This week at Monday Movie Nights we celebrate 420. Unlike last week where we highlighted the Narc’s who “harsh your buzz” this list of movies honours the brave young men and women who stand up to the Man and partake in illegal substances.
Drug’s have played a big part in the film industry on both sides of the camera since the government’s classic propaganda film “Reefer Madness” in 1936 and this weeks list ranges from the counterculture days of carefree pot smoking in the 1960’s to the neon lights and hard drugs of the modern era.
This week’s contenders are:
Easy Rider (1969) – 95min
Two counterculture bikers travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in search of America.
Naked Lunch (1991) – 115min
After developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally murders his wife and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa.
Dazed and Confused (1993) – 102min
The adventures of incoming high school and junior high students on the last day of school, in May of 1976.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) – 118min
An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychedelic escapades.
Half Baked (1998) – 82min
The story of three not so bright men who come up with a series of crazy schemes to get a friend out of jail.
How High (2001) – 93min
Two guys by the name of Silas and Jamal decided to one day smoke something magical, which eventually helps them to ace their college entrance exam.
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) – 122min
Terence McDonagh is a drug- and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants.
Enter the Void (2009) – 161min
A U.S. drug dealer living in Tokyo is betrayed by his best friend and killed in a drug deal. His soul, observing the repercussions of his death, seeks resurrection.
And remember folks, as the late Robin Williams said “Reality is just a crutch for people who can’t handle drugs.”