Cocaine: One Man's Seduction

A real estate salesman (Dennis Weaver) with career and marriage problems gets hooked on cocaine, and finds that not only does it not help him cope with them, but it makes them much, much worse.

What is not to love about this film? We have a young James Spader and a drug-addicted Jeffrey Tambor. That already makes it good no matter what happens. And then we get to learn about the evils of peer pressure! What we end up finding out is that cocaine causes you to make "lewd offers" to your spouse and encourages you to re-arrange your spices. While not an "after school special", it was a made-for-TV movie that was clearly designed to show how cocaine use can spiral out of control.

I have never used cocaine and probably never will. But films like this are not what make me steer clear. In fact, I found this film humorous in a strange way. Not that it was inaccurate -- it is probably very close to the truth. But there is an unintentional humor not unlike that found in "Reefer Madness".

You get Dennis Weaver so what can go wrong? Then, a tale of cocaine the one nobody likes to talk about but meets up with eventually once they get started. People don't realize that where coke takes you right away is the high guaranteed and coming off it is uncomfortable and then the addiction and it literally takes from you as it does. How? You will want to return to the land of coke as soon as you leave it. Won't or can't happen to you...you say? Coke begs to differ. I have known people that will lie, cheat, turn irrational and steal to have it until they get it. The Universal law spares no one as follows: Whatever you get into gets into you holds with no exceptions and applies to every subject. It is non-negotiable too. Mind you, getting started its the user that is naive not the drug. It is no respecter of persons. Weaver takes us through the all stages realistically. Make allowances for the generations that handle the addiction stages differently. This film depicts the 80's working class. The Real Estate depictions are hokey (I am a broker) but who is to say that for that time it wasn't the norm? Enjoyable and realistic film worthy of a watch.

Unbelievable this hasn't been released on DVD yet!

Those old enough should remember how controversial 'One Man's Seduction' was, when first broadcast in 1983. Back then, most television viewers could only access about a dozen channels, so these TV movies remained a big deal at that point.

It was considered a brave move on Weaver's part to even take this role, despite the rampant cocaine abuse that peaked in mainstream America during the early 1980s.

And does he make the most of it! You haven't enjoyed Dennis at his best until you see this one. Also, Pamela Bellwood never looked better than she does here, and should have earned an Emmy nomination for her supporting role as Weaver's unwitting enabler.

It's too bad more high-quality TV movies like this aren't being put out on DVD - though, at least, this film is currently available for streaming on Hulu and other sites. This is by far the most concise movie of any kind to deal with the pitfalls of cocaine addiction, much better than big-budget theatrical treatments like "The Boost" and "Blow." Dennis Weaver gives one of his best performances as the harried, self-pitying real estate agent who is convinced by a slightly disturbing (and oh-so-eighties-looking) couple that coke will help him make millions in the luxury home market. In fact, Weaver is so good it has always struck me as strange that his obituaries never even mentioned this work. The supporting cast is excellent (except for Karen Grassle as the cloyingly sweet simpleton of a wife) with James Spader being cast against type - at least, future type - as Weaver's clean-cut son. In fact, were a remake of this movie ever to be produced, it would make perfect sense to have Spader play Dennis' part. A great movie that is well worth looking at online ... or, if you can hunt it down, on VHS!

David Ackroyd tells Dennis Weaver the same thing that John Kapoles would say to James Woods in THE BOOST... that they need a boost... which means cocaine... and while both that movie and this TV-movie (that came out before) both got bad reviews, they're both, well... very addictive pieces of entertainment...

Watching a hippie get high is like watching a fish swim... but seeing an otherwise conservative Willy "Death of a Salesman" Loman type blasting coke up his nose is always fun to watch, and of course quite rare, and Dennis Weaver, known for playing either tough or frantic roles, kind of balances both here...

His good wife's Karen Grassle, his good son's James Spader, his semi-wild buddy's Jeffrey Tambor and the truly wild office flirt, who introduced him to the dealer to gave him a boost, is Pamela Bellwood, so the cast is sublime...

But what makes this work is the realistic arc into his addiction and how the drug is treated here: first helping his fledgling sales (the best part) until the monkey starts showing, aka, he becomes a scene...

The more Dennis does coke the more he strays from McCloud and morphs into the zany motel worker in Touch of Evil, and overall, whether soberly depressed or high as a kite or crashing like one, does a fantastic job, not overacting like he could have... meaning, he really seems high on coke, not some old actor putting us on.