History Film / ReeferMadness

* SweaterGirl: One scene shows Mary waiting for Bill at the tennis court in a tight sweater and shorts.

* SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty: ''Very much'' on the shiny side, especially considering the producers' intent. The aforementioned nicest drug hangout in cinematic history and new car and all the young drug users are well- (and one would presume by 1936 standards fashionably-) dressed.
* SmokingIsCool: Averted. This was one of the first attempts (if not ''the'' first) at making smoking look ''uncool'', and viewers might have a hard time believing they didn't set the studio on fire... Using "joints" which look ''exactly'' like factory-produced cigarettes is a contributing factor. On the other hand, it's notable that the two leads, Bill and Mary, are depicted as ''incredibly'' square even for 1930s standards -- "Gooooosh, ''hot chocolate!'' -- and yet are implied to smoke (regular tobacco) even before they get introduced to pot.

* TotallyRadical: Aside from the constant uses of alternate names for the drug, the poster in the page image calls "marihuana" a sweet "pill", dated slang for even 1936 for a good time.

Originally called ''Tell Your Children'', this anti-[[AntiquatedLinguistics marihuana]] film from [[TheGreatDepression 1936]], was directed by Louis Gasnier and originally financed by a [[MoralGuardians concerned church group]] and intended for parents, but was picked up by producer Dwain Esper who recut it as an ExploitationFilm. Today, it's in the public domain and considered SoBadItsGood, and has even inspired [[Film/ReeferMadnessTheMusical a 1998 musical satire which itself was adapted into a well-received TV special]].

As the film is in the public domain in the United States, freely witness the frightful toll of the new drug menace which is sweeping America [[https://archive.org/details/reefer_madness1938 on the Internet Archive]]. Don't do drugs, kids!

Witness the frightful toll of the new drug menace which is sweeping America [[https://archive.org/details/reefer_madness1938 online.]] Don't do drugs, kids!

* CourtroomAntic: A downplayed example; the prosecutor asks witness Dr. Carroll leading questions about Bill, which Carroll answers by affirming his suspicions of the boy's drug use. The judge warns Carroll that he's on the stand solely as a character witness and not to try to presume what has transpired. The prosecutor's very next inquiry is another leading question about Bill's drug use, and Carroll (being the SingleIssueWonk he is) readily answers.

* LostAesop: Invoked, for cripes sake! The lead jurist won't accept one juror's "reasonable doubt" argument, but then he envisions a hanging noose, reminding him that a man's life [[{{Pun}} hangs]] in the balance. He then proceeds to '''deliberately ignore his own epiphany''' and continues bullying the jury with his viewpoint.

* WatchItStoned: The movie might be just a teensy bit counterproductive.

* TheAggressiveDrugDealer: Jack won't hesitate to sell pot to whomever he can set his sights on. Blanch also qualifies, even if she's not an actual dealer; at one point, she uses ReversePsychology to goad Bill into trying a joint.

* AxCrazy: When going over the government files on "marahuana," they talk about a teenager who became addicted to the drug and killed his family with an ax for some reason. It might have been an allusion to an actual person who was believed to have murdered his family while stoned (he was schizophrenic).

* BreakingTheFourthWall / TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: At the end, the principal says that this could happen to anyone's children, like yours, or yours, or ''[[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou yours]]'' (repeating the OpeningCrawl; as such, it also counts as an example of {{Bookends}}).

* EpicFail: This movie's message is that [[DrugsAreBad Drugs Are Bad]]. It is ''impossible'' to take it seriously because of how over-the-top it is.

* FunctionalGenreSavvy / SingleIssueWonk: While he does prove to be correct, Dr. Carroll never even considers the possibility that Bill's aberrant behavior might be the result of any problem other than marijuana use.

* StonerFlick: Ironically. Many people first hear about it first from someone who's watched it stoned.

* KarmaHoudini:
** Jimmy runs a man over with his car while stoned and gets away clean. Odd for a 1930s movie (since UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode had a rule about bad people not being able to get away with committing crimes) and especially odd for this movie.
** Although we see Mae being grilled by the cops, we never hear what punishment is eventually dished out to her (possibly because of her [[EvenEvilHasStandards attitude toward underage clients]]).

* CelebrityResemblance: In the ''Podcast/RiffTrax'' commentary, the soda shop piano player is compared to [[Series/{{Seinfeld}} Kramer]] and the Creator/MarxBrothers while Dr. Caroll is compared to [[{{Series/Alf}} Willie Tanner]] and TheJudge is compared to Dick Cheney.

* TheJudge: Of the gruff older white man sort, who, coincidentally, is played by the same actor who appeared as a judge in Film/TheThreeStooges' ''Disorder in the Court'' later that same year.