Maryjane

Like any sensible person, I expected a 1968 movie called Maryjane "starring" Fabian and Diane McBain to be a complete hoot. It turns out to be maybe one good script rewrite away from being a minor classic, Rebel Without A Cause about stoners instead of juicers.

The only clunker is the dopers' clique, who basically look way too much like Spanky and Our Gang and are about as menacing as the Chess Club. Otherwise, this is one of about three drug-related films from the sixties you can watch without cringing: no ridiculous "insider" names for marijuana, no hallucinations, and some startlingly well-balanced dialogue about the issues involved. Fabian is believable and intense - three words I NEVER thought I'd use in the same sentence. There's an actual plot, they've got the nerve to make it twist around a bit, and almost every time you think the movie's going to go for a cheap resolution of a plot twist, it surprises you by actually doing something intelligent.

It's incredibly difficult to find, and it's probably not worth spending a fortune on, but against all expectations Maryjane is a 6/10. This is NOT another Weird World of LSD, Acid Eaters, or Teenage Devil Dolls.

So they said. And that may be just the problem with "Maryjane", which was promoted as a typical AIP drive-in thriller, and too often becomes a tiresome talk fest. The film does have its good points. It is handsomely photographed, well enough acted and has a good score. New high school art teacher/football coach (Fabian) gets in hot water with school officials when he foolishly confesses to having tried pot in his college days. Of course, the stiff-necked faculty and the police chief react with horror, and let him know they'll be watching him closely. Meanwhile, baby-faced student Kevin Coughlin, who is also the school's star football player, spends his after school time as the leader of the "Maryjane" club. The members, who wear medals (!) include former "Bad Seed" Patty McCormack, Teri Garr and Robert Lipton (Peggy's bro). Desperately trying to join the club is sensitive student Michael Margotta. Coughlin makes it clear he doesn't want Margotta joining them, and humiliates him at every opportunity. As the kids hold "pot parties" in secluded lagoons, playgrounds, and deserted amusement parks, Teacher Fabian attempts to get to know fellow teacher Diane McBain, (the best performer in the film) and the quicker, the better.No luck, however, she's not interested in any advanced ''Sex Education''.Not with him, anyway. At the same time, he strikes up a friendship with Margotta, which leads to even more trouble for Our Hero. Director Maury Dexter, who also directed "Born Wild", "The Mini-Skirt Mob" and "Hell's Belles" for AIP, lost the touch this time, because, in between the pot sessions, there are some long, pointless scenes in which the Marijuana question is talked to death. The screenwriters (Dick Gautier and ''Hollywood Squares'' host Peter (L) Marshall) worked their limited knowledge of the subject into the story, and beat you over the head with it. That's a shame, because the rest of the film moves fast, and the kids are portrayed (for a change) as middle class students, not crazed "dope fiends". No wonder the film is not as well known as other AIP potboilers (no pun). Not bad, by any means, but not the exploitation classic it could (and SHOULD) have been. Some have called it a 1960's ''Reefer Madness''. Sadly, it's not. Look for future producer Garry Marshall ("Happy Days", "Laverne and Shirley"), as a gas station attendant.

Fabian looks an awful lot like Michael J Fox.

The film was good and it made you realize how much times have changed. Attitudes about marijuana are not nearly as close minded as they were back then. A teacher admits to smoking pot once in his life and he gets called a "dope fiend" by the chief of police. The principal and the coach won't even talk to this man in the hallway anymore because he admitted this. They hold secret meetings about spying on students to catch the dope dealers. Nowadays, schools could care less if a kid or a teacher has smoked pot. Just as long as it isn't interfering with their work, it's ok.

I thought Fabian's character was a little over the top. He had too many things going on. One minute he's an art critic who admits to smoking pot, the next he's driving full speed out to meet some people at a drug deal to save a temper-prone, "sensitive" kid's life. And then he really pushes his luck with the hot lady teacher on a blanket by the ocean by literally forcing her to go on a date with him where he makes his moves way too fast. Then when she bails him out of jail, he doesn't dwell on the fact that she spit out $5000 for him, a guy she doesn't even want to talk to..? In the meantime, his voice remains calm while he keeps this very intense look on his face. This guy is all over the place and it doesn't make sense to me.

I did like the leader of the pot club, however. At first he seemed too much of a clean cut, white, dorky football star to be the drug dealer he was, but as the movie went on, it became more apparent why this "disguise" made sense. He really was a rebellious, pot smokin' jerk, he just didn't wear the costume. That would be too obvious and he was smarter than that.

The outcast, teen angsty kid did a good job acting like an idiot. He even had that idiot look in his eye like he is not taking in anything you are saying. When he gets wasted, he really plays the part well!

All in all, the movie is worth watching if you can find it. There are good twists and good characters in this film. Fabian's role has too much going on for me to find it realistic, but the other characters are pretty real. It's a teen drama. I wish there had been trippy pot scenes, but they just barely touch on that.

That's really what this film feels like, complete with evil stoner teenagers and some seriously cringe worthy "high" scenes, where the kids run around screaming or doing various things that no one in their right mind would think of doing while stoned (including binding peoples arms and feet and dropping them in a lake. What.) Perhaps Dexter and Gautier live in some kind of alternate reality where cannabis is actually a potent mix of crack cocaine and PCP.

It's a film that anyone who has smoked cannabis would laugh heartily at, but it seems quite frightening that people once seriously believed that marijuana is as dangerous as it is depicted in this film. It's an obvious step back from Reefer Madness, but every scene that includes marijuana is childishly naive and always completely unrealistic in terms of the drugs' effects. The untruthfulness of the entire film, the plot, script and numerous factual errors really detracts from the performance of the seemingly talented cast- but it simply is not possible to take the acting seriously when placed in such an outrageous context.

Brainwashing material for 60's youth is my call- it didn't work I suppose.

I didn't expect to like this movie. Drugs do not fascinate me. So, was I surprised when I found myself liking everything about the film: acting, directing, music, camera. Each scene stands on its own feet, each character is interesting and well-played. "Maryjane" can teach movie makers a thing or two about the seventh art! Firstly: don't be so crisp and neat. Compared with "Maryjane" most other films are laughably polished, yet they fall short of art. "Rebel Without a Cause" is too pretty to be artistically successful. The clockwork is too obvious. The same goes for countless other movies, especially "Laura". "Maryjane" has that rare dreamy quality of "Carnival of Souls". Without trying hard, it achieves something ineffable. It's a shame that this movie, which represents the best of that unique, slouching late sixties esthetics is not available on DVD or even video.