The Cool and the Crazy

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.

This has to be one of the worst movies ever. The actors that were,supposedly teenagers, had to be going on thirty, if not older. Never considered Scott Marlowe that good an actor. He was really over the top in this. Talk about ham, if that was method acting, he definitely missed a few classes. The guy Jackie was pitiful, a regular wimp. First he starts out being big and bad like his lump of a friend cookie. I don't know what kind of weed they were smoking, it made them claw at their throats. Come on be serious, saying they feel like they're dying. If anything this would make some dummies try it, just to see if it could make them, feel like that. 😂

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.

First off the movie is very dated and fairly stupid('58) but that didn't stop me from watching it.

The Star Scott Marlow (Bennie) is off his ass!! Kept me watching until the very end..(which is crazy if you think of the time VS now. His acting for the time is completely original.

In the 50's film acting wasn't the way to go (or even really discovered yet) it was all stage acting, voice projection, big movements (more is more VS film now where Less is more) but Scott was acting like he was Vince Vaughn in Swingers, craaaaazy slick, believable and because it's in black and white you can't get over how modern his sarcasm and jokes are! As an actor i was blown away at how Scotts performance would still impress viewers well into 2007.

While not quite as ridiculous as "Reefer Madness", "The Cool and the Crazy" is a ridiculous propaganda film designed to warn folks that marijuana kills! While filled with lies, it is quite unintentionally funny. Now my expectations for "The Cool and the Crazy" were low to begin with....with such a nutty title and the film coming from American International Pictures!

Benny (Scott Marlowe) is a new cool 'kid' who arrives at some high school. I put kid in quotes because he and the rest of the students are generally in their upper 20s! Anyway, he's a rebel and the kids soon are won over to his coolness. Then, he introduces them to marijuana...and soon he's out of control and going through withdrawal because he's become addicted and hell-bent on self-destruction!

This film is packed with misinformation--the type that actually ended up encouraging kids to use pot. After all, in the film, Benny uses it and soon becomes out of control and suicidal. But when folks see that none of this really happens with folks they know who use pot, they tend to ignore and laugh at such over-the-top warnings.

So is it any good? Not really. The acting isn't bad and the look and style of the film are good...but the story itself is goofy and silly at times. But, it is unintentionally funny...and is worth seeing in this light.