Assassin of Youth

I liked this movie. I see it more as a soap opera than as an anti-marijuana film -- the plot about the battling cousins and the secret marriage is solid soap opera fare. A highlight for me was seeing Fern Emmett on a motor scooter! WOW! A lot of folks call her "that Margaret Hamilton looking lady" -- and the two women are similar in appearance, without a doubt -- but Emmett has her own odd way about her, and the repeated scenes of her scootering down main street and spreading gossip were hilarious. Also fun was Western actor Earl Dwire as Pop Hardy, playing checkers. Quite a character! Best of all, the comic bits had a plot-worthy pay-off, too, for in the end it became obvious that many of the older folks in the small town had themselves made juvenile errors of judgement -- so the fact that "today's" youth were going astray with drugs was nicely undercut by the revelations about the oldsters' own young years.

What a disappointment for peek-show fans. The best this exploitation flick could manage is a couple hiked up skirts and a bout of implied nudity. Big deal. I could get as much from old I Love Lucy skits. And what about the hysterical effects of the demon weed. The best they could do here is roll around the floor like a bunch of happy worms. Even the acting from the main actors is too good to be laughable. Actually the best part is gossipy old lady Henrietta zooming out of her drive-way on a gas belching putt-putt, like some Hell's Angel on training wheels. Oh sure, there's some of what you'd treasure from these goofy films—bad acting, worse dialogue, and uptight moralizing, but basically the production is too good to be good.

"Assassin of Youth" aka "The Marijuana Menace" is a cheap exploitation movie, obviously filmed quickly with low-paid actors. However, unlike the worst of such films of the era, there are some legitimate acting talents in this one. The lovely Luana Walters, who in my opinion should have become a much bigger star in Hollywood, has substance and screen presence while being able to actually act. Despite her talents she was often wasted in typical Hollywood fashion in low-budget westerns simply because she had some genuine horsemanship ability, having grown up around horses. Its sad that the movie industry has used and thrown away so many talents for such superficial reasons. Another cast member with a long Hollywood career was the multi-talented Fay McKenzie, who portrays the evil cousin with verve and impact. But in this movie you mostly encounter laughably bad acting by unknown actors being handled by the director in hurry-up fashion.

Another distinction of this particular exploitation movie is that marijuana is clearly portrayed as a threshold drug and not a "Deadly Narcotic" as is so forcefully stated in bold headline letters in the ridiculous and preachy "Reefer Madness". Marijuana is portrayed here as being used to introduce youth to hard drugs, and the hard drugs are being purveyed by hardened organized career criminals, as they were then and still are today.

So this film is old, cheap, bad and all that. But it has a few redeemable qualities that made it at least watchable for me.

Blonde bombshell, Fay McKenzie, steals the picture from the others as the evil, conniving, immoral Jezebel who heads a marijuana ring. Fay is a really delightful minx who doesn't try to gain any sympathy as she leads brainless bimbo, Luana Walters, down the paths of unrighteousness. Everyone seems to pick on poor Luana. She's the heiress to a small fortune, only, if she comports herself in a clean and moral way. Then there's another sub-story of a reporter who infiltrates this drug crazed group of swingers and wouldn't you know it, but he also gets Luana into deep trouble. The great fun of watching these long forgotten roadshow movies--where the movie owners would rent a theater in towns to show them--is wondering whatever happened to the cast and crew. This movie has some good location and indoor shooting. You watch the young performers doing the latest hot dance step which consists of much hip shaking and head jerking. Whatever happened to Fay McKenzie? She had an honest sparkle of talent and looked great in her l936 fashions. I'm adding this little gem to my permanent DVD library.

This is a bad movie that purports to be an educational film designed to warn America about the menace of marijuana use. However, like almost all the so-called "educational" films of the 30s and 40s, it was really a shabby little film designed to be snuck past the censors of the Hays Office. In 1934, the major studios all agreed to abide by the dictates of a stronger Production Code--eliminating sex, nudity, cursing and "inappropriate" plots in films (these had actually been relatively common in films in the early 30s). However, in an effort to sneak in smut, small studios created films to shock adults when they learn about terrible social ills, though they were REALLY intended to titillate and slip adult themes past the censors! Such films as CHILD BRIDE, MAD YOUTH, REEFER MADNESS and SEX MADNESS were all schlocky trash that skirted past the boards because they were supposedly educational. Even though they were laughably bad, they also made money due to low production costs and because they offered nudity, violence and sordid story lines--all in the name of education!

ASSASSIN OF YOUTH is a bit more watchable and entertaining than the average grade-z expoitational film. While it DOES feature a brief glimpse of nudity and plenty of over-the-top scenes, it also occasionally actually has some decent acting (I love the old man who owns the soda fountain--he's great) and writing that make it rise slightly above the rest of the films of the genre--particularly towards the end.

It's the story of two sisters--one is wild and the other just really stupid. The really stupid one is the heir to her grandmother's will and she stands to inherit a lot of money--provided she stays out of trouble and is a "nice girl". If not, then the local drug-dealing skank (her cousin) will inherit it because no one knows that this blonde floozy is evil. So it's up to this rotten cousin to do everything she can to destroy the stupid lady's reputation. First, when the stupid lady falls in the lake (thus allowing the audience a cheap thrill when she flashes her boobs), the bad cousin pushes the stupid girl's clothes into the fire (where the had been drying). As a result, she had to go home in only a coat. Second, on two separate occasions, the cousin slips her drugs and makes everyone in town think she's an addicted slut. However, when a nice reporter gets involved, he is able to rush in and save the day at the end--convincing everyone that the lady is only a dim-wit, not a slut or drug user!!

So let's talk about the bad--because after all, that's why people today would approach this film--wanting to see and laugh at the bad. There is a very prudish character who at first glimpse looks a lot like Margaret Hamilton from THE WIZARD OF OZ. Again and again, they show the exact scene of this old biddy on her motor scooter and it's super-reminiscent of the scene of Hamilton riding her bike (all that was missing was the ominous music). Her silly performance and the frequent use of this footage became comical. Second, the dialog in this film by the dumb girl is among the funniest in film history. Here is just one example:

Dumb Girl taking a sip of a spiked drink--"Gee this tastes funny". Sleazy Guy--"Don't worry--just drink it". Dumb Girl--"Okay". (as she sucks down a mickey).

With dialog like that, is it very surprising that again and again this idiot gets in trouble and nearly loses her inheritance?

Now understand that the Dumb Girl doesn't get all the rotten dialog--there's plenty for others as well. Such as when the doctor is called because the Dumb Girl's sister is "in a bad way" after using pot. When her mother asks the doctor how the girl is, he declares "she's a hopeless psychopath"--all because of the evils of marijuana!!

Sadly, there might have been a good reason to make such a film--after all, drugs do make people really stupid and ruin a lot of lives. But this film is so anti-marijuana that is tells us that it is much worse than heroin or pills. This over-statement might have potentially encouraged kids to avoid the dreaded pot and stick with "safer" drugs, like morphine, heroin or god knows what!! My assumption, though, is that most pot-heads just watched the film for a good laugh.