The Cool and the Crazy

Intended to show the results of smoking marijuana, this movie is interesting in the fact it is fun to watch the 'over acting' or lack thereof. A young punk(Scott Marlowe)fresh from reform school enrolls into a Kansas City high school with the intent to push marijuana. It is comical watching the results of just the introduction to the 'special smoke'. Watching this today is a hoot with or without the munchies! Also in the cast are:Richard Bakalyan, Dickie Jones and Gigi Perreau.

This juvenile delinquent movie is definitely a cut above similar films of the era I've seen, thanks to a good script and a strong lead performance by Scott Marlowe. Marlowe had the looks and charisma to be a major star, but never get a chance at a breakout role in a big Hollywood movie. (He did at least have a long career as a supporting player.) When I say it's a good script, perhaps I should qualify that to say except for the ridiculously overblown responses to smoking pot by the "teenagers," who freak out as if they were on a bad acid trip. There's also a romantic subplot with second lead Richard Bakalyan and nice girl Gigi Perrau that goes nowhere and keeps Marlowe off the screen for long stretches. When Marlowe's not on the screen the movie suffers. Also, typical of many of these movies, several of the alleged high school students look like they're pushing 30. But the movie rolls along along at a brisk pace, has some good action sequences, and Marlowe delivers the '50s existential alienation in spades. (Per the title, he's both cool and crazy.)

One added bonus for jazz fans is the unnamed combo we see playing at a local club. The band really cooks. Too bad there's no credit for them. (Kansas City once had a very active jazz scene). As others have commented, the Kansas City locations gave the movie some grit and authenticity, when compared to the vanilla suburban Southern California setting of most '50s teen movies. (The Wikipedia article on the movie has some interesting info on the producer, a Kansas City theater chain owner who wanted to carve a niche for himself in the teen exploitation market. He had earlier hired KC local Robert Altman to make another juvenile delinquent movie).

Oh the dreaded "smoke". The dreaded "M". Take the Blackboard Jungle movie and spice it up a little bit and you have The Cool And The Crazy. The performances may be weaker but I give it an 8 as it succeeds in being an outstanding piece of propaganda; and thus a genuine cult classic.

One puff of pot and you're hooked for life and on your way to the hard stuff and a life of crime. That's the over-the-top message that makes this teen flick a 50's version of the notorious Reefer Madness of the 30's. Too bad, because the movie has some good points if you can get past dewy-eyed Scott Marlowe working hard at an antic version of James Dean or a 30-year old Dick Jones playing a teenager with thinning hair.

There are of course the usual juvenile delinquents of the 50's youth era otherwise known as the Silent Generation, riding around in their hotrods, hanging around drive-ins, and talking back to the teacher-- sort of the norm for the cool crowd of the time. Then again, maybe not so much for Kansas City, where, if I recall correctly, at least one cast member was hauled in for sporting a banned haircut called a "ducktail". Anyway, this is the sort of thing many wanna-be teens of the time aspired to.

Two points almost redeem this exploitation cheapie. First, filming on location in Kansas City gives the background an unusually gritty and realistic appearance. Director Witney makes good use of this in his staging, especially the night scene with the carpet of downtown lights stretched out below the carousing youths. Second is the showcase provided for teen super-star Richard Bakalyan (Jackie) who manages to give the show some depth of character. For a lesson in acting, contrast his natural style with that of the heavily mannered Marlowe-- Dean may have been a master of the latter, but with Marlowe, the antics become plain annoying.

Anyway, the movie remains an interesting capsule of the time. Younger viewers can begin to understand the youth rebellion of the 60's in this movie's twisted portrayal of pot smoking, a hype that millions of youngsters were only too eager to disprove 10 years later. Had the film-makers really wanted to perform a public service, they could have inserted something about the effects of smoking of any kind, especially cigarettes so popular among teens of that day. Watch Marlowe who lights up like a smokestack. He also died relatively young. But, guess how many tickets that message would have sold.

A classic paranoid fifties b-flick aiming to scare the pants off those rebellious youths hanging with the wrong crowd, or more likely their parents, this shockingly inaccurate reefer madness flick has a kid hitting town fresh from reform school, hooking up with the bad-influence pusher who got him put away, and dealing the demon weed to the local kids (none of them looking under twenty-five) in hopes of getting them hooked and making a packet; however, the kids, suffering the usual hallucinations, all-day hangovers and "eating me up" stomach problems (hello?) need a "fix" so much after apparently only one night on the spliff they end up getting involved in crime and in all sorts of trouble, as of course they deserve, during the course of what seems like a couple of days. Well enough constructed, with some top intense, frown-heavy performances, especially from the lead bad kid and his nice friend, but it's those mental 50s attitudes that make it worth checking out. Dig the message at the end - "in the interests of scaring you kids, everything in this film has been made up or exaggerated" (or words to that effect). In a parallel universe, this could be a movie about the evil of drink in a world dominated by smokers - at least the hangovers and bad driving would be appropriate.