5. Pineapple Express [2008]
Combine lots of on-screen toking, snappy comedy writing and an ultra-violent action adventure film, and it adds up to a winning formula for Pineapple Express.
The talented Seth Rogen co-wrote (with Evan Goldberg) and co-starred (with James Franco) in this likable buddy comedy.
Dale Denton (Rogen) is a high-all-the-time process server who witnesses a drug-related execution. The roach of Pineapple Express weed he leaves behind at the scene of the crime leads murderous drug lord Ted Jones (Gary Cole) straight to Dale's pot dealer, Saul Silver (Franco).
Look for cameo appearances by Ed Begley Jr. and James Remar, and don't miss Rosie Perez as a delightfully detestable, hilariously horny crooked cop.
According to producer Judd Apatow, the inspiration for Pineapple Express was Brad Pitt's stoner character, Floyd, in True Romance. "I thought it would be funny to make a movie in which you follow that character out of his apartment and watch him get chased by bad guys," Apatow told Entertainment Weekly.
4. How High [2001]
Method Man and Redman prove their musical chemistry extends to the screen as well in this giddy, light-hearted "street kids go to Harvard" romp.
OK, so maybe the plot is a little threadbare in spots, but who cares.
There are plenty of stoned laughs and a plethora of "fish out of water" jokes.
After Silas and his friend Jamal lose their best friend to a disquieting pot-related dreadlock fire, they grow a pot plant in his ashes, and the resulting herb gives them all the knowledge they need to make it in the high-stakes academic world.
With a storyline featuring magical weed that makes you smart and helps you study, you certainly don't have to spend any time straining your brain by figuring out heavy social statements.
While the guys are enjoying their new Ivy League lifestyle, their supernatural smoke eventually and inevitably runs out, leaving them on their own with only each other to survive.
Added bonus: How High features a cameo by Monk's psychiatrist (the new one, not the guy who died), the always-great Hector Elizondo.
3. Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle [2004]
A stoner comedy about getting the munchies? Yeah, and it's about 1,000 times funnier than you think, if you've never seen it.
The two pothead title characters, investment banker John Cho (Harold) and prospective doctor Kal Penn (Kumar), decide to munch out at White Castle after getting high, but when they can't find the restaurant, they have a series of drawn-out comical misadventures.
The film is directed by Danny "I must love potheads" Leiner, who also gifted us with the stoner classic Dude, Where's My Car back in 2000.
Among the high points is when Harold and Kumar pick up Neil Patrick Harris, playing a high-on-ecstasy, hitchhiking Neil Patrick Harris. (Dude, he steals their car. But later he shows back up, apologizes, gives them $200 for "love stains in the back seat" and gives the car back. Sweet.)
Also watch for a cameo by comedy great Fred Willard.
2. Friday [1995]
Friday is a hypnotic, funny, expertly done look at one particular day in the lives of friends Craig Jones (Ice Cube) and Smokey (Chris Tucker) in Los Angeles.
Craig, who doesn't smoke weed when the film begins, has recently been fired from his job and his parents are consequently threatening to throw him out. His best bud Smokey is a devoted stoner who's smoking his way through a batch of indo he was supposed to be selling.
In an attempt to explain to the dealer why the weed is gone yet there's still no money, Smokey accidentally incriminates Craig. The dealer, Big Worm (Faizon Love) gets tired of Smokey "playing with his emotions" and gives the guys an ultimatum: Pay up by 10 p.m. Friday, or be killed.
At the end of the movie, just when you think it's becoming another dumb-assed, pre-packaged sellout -- Smokey announces he's going into rehab -- Smokey looks up, lights a joint and ends the film by shouting, "I was just bullshittin'! And you know this... man!"
1. Up In Smoke [1978]
Cheech & Chong's first feature film was a real trail blazer in many ways.
Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong had already been a comedy team for a decade before they reworked some of their best material for Up In Smoke.
Tommy Chong plays Man, an unemployed pothead drummer (bit of trivia: his character's "real" name in the movie is Anthony Stoner, but that's only mentioned once). Cheech plays Pedro de Pacas, who picks up the hitchhiking Man, starting their adventures.
While many stoner films don't hold up very well if you aren't high when you see 'em, Up In Smoke is a definite exception. The movie is genuinely hilarious, stoned or not, and features a strong supporting cast including Stacy Keach's iconic Sgt. Stedenko and Tom Skerritt's PTSD-ridden Vietnam veteran, Strawberry.
Director Lou Adler's low-budget movie surprised critics, earned millions, spawned a series of follow-up films (all worth watching, stoner-wise), and forever etched the names of Cheech & Chong in hemp history.
Paramount's market research team determined that for obscure reasons, the greatest hotbeds of Cheech & Chong fandom were in Texas and Canada. Since Up In Smoke was the duo's first film, Paramount wanted the first screenings to be filled with their most ardent fans -- so the film opened first in Texas, to huge business, then in Canada, boosted by strong word of mouth among the pothead contingent.
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27 comments
Comments
The Discerning Toker said:
Personally, I find movies that are just trippy visually to watch when you're high and have great plots and music are better than movies that have all these literal, juvenile pot references through the whole film. I mean, "Half Baked"? You gotta move past the Cheech & Chong phase, man! There's a lot of stony films out there better than that!
Of all those listed, I'd say "The Big Lebowski" was number one!
alapoet replied to The Discerning Toker:
I don't have to get past the Cheech and Chong phase, dude. Those are good movies, and I enjoy them = no problem.
Does that mean I watch *only* Cheech and Chong movies? Of course not!
Does that mean I *don't* watch movies with trippy visuals? Of course not!
But those aren't "stoner movies." Those are "movies that are great to watch while you're high."
Different list.
Johnny replied to The Discerning Toker:
Thats right dude. Art is trippy by nature
Bobby Jackson said:
This is a great list, Steve. Two others I'd like to submit for an extended list are...
"Dude, Where's My Car?" (which you mentioned in your article)
and
"Homegrown" Starring Billy Bob Thornton; Hank Azaria; Ryan Phillippe; Jamie Lee Curtis; John Lithgow; Ted Danson; Judge Reinhold; Kelly Lynch; and Jon Bon Jovi.
Keep up the great work! ;o)
Sparket said:
There 18 pot movies from this link if u interested.
http://cannabistv.org/videos.html
THE INDIVIDUALS said:
YOU GOT IT RIGHT!
MaryJane Cannabian said:
I'm so glad Humboldt County is on your list, it's one of my all time favourite movies, Stoner or otherwise. It includes one of my favourite movie scenes ever too - the discussion about "Sitting Idle".
Good list all around though! The only one I feel that's missing is "Smiley Face" with Anna Ferris. :-) And leaving Half Baked off would have been blasphemous, no Stoner Movie List is complete with out it!
MaryJane Cannabian said:
Oh my, and I almost forgot - "Grandma's Boy"!!! That one is in my Top 3!!!
Sebastian said:
This is a monster stoner movie list. Good job dude, nice writing. The only two movies I would've liked to see on the list are Grandma's Boy and Surfer, Dude (one of my favorites). Other than that, I think it's a classic list that accurately represents the core of the stoner culture. Sweet!
Darral Good said:
If I chose the list I would remove Pineapple Express- it's no really a stoner movie it's a funny take on WAR! and insert EASY RIDER
other than that it is almost perfect -
it seems that all movies are stoner movies these days even Harry Potter!
http://www.sling.com/blog/tag-harry%20potter
I hope everyone has a good time at the movies this weekend!
anon said:
no bong water brah?
Lira said:
Easy Rider, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?
just to start
kf said:
i totally agree w/ all of these, smiley face should be on there too. great list !
klebowski replied to kf:
helll yeah smiley face just watched that movie!!!
todd said:
Here are 101 of the best stoner movies of all time www.dankmovie.com also here are the best stoner documentaries of all time http://www.dankmovie.com/Dank_Documentary.html
Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ replied to todd:
"Site off-line:
dankmovie.com is currently under maintenance. We should be back shortly. Thank you for your patience."
reallydifferent said:
Ummm... Super Troopers anyone?
KIU23 said:
We share all those and 40 more on www.420project.org. Check our IRC channel
Johnny Green said:
For another list, and some honorable mentions, go to http://www.theweedblog.com/top-stoner-movies-of-all-time/
Charlie said:
What about Detroit Rock City??????
Grandma's Boy???
Ad said:
iam an old stoner from way back (DRUG FUCKED) its all fucken good.dude BONG ON ALL.
the dude said:
wtf where is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas???
its like the greatest movie of all time
BRIAN SMITH said:
SAVING GRACE,HOMEGROWN,PICK OF DESTINY,ANY CHEECH&CHONG,HEAVY METAL.
Jay B'Crazee said:
ACID: DELIRIUM OF THE SENSES aka Acid Delirio dei Sensi; LSD - Il Paradiso a 5 Dollari. "Accendere, sinonizzare dentro e cadono fuor!"; which is Italian for "turn on, tune in and drop out" maaaaan. Mind melting (or is that numbing?) insights into the horrors of hallucinogens: People dive off bridges, walk into cars and slash themselves with razors when they aren’t busy getting naked and covering themselves in whipped cream or panhandling for spare change. None of it makes a lick of sense but the psych out scenes are grooooovy, baby!
BIGGER THAN LIFE "A handful of hope... that becomes a fistful of hell!" This obscure big-studio shocker about the then-headline- grabbing effects of cortisone abuse deserves a massive cult! James Mason produced it and stars as hardworking schoolteacher and family man on a lightning-quick spiral into grandiose flaming assholism when doctors prescribe the miracle drug after a life-threatening illness. His new pills are basically primo coke in tablet form and soon, he's gone full-blown manic, revealing his hatred of children to the PTA, telling wife Barbara Rush she's too stupid to stay married to, and browbeating his 10-year-old son like Joan Crawford with a penis. Okay, a bigger penis. In one great scene that will delight pill- poppers everywhere, he cons a pharmacist into giving him a giant bottle of the little white devils by claiming to be a doctor who's forgotten his Rx pad! When Junior and the Mrs. try to intervene, James starts to think maybe the whole family would be better off dead! Subversive jabs at 50's complacency and Mason's blistering performance make this much more than a camp classic, but it's still pretty delicious on that front, too.
CARTOON ALL-STARS TO THE RESCUE. Okay, so maybe making fun of this is like shooting Muppet Babies in a barrel. But hey, we LIKE shooting Muppet Babies in a barrel! So here goes: The first thing that needs to be said is that if you don't already do drugs you'll definitely be reconsidering before this half-hour long mind messer-upper is over. And if you DO do drugs, get 'em. Quick. Your already scorched and softened brain cells are going to need them to deal with the onslaught of a McDonald's funded anti-drug uberspecial (it originally aired on all four networks simultaneously) that opens with George and Barbara Bush (looking alternately uncomfortable and glassy-eyed) doing the Ron 'n' Nancy "Just Say No" schtick, followed by a parade of cartoon hotshots and has-beens telling it like it is about the evils of addiction, set within the context of a morality tale that's about as subtle as Uncle Tom's Cabin. Hey, we're not total misanthropes here. Little kids really shouldn't do drugs (it leaves less for Daddy for one thing) but messing with their innocent little noggins by suddenly confronting them with Simon, Garfield and Winnie the Pooh rapping about "smoking crack" and "shooting juice" isn't doing anybody any favors either. It is pretty freaking hilarious for us jaded burnouts though!
CHRISTIANE F. aka Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo. Relentlessly dark and often shocking true story of a 14 year old German girl’s descent into the seamy Berlin underworld of heroin and prostitution. Featuring music and a live performance by David Bowie. Directed by Uli Edel and starring Natja Brunckhorst. UNCUT letterboxed German language print with English subtitles.
COCAINE: THE DIARY OF INGA L. aka Kokain das Tagebuch der Inga L.; Kokain; Kokain Tod in St. Pauli. Coked up schoolgirls take on drug dealers in this sleazy, nudity filled cash in on Christiane F. Includes bonus trailer for the equally sleazy AIDS: Die Schleichende Gefahr (AIDS: The Creeping Danger). Directed by Rubin Sharon, starring Rene Zalusky, Marina Braun, Hans-Jrgen Wolf and Toyo Tanaka. German language.
HALLUCINATION GENERATION Meet Bill Williams, American “writer” in search of adventure on the Spanish island of Ibiza. For all those free-wheeling young American tourists out there, watch this film for one valuable lesson: Hanging out with creepy middle-aged philandering ex-pat psychedelic gurus like Eric may, like, uh, blow your mind for a little while. But in the end, when it comes to drugs, you’ve got to pay the piper and the piper wants your SOUL!!! High points include a where-the-hell-did-they-get-this-guy poolside party rock ‘n’ roll performance that makes Elvis’ Harum Scarum look like Singing in the Rain. Stars the bonafide 50's A-lister, George Montgomery, presumably after he stopped caring.
HANNA D. THE GIRL FROM VONDEL PARK aka Hanna D. La Ragazza del Vondel Park. Italian Sleazemeister Supreme, Rino DiSelvestro, took one look at Christiane F. (the German underground classic about teenage junkies and prostitutes) and said "Eh, datsa pretty good. Now watcha DIS!" and proceeded to make his own version of the exact same story, only about 1,000 times sleazier and more exploitative. So, where as a lot of the seamier events in Christiane F. were only implied, with Hanna D. they're in your face, up your alley and down your pants. Like the opening scene of our dolly-hugging little tramp hustling finger bangs on a moving train for example. There's also boucoup full frontal nudity, close-up footage of real live junkies shooting up (for real!) and, in what has to be some sort of benchmark in exploitation cinema, we're blessed with the scene of a young chippie digging a vial of smack out of her jail mate's anus and immediately injecting the stuff (still warm no doubt) under Hanna's tongue because... that's what friends are for!
HEAVEN AND HELL aka Himmel og Helvete. This little known and amazingly campy Norske narcodrama is the Norwegian equivalent of Reefer Madness! After listening to the lecture of a Timothy Leary-esque professor who claims that cannabis is completely harmless, wholesome teenagers Eva and Arne smoke some hash and begin their inevitable descent into a nightmare world of smugglers, heroin and cheesy psychedelic nightclubs, finally bottoming out in the gutters of Copenhagen. Brilliantly loopy stuff with a killer theme song and thoroughly over the top (literally) ending.
LIKE IT IS aka Psychedelic Fever; The Enormous Midnight. William Rotsler's psychedelic nudie documentary on the '60s San Francisco scene. This eye popping "documentary" may have just been an excuse to show the constant stream of t&a, but the excellent colorful naked go-go girl trip footage backed with offbeat freak-out rock (which takes up half of the running time) makes this a unique experience! You can tell that director Rotsler put a lot of effort into the photography and editing. Possibly the most psychedelic movie ever made!
LOVE COMMUNE aka Ghetto Freaks; Sign of Aquarius. Cleveland-lensed hippy dippy doper freakout filled with murdering drug dealers, real panhandling scenes, Laugh-In style body painting, dime store psychedelia, crash pads, communes, and pathetic nude dancing. You want "grunge"? THIS is grunge!
LSD FLESH OF THE DEVIL aka LSD; LSD Inferno per Pochi Dollari. Drug-addled spy hijinx about a secret agent (Guy Madison) on the trail of the mysterious "Mr. X" a super villain who plans on lacing the nation’s water supply with Acid in order to "create Utopia, abolishing everything that divides people." Well, naturally we can’t have that happening!
LSD KISS aka LSD. Absurd hippie farce from France (and dubbed into German making it even more absurd) that looks like something Robert Downey Sr. might’ve thrown together if he’d worn a beret, noshed croissants and made his drug of choice Owsley blotter instead of Bolivian marching powder. Lots of weirdness, free love, sex orgies and running around, plus a show stopping dream sequence wherein a dude wearing a rooster head roasts a naked chicken-headed woman on a spit and then whips the asses of two other trussed up chicken-headed cuties only to have them escape and turn the tables (and spit) on him! Directed by Jean Le Vitte and starring Christine Fersen, Rellys, Roland LeSaffre and Francoise Arout, with music by Jean Hebrard.
MICROSCOPIC LIQUID SUBWAY TO OBLIVION Weird, obscure Eurotrash directed by "John W. Shadow" and starring Ewa Aulin and Rex Rebar. Dr. Fink (who looks, sounds, and acts like MST3K's Dr. Clayton Forrester) is an emotionless college professor who lures a heroin-addicted student to his villa for a little forced detox experiment. Lots of trippy photography and odd camera angles in this one!
THE MURDERER STRIKES AT DAWN aka Fungus; The Mushroom; La Champignon. Groovy giallo style weirdness from France about a bored young physician who trips out on magic mushrooms with one of his patients, an older woman who’s a wealthy and eccentric Bohemian artiste. The not so good doctor passes out from all the fun and when he comes to discovers that his now ex-client has been strangled to death. Did he kill her in a drugged stupor because he was angry at his sexy workaholic wife? Or was she murdered by her ex-con gardener and lover in an effort to drive up the price of her paintings? Or could it have been her jealous and henpecked love child son? Hmmm??? Directed by Marc Simenon (son of famed French crime novelist Georges Simenon) and starring Alida Valli, Jean-Claude Bouillon and the succulent Mylene Demongeot.
THE NAKED ZOO aka The Hallucinators; The Grove. Virtually unknown sleaze oddity directed by William Grefe stars Stephen Oliver as a misanthropic fuck hungry gigolo and a very over-the-hill Rita Hayworth as his boozy gravy train! Also features Fay Spain as a hipster wannabe who gets dosed at a swinging LSD party, music by Steve Alaimo and Canned Heat.
PANAMA RED aka Connection; Panama Red: A Perfect Smoke. Golden Age porno director Bob Chinn turned his attention to drugs in lieu of sex in this obscure outing. Our hero Jim Wingert and his ol’ lady have hit hard times. She has a bun in the oven, they’re dead broke and their van is in the process of being repossessed. Never fear. Mr. Moneybags has breezed into Hollywood with some grade-A marijuana stashed into 250 shoe boxes for a quick turnaround. Wingert goes through his client list, which includes his rather hip mother-in-law who sells the stuff on the side to her bridge group. Narcs are hot on his tail, and the race is on to fly to Spain before they follow the paper trail. Will our young lovers flee the fuzz? Chinn drafted a lot of his skin flick actors for this project: Rene Bond plays a secretary, Rick Cassidy plays a cop and none other than John Holmes plays a chronic toker who manages to stash a joint in his afro to enjoy in lockup!
THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK Al Pacino made his bones in this near documentary look at NYC junkies that could’ve been called The Smack... and How to Get It. This one’s so down and dirty it makes Permanent Midnight look like an ABC After School Special!
THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR Boy oh boy is daddy’s little girl all grown up now! First she sasses back to her bourgeois parents. Then she Hoovers every drug in sight. But things really pick up when she bolts from her drunky parents’ mondo wallpapered split-level so she can be squired around the Evil Lower East Side of New York by a tattooed man-boy sporting middle aged love handles. Lily-white suburban drug drama featuring an all-star cast: Eli Wallach, Julie Harris, Deborah Winters, Hal Holbrook and Cloris Leachman.
PURE S aka Pure Shit. A group of Australian junkies try to score over the course of one very benighted evening. The fact that one of their friends has overdosed and died doesn’t deter these hopheads from their next fix. Making their way through an increasingly seedy milieu full of desperate characters, one of them finally winds up in a methadone clinic headed by a quack doctor. The kids then must decide if the cure is worse than – or merely an extension of – the addiction. Raw and uncompromising with scenes of slamming that appear too real to have been faked, Pure S poses questions about substance abuse that society has yet to answer.
STONED After Scott Baio snuck off with American teenybopper hearts as Chachi on Happy Days this Brooklyn-raised cutiepie took a career detour to explore sketchier side of middle-class Whitesville. That’s right this is the story of a nice kid who, one day, decides to take up bong hits for breakfast. You get the rest - a downward spiral when it comes to hitting the books and no where to turn but a bunch of glassy-eyed friends who laugh out of context. Stoned might be the Mother of All After-School Specials. And like all good afternoon specials, it’s deliciously ham-handed and keeps story points super simple, like - smoking pot may make everything seem really, really funny when you’re on it. But hold on there little fella, because that weed you’re smoking may cause you to accidentally kill your very own brother!! Includes bonus drug and alcohol scare films The Last Prom, The Perfect Drug Film and The Last Date. (review by Greg Goodsell)
SYNANON aka Get Off My Back. Gritty, fact based B&W melodrama about desperate dope fiends trying to shake that monkey at the title establishment, a controversial and now defunct rehab center that specialized in soul stripping "tough love" encounter sessions. Alex Cord stars as the new junkie on the block, a shifty pretty boy who quickly makes a play for ex-hooker Stella Stevens running afoul of brooding, torch carrying ex-convict Chuck Conners in the process. With Richard Conte, Eartha Kitt, Edmond O’Brien and a boppin’ jazz soundtrack.
TUNNEL aka The Fatal Fix; Heroin; Eroina. Rare drug drama starring Helmut Berger and Corinne Clery as sleazy self-destructive street addicts who’ll go to any lengths for that all important fix. Whoring, stealing, hooking kids on smack, nothing’s too low for these two! Directed by Massimo Perri (L’ Immoralita) and with a soundtrack by, ironically enough, The Pretenders. UNCUT and letterboxed.
UNKISSED BRIDE aka Mother Goose A-Go-Go. Blue-balled bridegroom passes out whenever someone mentions a nursery rhyme while he's trying to make it with his honey. Surprisingly, this happens a lot; so he hires a busty female psychiatrist who doses him with psychedelics to get to the "root" of his problem. Wacky, totally obscure hokum starring Tommy Kirk (Mars Needs Women), with cameos by Henny Youngman and Joe Pyne.
Joint-Chief said:
GREAT LIST BUT UMM BONG WATER, THE BEACH, AND SUPPER TROOPERS ... AND BLOW OF COURSE
