Desperate Lives (1982)

Please don't spend money on this.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The person who initially volunteered their comment obviously grew up in a catholic schoolyard full of nuns and sodomizing priests! For I witnessed this type of behavior firsthand! Although, I was a participant as well, I tell you this is exactly what happened in "mainstream" America as well as a smalltown where I grew up. The eighties were a confusing time to grow up. What with the Reagan Administration bringing the fear of all out global war and the way the VIOLENCE in America was shaping up, I TELL YOU IT IS A MIRACLE FROM "GOD" THAT THIS WORLD SURVIVED THE EIGHTIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Praise "GOD" that we survived this long, but the sad part is that today in 2006 going on 2007, those same messed up folks are now running the country. You ought to be ashamed for even trying to belittle this movie. It said a lot for America at that time and today!

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!

This was Diana's first movie after Mommie Dearest, and it was fairly brave, at the time, for a TV movie. Yes, it's a bit of a mess, but it certainly deals with a messy subject -- one that can be dealt with any number of ways. When the students at an assembly, and Diana Scarwid goes around to their lockers with a shopping cart, it is an absolute scream. When she finally confronts the students, she is foaming with righteous anger and chews up the scenery like no other actress before her. When they burn all the contraband and the students begin to add their own stashes to the bonfire, Scarwid is victorious. GREAT performance in a campy movie...

I watched this movie back when it first came out on cable I believe . And I loved it . I have since tried to find it to rent or even buy but I never find it. I could always remember Helen Hunt ( she made quite an impression) but always thought the brother was played by Christian Slater.I believe that this is a movie I could watch over and over and still enjoy it. The closing scene in the pep rally was so intense that for say 15 or 20 years it has stuck with me. I as a mother would actually like to get a copy to show to my own children. This movie reminds me of a time when movies had plots and weren't always raunchy with over rated sex scenes. Defiantly a movie to watch if you have teenagers. And as a teenager myself a few years back , who grew up in a small town , it wasn't all that unrealistic to see the drug use in small town America. And I believe today this movie would still have an extreme impact on teen viewers. Two thumbs way up and 10 stars .