Desperate Lives
| Desperate Lives | |
|---|---|
DVD cover
|
|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Lew Hunter |
| Directed by | Robert Michael Lewis |
| Starring |
Tom Atkins Diane Ladd Doug McKeon Helen Hunt Diana Scarwid |
| Theme music composer | Bruce Broughton |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Arthur Fellows Terry Keegan |
| Producer(s) | Lew Hunter |
| Location(s) | William S. Hart High School in Newhall, Santa Clarita, California |
| Cinematography | Joseph Biroc |
| Editor(s) | Les Green |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Fellows-Keegan Company Lorimar Television |
| Distributor | CBS |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | March 3, 1982 |
Desperate Lives is a 1982 American made-for-television drama film about drug use in a high school. The film has a very strong anti-drug message.
The Cameron family seems, on the surface, to be the perfect family, but things are not as they seem. Their two teenage children, Scott and Sandy, fall in with the wrong crowds at their high school and eventually become involved with drug experimentation. Sandy, after ingesting angel dust made by her boyfriend in the school's chemistry lab, jumps through a glass window of the school (purposely cutting her arms with the cut glass in the process) and is subsequently paralyzed from the fall.
A caring idealistic guidance counselor, Eileen Phillips, sees the problem that is going on in the school and, after other tragic incidents involving two other students (one of which involves Scott and his girlfriend smoking drugs and crashing their car off a cliff) and when no one else on the staff is willing to do anything about it, takes the steps to deal with and confront the problem. The aftermath of this tragedy makes Scott and Sandy's parents realize that even their "perfect" kids can be affected by drugs, especially after Scott has a violent reaction and goes into the hospital.
At a school assembly, Eileen Phillips storms in and confronts the students about the increasing drug use, sending a message to the crowd about the effects of what the drug problem is doing to the kids and the tragedies that resulted because of it.
Desperate Lives was released on DVD in April 21, 2010 and is still available to buy on Amazon.com.
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Wikipedia