EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Aiden Melton The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

sol ****SPOILERS*** Working as a dancer at the Saint Perrier nightclub pretty blond Anne Lester, Lila Leeds,wants to earn enough money to pay her kid brother Bob's, David Holt, collage tuition. It when local drug dealer Markey, Alan Baxter, checks out the joint for new talent, or future drug addicts, he spots Anne and starts to work on her. That's by telling her that she can make far more money as a party thrower for him and his boss Johnathan Treanor, Michael Whalen, then as a dancing girl at the club. Both Markey and Treanor have been laying low of late in that a number of teenagers whom they supplied with pot ended up dead and severely injured in a drug induced car accident.Becoming part of the Treanor drug gang at first things are very peachy for Anne who's making big bucks in attracting new clients,or junkies, for them until her kid brother Bob shows up unexpectedly at the house and finds her strung out on pot. From then on everything goes down hill for Anne with Bob later committing suicide, by hanging himself, in his shock of seeing his big sister ending up as a pot head as well as drug dealer. It's not that long that Anne herself ends up convicted of drug possession and is sent to a drug rehabilitation center to both dry out as well as see the light in how she's not only destroying herself but those abound her. ***SPOILERS*** Getting out ten days earlier for good behavior Anne is now given a chance by the kindly and understanding vice squad Captain Hayes, Lyle Tolbot, to work undercover and get the goods on her employers Markey & Treanor as well as big mob boss Romaro and put then out of commission and behind bars for good. But by agreeing in doing that Anne is also putting her life on the line as well.P.S Actress Lila Leeds was very well suited in her role in the movie as pot smoker Lila Lester in that just a year before she was busted together with actor Robert Mitchum among others in a midnight raid by the L.A vice squad during a an all night pot smoking party.

kidboots Lila Leeds claim to fame should be as the beautiful blonde secretary that Robert Montgomery could not take his eyes off in "Lady in the Lake". Instead it was as a "starlet goes bad" warning to other young actresses of the time. She was "busted" along with Robert Mitchum in an infamous drugs raid and spent time in prison. Robert Mitchum bounced back and made being in prison "cool" - making him an "anti- hero". Poor Lila was persuaded to appear in this potboiler as part of her probation.A slimy drug peddler "Marky" is selling his wares to high school kids - they are in a horrific car accident, one of the girls loses her legs!! He is also selling to chorus girls and is determined to get beautiful Ann Lester (Lila Leeds) hooked!!! - which he does quite easily!!! At the most boring party ever a stoned pianist (Rudolf Friml Jnr.) imagines that he is playing at the Hollywood Bowl. It is a good attempt to show the "delusions of grandeur" that is a side effect of the drug.Ann and her friend Rita are sacked from their chorus jobs (they are too drugged up to dance) so Marky introduces Ann to selling the drug and "entertaining" the clients. When Bob (David Holt) comes home and finds how his sister Ann is really paying for his college fees, he hangs himself. Ann blames herself for his death and is then persuaded by Captain Hayes (Lyle Talbot) to go undercover, after viewing what an addict's life is really like and getting first hand experience of prison life.It is a pity Leeds couldn't put it all behind her as she is so pretty and is a passable actress. I agree "Hollywood Stars" is an exaggeration but their names would be familiar to film devotees of the 1930s.Lyle Talbot had been a star of pre-codes but this was in one of his down periods. David Holt was a child actor in the early 30s when studios were looking for the next Shirley Temple. Michael Qualen was a handsome leading man in a couple of Shirley Temple movies - "Poor Little Rich Girl" (1936) and "Wee Willie Winkie" (1937). "Wild Weed" was also one of Jack Elam's first films. Altogether the acting was of a higher level than most exploitation films. They might not have been Hollywood greats but they were professionals and it showed.

MartinHafer This film's structure, at least for the first half is very similar to the classic bad film, REEFER MADNESS. Both had preachy prologues and both showed wild pot parties where the guests behaved as if they were on LSD, not marijuana. While I think pot use is very stupid, I can't see how this film in any way could discourage it, as the way people act on this drug is so silly that any child would laugh at the ineptitude of the film and the central message would be lost.Oddly, at about the middle of the film, the movie became much less silly in its portrayal of drug use and became a somewhat standard (though very poorly made) cop film. While this improved the film a bit, it was a case of just too little too late. The bottom line is that the film suffers from a horrible script and production values. About the only interesting things about it were how silly it all became and to see both a down-and-out Lyle Talbot as well as Jack Elam in his first film. It's all just a very silly mess.

dwpollar 1st watched 2/19/2007 - 2 out of 10(Dir-Sherman Scott): Over-the-top marijuana educational film goes way beyond it's earlier predecessor's with an obvious bigger budget but having the same results. Please -- get a life people!! Stop making these silly movies and bust the offenders instead!! I absolutely hate these government funded opportunities to make bad movies. In this one, a dancer is turned onto the drug at a party as she's trying to get her brother thru college. She's promised lots more money from the seller and is enticed into his world where only heartbreak occurs instead. Her brother kills himself and she blames herself, and her reason for staying in the business is now more self-induced. She is eventually picked up by the cops with the rest of her friends, spends some time in jail where she freaks out but doesn't reveal the seller and his whereabouts. The rest of the movie I won't reveal in case you want to see it. There are some special effects thrown in on this movie but otherwise it's very similar to it's earlier exploitation movies about the horrors of the drug. Too bad the money to make this movie wasn't spent on something more useful, like rehab for users etc