Drugs occupy a significant part of the life of society (far from the best) and many writers and directors use this theme in their films. Today we present to your attention 22 films, which in our opinion best show the world of drug addicts and drug dealers.
22 Dazed and Confused, 1993
In a small Texas enclave, highlights the rites of passage on the last day of school in 1976 for the new, incoming freshmen at the hands of the class of ’77 at Robert E. Lee High School. Freshman boys are physically punished, while the girls largely face the brunt of verbal abuse and humiliation. Two main figures emerge. Incoming freshman Mitch Kramer comes to a new realization in his role as a major target of senior hazing. And, among the seniors is Randall “Pink” Floyd, the school’s star quarterback, who moves with facile grace among groups of greasers, nerds, stoners, and athletes alike.
Directed by Richard Linklater
Cast: Jason London, Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck
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21 Friday, 1995
Having just been canned from his job on his day off, Craig and his best friend Smokey spend the day smoking up in their South Central neighborhood while dealing with a neighborhood bully, relationship troubles, an angry drug dealer, and a lot of other odd characters.
Directed by F. Gary Gray
Cast: Ice Cube, Chris Tucker, Nia Long
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20 Up in Smoke, 1978
Cheech and Chong meet up by chance on the highway somewhere in California. They go in search of some dope and are accidentally deported to Mexico where in their desperation to get home they agree to drive a van back to the States so they can get back in time for a gig they are due to play. Unaware of the properties from which the van is constructed they make their way back having aquired a couple of female hitch-hikers whilst all the time avoiding the cops whom they are not even aware are following them.
Directed by Lou Adler, Tommy Chong
Cast: Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Stacy Keach
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19 Menace II Society, 1993
A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.
Directed by Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Cast: Tyrin Turner, Larenz Tate, June Kyoto Lu
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18 Drugstore Cowboy, 1989
Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch play a heroin-driven Bonnie and Clyde, knocking over drugstores in the Pacific Northwest. Ultimately, they must dispose of the body of one of their crew, sneaking it out from a motel where a sheriffs’ convention is being held.
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Cast: Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, James LeGros
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17 Traffic, 2000
An intertwined drama about the United States’ war on drugs, seen through the eyes of a once conservative judge, now newly-appointed drug czar, his heroin-addicted daughter, two DEA agents, a jailed drug kingpin’s wife, and a Mexican cop who begins to question his boss’s motives.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Michael Douglas, Benicio Del Toro, Catherine Zeta-Jones
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16 Alpha Dog, 2005
Johnny Truelove likes to see himself as tough. He’s the son of an underworld figure and a drug dealer. Johnny also likes to get tough when things don’t go his way. When Jake Mazursky fails to pay up for Johnny, things get worse for the Mazursky family, as Johnny and his ‘gang’ kidnap Jake’s 15 year old brother and holds him hostage. Problem now is what to do with ‘stolen boy?’
Directed by Nick Cassavetes
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Anton Yelchin, Justin Timberlake
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15 Spun, 2002
A drug dealer introduces one of his customers, a ‘speed freak’, to the man who runs the meth lab. A crazy three-day adventure ensues.
Directed by Jonas Åkerlund
Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Mickey Rourke, Brittany Murphy
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14 The Doors, 1991
The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band The Doors and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison, from his days as a UCLA film student in Los Angeles, to his untimely death in Paris, France at age 27 in 1971.
Directed by Oliver Stone
Cast: Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Kyle MacLachlan
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13 SLC Punk!, 1998
SLC Punk is a film about a couple of kids who become sick of their dull, ordinary life. They make plans to try to change things and create anarchy.
Directed by James Merendino
Cast: Matthew Lillard, Michael A. Goorjian, Annabeth Gish
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12 Training Day, 2001
A former Los Angeles security guard named Jake Hoyt has applied for a LAPD position as a Narcotics officer. However, in order to be accepted, he must go through approximately 24 hours of training from a veteran Narcotics officer. Unfortunately for Jake, he is appointed to Alonzo Harris, an officer who has a nasty reputation for not treating victims very well, abusing suspects, handling drugs and other evidence in a questionable matter, and opening fire randomly. So, Jake must watch his own back with Alonzo on this “Training Day”.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn
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11 The Basketball Diaries, 1995
Jim Carroll is a high school basketball player. His life centers around the basketball, and his dream is being a basketball star. Once in a while he gets stoned with his friends, and step by step, he falls into the dark world of crime and drugs. Once his mother expelled him out of the house, he goes into the streets of New York, and together with his friends they take drugs for which they steal, rob and even kill. As the time pass, Jim’s situation becomes worse. It looks like he will never get out from his drug addiction.
Directed by Scott Kalvert
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorraine Bracco, Mark Wahlberg
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10 American Gangster, 2007
Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. As a result, his product is superior to what is currently available on the street and his prices are lower. His alliance with the New York Mafia ensures his position. It is also the story of a dedicated and honest policeman, Richie Roberts, who heads up a joint narcotics task force with the Federal government. Based on a true story.
Directed by Ridley Scott
Cast: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor
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9 Goodfellas, 1990
The story of Irish-Italian American, Henry Hill, and how he lives day-to-day life as a member of the Mafia. Based on a true story, the plot revolves around Henry and his two unstable friends Jimmy and Tommy as they gradually climb the ladder from petty crime to violent murders.
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Cast: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci
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8 Savages, 2012
Entrepreneurs Ben, a peaceful and charitable marijuana producer, and friend Chon, a former Navy SEAL, run a lucrative, homegrown industry – raising some of the best weed ever developed. They also share a one-of-a-kind love with Ophelia. Life is idyllic in their Southern California town… until the Mexican Baja Cartel decides to move in and demands that the trio partners with them. When the merciless head of the BC, Elena, and her enforcer, Lado, underestimate the unbreakable bond of the three friends, Ben and Chon – with the reluctant assistance of a dirty DEA agent – wage a seemingly unwinnable war against the cartel. And so begins a series of increasingly vicious ploys and maneuvers in a high stakes, savage battle of wills.
Directed by Oliver Stone
Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Taylor-Johnson
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7 Scarface, 1983
A remake of the 1932 classic, the 1983 version follows Cuban refugee, Tony Montana and his close friend Manny Ray, and together they build a strong drug empire in Miami. Of course Montana must deal with the hardships of this type of business. And as Montana’s power begins to grow so does his ego and his paranoia.
Directed by Brian De Palma
Cast: Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer
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6 Pulp Fiction, 1994
Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega are two hit men who are out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer, mob boss Marsellus Wallace. Wallace has also asked Vincent to take his wife Mia out a few days later when Wallace himself will be out of town. Butch Coolidge is an aging boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his fight. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together comprising of a series of funny, bizarre and uncalled-for incidents.
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Cast: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman
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5 Trainspotting, 1996
A wild, freeform, Rabelaisian trip through the darkest recesses of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton and his attempt to give up his heroin habit, and how the latter affects his relationship with family and friends: Sean Connery wannabe Sick Boy, dimbulb Spud, psycho Begbie, 14-year-old girlfriend Diane, and clean-cut athlete Tommy, who’s never touched drugs but can’t help being curious about them…
Directed by Danny Boyle
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller
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4 Enter the Void, 2009
Tokyo’s nasty underside, seen primarily through the eyes of Oscar, a heavy drug user, whose sister Linda is a stripper. Oscar also has flashbacks to his childhood when trauma upends the siblings. Oscar’s drug-fed hallucinations alter Tokyo’s already-disconcerting nights, and after the police shoot him, he can float above and look down: on his sister’s sorrow, on the rooms of a love hotel, and on life at even a molecular level. The spectrum’s colors can be beautiful; it’s people’s colorless lives that can be ugly. And what of afterlife, is there more than a void?
Directed by Gaspar Noé
Cast: Paz de la Huerta, Nathaniel Brown, Cyril Roy
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3 Blow, 2001
The story of how George Jung, along with the Medellín Cartel headed by Pablo Escobar, established the American cocaine market in the 1970s in the United States.
Directed by Ted Demme
Cast: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Franka Potente
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2 Requiem for a Dream, 2000
Drugs. They consume mind, body and soul. Once you’re hooked, you’re hooked. Four lives. Four addicts. Four failures. Despite their aspirations of greatness, they succumb to their addictions. Watching the addicts spiral out of control, we bear witness to the dirtiest, ugliest portions of the underworld addicts reside in. It is shocking and eye-opening but demands to be seen by both addicts and non-addicts alike.
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans
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1 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1998
The big-screen version of Hunter S. Thompson’s seminal psychedelic classic about his road trip across Western America as he and his large Samoan lawyer searched desperately for the “American dream”… they were helped in large part by the huge amount of drugs and alcohol kept in their convertible, The Red Shark.
Directed by Terry Gilliam
Cast: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci
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