wifenlaw 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...

littlesizzler1975 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.

johnny cook In addition to the synopsis Rick Springfield sang the title track.I remember this movie from my child hood and it deeply affected my understanding of hard drugs. When I was born DARE wasn't really as prominent because it lacked organization. I think due to this School related Drug education seemed to me more influential than prohibitive but this movie affected me toward the contrary.The Synopsis is that a life devoted or sidetracked to drugs is a life that will have a notorious end.It did have a message strong enough to have a lasting impact on then my still developing intellect.

jeffman52001 This TV movie really shows how drugs will effect the lives of all who take it and the family members who lose someone to drugs. "Desperate Lives" has a great cast.Scott Cameron,played by Doug McKeon(On Golden Pond), is a kid who hangs around with kids who do drugs. Sandy Cameron, Scott's sister, Sandy,played by the beautiful Helen Hunt(Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Mr. Saturday Night, and Mad About You)is dating a boy named Steve, played by Grant Kramer(Hardbodies and The Young And The Restless), who is into drugs. Some of the high school kids have drug problems, nobody want to admit it, but a new councilor, Eileen Phillips, played superbly by Diana Scarwid(Mommy Dearest, Silkwood, and Extremities), can see that there is a problem with the kids with drugs.Scott's and and Sandy's mother and father, played by Diane Ladd(The Ghosts Of Mississippi) and Tom Atkins(Creepshow, Halloween III, and Lethal Weapon), think that they have the perfect family, they think that their kids can't get into drugs but later on, they realized they wrong.Steve gets Sandy to try a synthetic version of Angel Dust and she ends up going a little psychotic and injures herself bad. Things gets worse when a girl at the school named Julie Jordan, played by Michele Greene, dies cause of drugs. Scott goes for a ride with a friend named Susan,played by Tricia Cast(The Young And The Restless), they smoke a joint full of the Angel Dust and get into a wreck, and Susan dies. Scott is taken to the hospital, the doctor says he might recover or not. Scott later on remembers everything and goes spastic. Mr and Mrs Cameron realized how wrong they were about their kids not being effected by drugs.The school still doesn't see the drug problems they have at the school, Eileen Phillips, at a pep assembly, at the high school, makes the school wake up and see what is happening to the kids cause of drugs.This movie is super,the supporting cast is great.Clayton Rohner(Just One Of The Guys, Modern Girls, and G vs E)plays Monte.Mykelti Williamson(Streets Of Fire, Midnight Caller, and Con Air)as Jack.Art Hindle(Porky's 1 and 2, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, and The Octagon)plays Eileen's boyfriend, Stan.I give this movie 2 thumbs up and a 10/10 stars.