User Reviews

"Narcotics: Pit of Despair" is an American half-hour short film from almost 50 years ago. It is fairly obvious that director Marshall and especially writer Brennan had not made any films before this anti-drug educational work from 1967. The acting is occasionally really bad and the writing is as well for the most part. Neither of the 2 aspects is on par with how seriously this film takes itself. Yes it is about a very serious issue and I fully support the anti-drug message, but it's just too low in production values to make a really lasting impact, even if it tries so hard. Thumbs up though for showing the parts that may be painful to watch for some. Drug addiction is ugly and so a movie on this well should not be mitigating either. Overall I recommend the watch, even if I believe this could have been much better overall. Some severe weaknesses included in here.

Narcotics: Pit of Despair (1967) is a laughable excuse for a anti-drug film. This short stars future Hollywood role player Kevin Tighe as a clean cut middle class kid who starts to hang around a group of crazy beatniks. One night whilst his parents are away, he heads off to his beatnik friend's crash pad. He finds a wild party and takes a puff from his first joint. After a couple of tokes, he becomes strung out on the stuff. But being high on reefer is not enough for his shady friend who gives him a shot of medicinal heroin. Soon the clean cut kid has become addicted to heroin and becomes junk sick. Tried of the square, the freaky beatniks dumps him somewhere near a hospital.

See kiddies, that nasty old weed is an evil gateway drug. Smoking it can get you strung out on the white horse. Remember kids, reefer is bad for you. Drink like a fish and smoke up!!

Recommended for comic relief.

Laugh all you want about the presentation but this drug education film from 1967 pretty much got the basics right in showing how an easily influenced teen might fall victim to addiction. Where others see the message as heavy handed and laughably ridiculous, it didn't strike me as implausible that a young man lacking self confidence and feeling the stress of schoolwork could be manipulated by the promise of relieving that tension through the use of 'harmless' barbiturates or marijuana. It never did seem unlikely to me that those milder drugs could be a gateway to harsher chemical addiction as in the case of heroin or LSD. I know there are those who vehemently argue to the contrary, but what's so implausible about it? It's like arguing a high diver got his start by jumping off a cliff instead of a swimming pool diving board.

I've now seen a couple of these 'exploitation' entries produced in the Sixties; they had their heyday in the Thirties and Forties and there were some real beauts produced back then - "Assassin of Youth" (1937), "Cocaine Fiends" (1935) and the classic everyone's heard of, "Reefer Madness" from 1936. Those were all done as dramas depicting the dangers of drug abuse, whereas this one is more along the lines of a documentary showing how one's life can spiral down hill once hard drugs like heroin eventually create a physical dependency instead of a psychological one.

Well it probably doesn't make much difference what era they were produced in or what the subject matter was, it's pretty evident that the larger sub-culture of addicts and dealers isn't about to be influenced by films like these. The greater value might lie in educational counseling that begins after a film like this is shown to impressionable minds, while helping youngsters gain the confidence needed to spurn attempts at getting them hooked.

Here's a choice cheesy chunk of laughably overwrought anti-drug scare propaganda that was actually shown to high school kids in the 60s and 70s in order to dissuade them from getting hooked on the hard stuff. Clean-cut young John (played by future mainstream movie character actor Kevin Tighe) begins his downward spiral into dope and despair by doing bennies and beer. Evil, shifty drug dealer Pete (the sleazy-looking Gerald LeRoy) gets John to start smoking pot and then next thing you know poor John is strung out on smack! Director Mel Marshall and screenwriter Edward Brennan lay on the anti-drug message something thick in this hilariously clumsy and unsubtle unintentional laugh riot. Patrick Miller's gloomy, heavy-handed narration is especially sidesplitting with its frequent use of then hip, now hopelessly dated "groovy" slang words. The ragged editing and raw, scratchy cinematography by Jay Lovins both add immensely to the overall campy amusement of this vintage 60's class room kitsch hoot.

. . . UNBROKEN: PATH TO REDEMPTION, this brief documentary deals with the Dangers of the Runner's High. Though its title--NARCOTICS: PIT OF DESPAIR--is somewhat misleading, no one can view this live-action short without realizing that high school track star "John" is doomed as soon as he laces up his running shoes. Yes, the ultra-addictive brain endorphins engendered with every running stride John takes clearly send him down The Road to Perdition. Dependent upon this "Runners' High," John panics when his math skills begin declining with all the time he's wasting trotting around cindery ovals. In a last-ditch effort to keep his life balanced and remain eligible for his high school track squad (aka, his gang of fellow brain dopers), John begins popping "bennies" in his futile quest to make time for both jogging and math. This doesn't help John. Booted off the free Runners' Highs offered on the cinder track, John is soon forced to sell his Mom's "Best Silver" to buy pricier, less accessible drugs such as pot and horse. But make no mistake about it: any perceptive viewer of NARCOTICS: PIT OF DESPAIR will tell you that John's so-called "gateway drugs" here are the endorphins crazed joggers crave during their tedious plodding after Runners' Highs!

Johnny (Kevin Tighe) is just another typical, 23 year old high school student. Like so many young lads, he takes a few "Bennies" to help him get through his studies. Alas, this will be his undoing. Unbeknownst to Johnny, he will soon be moving on to the "hard stuff", after going to a party and meeting Pete (Gerald LeRoy), a local heroin "pusher" and Abe Lincoln lookalike.

In no time, Johnny is "strung out" and riding on the horse of doom!

NARCOTICS: PIT OF DESPAIR is one of the more humorous of the drug education films of its era. Johnny's travails go from preposterous to gut-busting in short order as he wanders mindlessly into addiction, seemingly by remote control. His descent is one for the ages!

NOTE: Opiates are no joke, but this ancient cautionary tale is hilarious...