Desperate Lives

I remember that it was quite bad acting, typical for those ABC After school Specials; however, we get to see a young Helen Hunt and Diana Scarwid (post "Mommy Dearest"), in all her over-acting! It doesn't come across quite humorous and unrealistic at many points. I mean, you knew kids were doing drugs in high school but for the counselor to go through all their lockers during an assembly, then emotionally storm into the assembly and light the drugs on fire was way over the top! As far as the poster who mentioned Helen Hunt and her scene being deleted during her better times, actually, I remember when she hosted "Saturday Night Live" in the early 90's, after she had her comeback hit with "Mad About You." She did a clip where she was doing something and then she walked over to a window, then the next shot was the inserted footage from this movie where she has her "PCP freak-out scene" and goes through the window! It was pretty hilarious! Anyway, those Afterschool Specials always meant well!

OK so the whole point was Nancy's Just Say No crap which didn't work any better than todays cigarettes is drugs crap that makes me want to smack the child with the snotty attitude that it's coming from. But my main two images are Helens swan dive and Tricia looking thru the steering wheel.. its SO prettttttyyyyyyyy... to this day still use that line with this movie's image in mind.

I think of this movie often in life, partly for the guy in my HS who jumped out the second story classroom to spend his remaining days in a wheel chair, and "weeeeeeeee! " Down the side of the cliff...

The rest of it is classic afterschoolspecial Cheesy drama class acting, shoot my middle schoolers drama performances are way better that those in this movie. .

I still love this movie. Good try Nancy! It stuck with me, but didn't help me just say no...

This movie scared the you-know-what out of me!!! i remember seeing it when i was about 11 years old and i will NEVER forget the scene of Helen Hunt jumping out of the window. I never knew the name of the movie until I watched an old episode of Saturday Night Live when she hosted and showed that scene as a spoof. I freaked out when I saw it as old sleepless nights came flashing back. I remember when I saw it, it scared me so bad I cried. Yes, it would probably be cheesy if it were showed today but it really did work for me. I smoked pot in college but that was it. Not to mention I was exposed to EVERYTHING you can imagine. However, I always remembered Helen Hunt going through the window and have thanked her ever since for my wise choice to abstain. i was always afraid I would have the same reaction of thinking my arm was a snake. I wish there was a way to show this to kids today but they may laugh at it. Perhaps it was my formidable years but it really worked for me. How funny that others had the same reaction. I always tell people that this is the reason I didn't ever do drugs but no one believes me. Thank you Helen Hunt for jumping through the window and trying to cut your arm off with a piece of glass!!! this movie may have saved my life!

Television movies about "addictions and diseases of the Week" are a dime a dozen. This one is different. It is the best movie I have ever seen about teenage drug abuse in our schools because it is realistic and unsentimental in its depiction. Not to give it away, but the fact it doesn't have a pleasant ending makes it even more powerful. Diana Scarwid is excellent as the caring young teacher who stands up when no one else will. Her monologue to the students and parents at the end should have gotten her an Emmy. Even though this film was made almost twenty years ago, it hasn't aged and is still as powerful today as it was in 1982. I think all kids who are tempted by drugs need to watch it with their parents.

This movie, a lovely "just-say-no" message wrapped up in a thin plot, contains more unintentional humor than anything else. Things to look for: Kids making PCP in the high school chemistry lab. Helen Hunt diving headfirst out of a second-story window (after her boyfriend convinces her to try his homemade PCP). A locker check (in a small-town high school) that turns up more drugs and paraphenalia than the evidence room at a busy LAPD precinct. The entire student body realizing what terrible things drugs are and adding another twenty pounds of assorted stuff to what's been pulled out of the lockers and burned. This movie isn't quite as trashy as "Reefer Madness," but it's in the same ballpark.