Keep Off the Grass

Keep Off the Grass (1970)

** (out of 4)

Yet another "warning" film from producer Sid Davis who was certainly the king of these type of movies. This one here has a mother vacuuming her son's room when she finds a couple joints. She gives them to her husband who then discusses weed with his son. The son then sets out to find the truth on whether or not getting high is good or bad. From here on out we see our "lead actor" going to pot parties and seeing if pot really makes you laugh, act stupid or if it's worse than booze. What I found so funny about this film is how much "cool" slang they use for smoking grass. It's rather embarrassing but then again I'm sure you already know this as you can lump this right up there with REEFER MADNESS in terms of how stupid it is. Once again we get all sorts of false facts telling people what weed can do to you and I can't help but think this thing scared no one in 1970 and it certainly isn't going to today. The performances are all bad and the ultra-cheap look only adds a few laughs. The movie has many "so bad it's funny" moments including the father-son talk, which is downright hilarious at times because of the dubbed dialogue. Even funnier is a later scene at a pot party by a pool and you'll never forget the look on mommy's face when she finds the weed.

Tom's father finds his stash and confronts him. Tom insists that pot is safe and seeks advise from older kid Mack. Tom is introduced to the world of pot. I'm surprised at the reasonable portrayal of the weed users considering the anti-grass government propaganda. Quite frankly, I'm more convinced by the kids' point of view rather than the stale old guy narration. From the Santa Monica Police Department, the propaganda is listed off like a checklist and the cops are super nice. In a way, it's a more effective argument to not ridicule the kids doing pot. It doesn't mean that the message is any less slanted. This is not ridiculous fun like other anti-grass public service films. For its time and its purpose, it was probably the most effective possible. Despite the entire list of slant arguments, the film ends with "Let's wait and see" and that's probably the best they could do at that time. In the 50 years since then, I think we have waited and seen enough to make an educated choice.

Until I was able to download a copy of this I had forgotten about it. As was typical with the films we were forced to watch in High School Health Class way back in the 1970's, when a lot of us still had a Black & White TV, and color picture was a treat! This like the others, either at best tempted the viewer to try Pot, or at the very least gave us a good laugh.

However, this one movie more than the others, seemed to actually give both points of view! That was very rare for that era, as Nixon was in power (who was not a crook!) and the infamous "War On Drugs" had started its long loosing battle. Although at the same time as presenting the "Pro" left out very little regarding the "Con"

Has several folks who look like Manyard G Crebbs (does the G stand for Gilligan?) Rest His Soul.

But if you wish to be "Hip like a Zip, Lets Take A Trip" this film will show as many others do, how much folks shared the goods to get a new customer hooked, then how it will lead them down the Highway To Hell with the harder drugs.

Plot twists, drama, suspense, kills, thrills, its just the facts, and it all has to be true because its says so in the movie!

Could I say more?

Very far from the awful exploiter "movie", "reeefer madness", "keep off the grass" is still an attempt to discourage youth from taking up the habit of smoking pot, marijuana, hash, the child with a host of names.

Made in 1969, at the height of the "rebellion of youth" against the establishment, the Vietnam war at its peak, Nixon president, and the world needing a boost of something to level out the fear of things escalating, pot had found a home with young "rebels", who needed to assess the world in a different way from their parents - and found in the (still) illegal drug a different feeling from the aggression-inducing alcohol of 'before'.

The movie documents a youth, discovered by his father to be a recent convert to pot, in rational search for information about the drug and consequences of using it - in fact the whole of the movie is based so much on rational thought, that one could get the impression somebody was actually concerned with the hysteria from the media - "jumped from 16th floor high on marijuana" and similar headlines - and from the FDA and FBI, who needed another focus, after the end of alcohol prohibition, and found it in the pot, smoked by jazz fans and Negroes alike, to prevent massive unemployment in the 16.000 men strong police force ...

The basic idea of the movie - that the young man search for confirmation of information - is in fact rather good, and at that time, quite novel idea, if only superficially rational, when all conclusions are based on observable, but partial 'facts' - loss of coordination, redness of eyes, "loss of dignity", obsessive mono-focus, humorous outbursts over 'nothing', overrating of personal achievements, pot leads to crime or heavier abuse etc. And the young man to no great surprise has all the 'facts' confirmed at various hip parties, visit to the local hip dope influenced artist loving his new doodles, watching the courteous police arrest a friend, who could not resist trying to buy his dope at the wrong place, and end up getting ripped of at night by three youngster spouting the 'right' lingo to tie them in with the rest of the pack!

A very educational movie, which has no doubt helped with its mission in its own time - but today seems only a step removed from the hysterics of 'reefer madness' and the like. Personally it seems to me that use of marijuana never had quite the impact on culture as was feared and prophesied in the script. But one should never discount the parental generation's attempt to warn the younger. And as such it comes across: Observe the signs, and think for yourself.

The ultra hip lingo in this short make it worth watching, and pretty amusing. Most of it is familiar, except for blowing pot. Maybe that was a Cali thing from the 60s.