Wild Weed (1949)

I must confess that although I do enjoy movies that are so bad they are funny, when it comes to anti-drug movies from the golden age of Hollywood, I haven't found them to be all that funny. Sure, it may be amusing at first to see marijuana smokers to be addicts and doing things like giggling like crazy with the first puff of a joint, that stuff gets old real fast. That's one reason why I didn't find "Wild Weed" (a.k.a. "She Shoulda Said No") all that amusing. Another reason was that this particular anti-drug movie was somewhat more competently made than other films on the subject. The production values, though cheap, are somewhat better than usual. So is the acting and the writing. Don't get me wrong, the movie is generally dumb and low budget, but it doesn't get to be so incompetent to be really bad or unintentionally hilarious. The only audience I see for this movie are film scholars who are writing about forbidden Hollywood movies and/or the history of movies concerning drugs.

****SPOILERS*** Working as a dancer at the Saint Perrier nightclub pretty blond Anne Lester, Lila Leeds,wants to earn enough money to pay her kid brother Bob's, David Holt, collage tuition. It when local drug dealer Markey, Alan Baxter, checks out the joint for new talent, or future drug addicts, he spots Anne and starts to work on her. That's by telling her that she can make far more money as a party thrower for him and his boss Johnathan Treanor, Michael Whalen, then as a dancing girl at the club. Both Markey and Treanor have been laying low of late in that a number of teenagers whom they supplied with pot ended up dead and severely injured in a drug induced car accident.Becoming part of the Treanor drug gang at first things are very peachy for Anne who's making big bucks in attracting new clients,or junkies, for them until her kid brother Bob shows up unexpectedly at the house and finds her strung out on pot. From then on everything goes down hill for Anne with Bob later committing suicide, by hanging himself, in his shock of seeing his big sister ending up as a pot head as well as drug dealer. It's not that long that Anne herself ends up convicted of drug possession and is sent to a drug rehabilitation center to both dry out as well as see the light in how she's not only destroying herself but those abound her. ***SPOILERS*** Getting out ten days earlier for good behavior Anne is now given a chance by the kindly and understanding vice squad Captain Hayes, Lyle Tolbot, to work undercover and get the goods on her employers Markey & Treanor as well as big mob boss Romaro and put then out of commission and behind bars for good. But by agreeing in doing that Anne is also putting her life on the line as well.P.S Actress Lila Leeds was very well suited in her role in the movie as pot smoker Lila Lester in that just a year before she was busted together with actor Robert Mitchum among others in a midnight raid by the L.A vice squad during a an all night pot smoking party.

Naïve show girl gets involved with hard cases in a marijuana drug ring.Seeing this pot-warning epic, you might confuse the devil weed with a shot of laughing gas. That's because after taking a puff, the smokers stand around and giggle for hours on end. I kept hoping for an orgy, but no luck, just a lot of pointless laughing. Looks like the director auditioned supporting players on how long and maniacally they could giggle.Sure, the movie's a grade Z production that probably showed in a few all-night grind houses. Still, a couple less-than- terrible aspects manage to emerge. The montages are generally well done, especially the white piano dream at the Hollywood Bowl. Plus, the principal acting is not that bad. Whatever else, bad girl Leeds manages a pretty good performance, along with veteran stone face Alan Baxter. Oddly, the narrative breaks into two parts—the first is the goofy drug part, while the second amounts to standard crime drama. Add 'em up and you've got a generally bad movie that doesn't rise to campy level, but still manages a few redeeming aspects.(In passing-- The guy playing the orchestral piano is a legitimate long-hair, Rudolf Friml Jr., whose dad composed such well-known operettas as Rose-Marie and The Vagabond King. I guess this was meant to add a touch of class to an otherwise seedy production.)

This film's structure, at least for the first half is very similar to the classic bad film, REEFER MADNESS. Both had preachy prologues and both showed wild pot parties where the guests behaved as if they were on LSD, not marijuana. While I think pot use is very stupid, I can't see how this film in any way could discourage it, as the way people act on this drug is so silly that any child would laugh at the ineptitude of the film and the central message would be lost.Oddly, at about the middle of the film, the movie became much less silly in its portrayal of drug use and became a somewhat standard (though very poorly made) cop film. While this improved the film a bit, it was a case of just too little too late. The bottom line is that the film suffers from a horrible script and production values. About the only interesting things about it were how silly it all became and to see both a down-and-out Lyle Talbot as well as Jack Elam in his first film. It's all just a very silly mess.