who in an experiment took a massive "trip" of LSD and died.
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