cannabisnews.com: Grass : Madness! Communism! Indolence! The Works! 





Grass : Madness! Communism! Indolence! The Works! 
Posted by FoM on May 31, 2000 at 07:43:27 PT
By Elvis Mitchell
Source: New York Times
One of the real heroes of "Grass," Ron Mann's punchy and enjoyable new documentary on the history of marijuana in the United States during the 20th century, is Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia of New York. While Harry J. Anslinger, the federal government's first drug czar, spent his career looking for a way to pin as many evils on marijuana as he could, and punishing those who disagreed with him, La Guardia calmly commissioned a study on marijuana use. 
The study concluded that "the sociological, psychological and medical ills commonly attributed to marijuana have been exaggerated insofar as the City of New York is concerned." It's no wonder that an airport was named after him. "Grass," which opens today at the Film Forum, begins with the adoption of anti-marijuana laws as part of an institutionalized racism toward Mexicans in the Southwest early in the century. Eventually, the film says, the laws were a bludgeon against anyone who threatened the status quo: the young during the 1960's, and before that, entertainers like Robert Mitchum and Gene Krupa. "Grass" misses out by not including a clip from the "The Gene Krupa Story," a middlebrow attempt to depict the lurid world of jazz in 1959. "Grass" offers meticulous sound design, and some snappy graphics put together by the film's art director, Paul Mavrides, who once toiled in the underground comics world. There's a brief, unidentified cameo by the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, the cannabis heroes of the comics whose adventures Mr. Mavrides helped depict. The picture is broken up into sections recounting the varying official takes on the effects of marijuana, like its leading to insanity, heroin abuse, Communism and finally, indolence. The movie doesn't focus exclusively on the gaunt, wide-eyed stereotype of the pot addict, though it does use that image to score a number of laughs. There are views of maniacal pot smokers like those that appeared in the 1950's publications of E.C. Comics, which figured prominently in "Comic Book Confidential," one of Mr. Mann's early films. Like "Comic Book Confidential" and Mr. Mann's documentary "Twist," "Grass" fixes on a frightened mainstream reaction to a cultural phenomenon and a overzealous, singleminded crusader. . Anslinger lends himself to the Javert treatment; it doesn't help that he, and most of the other law enforcement officers shown here, all age to look like J. Edgar Hoover. The film is narrated by the celebrity weed aficionado Woody Harrelson, whose very name in the credits will ensure a laugh from audiences. But "Grass" doesn't just limit itself to easy potshots like showing scenes from the infamous "Reefer Madness" (1936), although it does use a number of the propaganda films that sought to frighten the naïve. In those overwrought little dramatizations, marijuana smokers were driven to rape, violence and in the 1960's, even to the shocking implication of miscegenation. The film also leaps ahead to the days of "Just Say No," just to show that the swing of the anti-pot pendulum in the other direction was useless. "Grass" is a huge step forward in cool and confidence for Mr. Mann, who makes his case here with seductive, fun Pop Art graphics and very smart use of music and clips: Cab Calloway and other jazz hipsters are among those seen extolling the virtues of marijuana, though Rick James, whose "Busting Out" is heard on the soundtrack, probably isn't exactly the best choice for a pro-pot poster child. President Richard M. Nixon, to show his tough-on-crime stance, is seen waging his own war against pot and deputizing another unlikely drug warrior, Elvis Presley. With its pointed narrative, the film makes its case with a minimum of pushiness and a subtle nod to its crowd. "Grass" begins and ends with the credits, as if assuming its target audience might suffer short-term memory loss for some reason. Published: May 31, 2000Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company Related Articles & Web Site:Grass The Movie - A Ron Mann Filmhttp://www.grassthemovie.com/ Harrelson Makes Voice Heard on History of Hemp http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5887.shtmlGrass: The Soundtrack & Grass The Movie Web Sitehttp://www.overgrow.com/news/news210.shtml 
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