Desperate Lives

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...

Until today I couldn't remember what the name of the movie was but I remembered the girl from Mommy dearest being in it. I finally pulled out IMDb and looked. All i really remember from the movie was the girl (apparently Helen Hunt) flying through a window. While some will classify this as a "warm fuzzy about saying no" I can say that that scene is EXACTLY what scared me to the point of NOT doing hard core drugs... I dabbled in pot when i was 13 or so and did so for awhile but I would never go harder because i was scared of how I would react. So in my case this movie did its job. I am sure kids today would see it as cheesy but in 1982 I was 6 so i would venture to guess i saw it when i was probably about 10 and it scared me to think those things could happen. I grew up in a small town not knowing about drugs and this really opened my eyes. I can't wait to see it again as i only saw it that one time YEARS ago.

OK so the whole point was Nancy's Just Say No crap which didn't work any better than todays cigarettes is drugs crap that makes me want to smack the child with the snotty attitude that it's coming from. But my main two images are Helens swan dive and Tricia looking thru the steering wheel.. its SO prettttttyyyyyyyy... to this day still use that line with this movie's image in mind.

I think of this movie often in life, partly for the guy in my HS who jumped out the second story classroom to spend his remaining days in a wheel chair, and "weeeeeeeee! " Down the side of the cliff...

The rest of it is classic afterschoolspecial Cheesy drama class acting, shoot my middle schoolers drama performances are way better that those in this movie. .

I still love this movie. Good try Nancy! It stuck with me, but didn't help me just say no...

This movie scared the you-know-what out of me!!! i remember seeing it when i was about 11 years old and i will NEVER forget the scene of Helen Hunt jumping out of the window. I never knew the name of the movie until I watched an old episode of Saturday Night Live when she hosted and showed that scene as a spoof. I freaked out when I saw it as old sleepless nights came flashing back. I remember when I saw it, it scared me so bad I cried. Yes, it would probably be cheesy if it were showed today but it really did work for me. I smoked pot in college but that was it. Not to mention I was exposed to EVERYTHING you can imagine. However, I always remembered Helen Hunt going through the window and have thanked her ever since for my wise choice to abstain. i was always afraid I would have the same reaction of thinking my arm was a snake. I wish there was a way to show this to kids today but they may laugh at it. Perhaps it was my formidable years but it really worked for me. How funny that others had the same reaction. I always tell people that this is the reason I didn't ever do drugs but no one believes me. Thank you Helen Hunt for jumping through the window and trying to cut your arm off with a piece of glass!!! this movie may have saved my life!

I cannot believe that one comment I just read for this one, that this piece of junk is "powerful" and "realistic" - WHAT?! This utterly awful TV movie is pure, 100% hokum. I went to high school in the '80s, when this thing came out and this TV movie seems to have been made on another planet by aliens who had absolutely no contact with real teenagers. I wish I'd seen this then - I could have used the laughs. But at least it's acquired a thick patina of camp value over the years, what with its beyond-earnest, totally out of touch plot and dialogue. This is the "Reefer Madness" of the '80s. Helen Hunt's PCP suicide/freakout is a pee-in-your-pants crack-up. (I don't suppose they'll be showing that clip when she's up for the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, should that ever happen.)