The Man with the Golden Arm is a 1955 American drama film with elements of film noir directed by Otto Preminger, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Algren. Starring Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang and Darren McGavin, it recounts the story of a drug addict who gets clean while in prison, but struggles to stay that way in the outside world. Although the addictive drug is never identified in the film, according to the American Film Institute "most contemporary and modern sources assume that it is heroin", although in Algren's book it is morphine. The film's initial release was controversial for its treatment of the then-taboo subject of drug addiction.
Paul Edward Winfield was an American stage, film and television actor. He was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark film Sounder (1972), which earned him an Academy Award nomination. He portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1978 television miniseries King, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award. Winfield was also known for his roles in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Terminator, L.A. Law, and 24 episodes of the sitcom 227. He received four Emmy nominations overall, winning in 1995 for his 1994 guest role in Picket Fences.
Vera Christiane Felscherinow is a German actress and musician who is best known for her contribution to the 1978 autobiographical book Christiane F., and the film and television miniseries based on the book, in which her teenage drug use is documented.
Ralph Nelson was an American film and television director, producer, writer, and actor. He was best known for directing Lilies of the Field (1963), Father Goose (1964), and Charly (1968), films which won Academy Awards.
Jason Edward Mewes is an American actor, comedian, film producer, and podcaster. He is best known for playing Jay, the vocal half of the duo Jay and Silent Bob, in longtime friend Kevin Smith's films.
Permanent Midnight is a 1998 independent drama film written and directed by David Veloz. It stars Ben Stiller, Maria Bello, Elizabeth Hurley, Owen Wilson, Cheryl Ladd and Janeane Garofalo. Based on Jerry Stahl's autobiographical book of the same name, it depicts Stahl, a successful TV writer for popular series like thirtysomething, Twin Peaks, and ALF, and his struggles with substance abuse.
Diary of a Mad Black Woman is a 2005 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Darren Grant and written by Tyler Perry. Inspired by the play of the same name, it marks the debut feature film of Perry, in addition to being the first entry in the Madea film franchise. The film stars Perry alongside Kimberly Elise, Steve Harris, Shemar Moore, and Cicely Tyson. The film tells the story of a woman who is thrown out of her house by her husband on their 18th wedding anniversary and subsequently moves in with her grandmother. This was the only film Perry wrote and did not direct.
Fresh is a 1994 American crime drama film written and directed by Boaz Yakin in his directorial debut, also produced by Randy Ostrow and Lawrence Bender. It was scored by Stewart Copeland, a member of the Police. The story revolves around a preteen boy named Michael, nicknamed Fresh, who runs drugs for gangsters. Inspired by the chess lessons of his father, an alcoholic speed-chess master, Fresh devises and executes a brilliant plan to extricate himself and his drug-addicted sister from their hopeless lives.
Kevin Hooks is an American actor, and a television and film director; he is notable for his roles in Aaron Loves Angela and Sounder, but may be best known as Morris Thorpe from TV's The White Shadow.
28 Days is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by Betty Thomas and written by Susannah Grant. Sandra Bullock stars as Gwen Cummings, a newspaper columnist obliged to enter rehabilitation for alcoholism. The film costars Viggo Mortensen, Dominic West, Elizabeth Perkins, Azura Skye, Steve Buscemi, and Diane Ladd.
Gridlock'd is a 1997 American black comedy crime film written and directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall, and starring Tupac Shakur, Tim Roth, Lucy Liu and Thandiwe Newton. It was the directorial debut of Curtis-Hall, who also has a small role in the film. The film's opening was relatively low, despite critical acclaim; its opening weekend netted only $2,678,372 and it finished with a little over $5.5 million.
Another Day in Paradise is a 1998 American crime drama film directed by Larry Clark, and starring James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Vincent Kartheiser and Natasha Gregson Wagner. Set in the 1970s, its plot follows a teenage drug addict who, along with his girlfriend, are taken in by a middle-aged couple. The pair persuade the teenagers to help them commit a series of increasingly complicated and dangerous drug robberies. Based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Eddie Little, Another Day in Paradise is Clark's second feature film; it won the Grand Prix award at the 1999 Festival du Film Policier de Cognac.
Alice Childress was an American novelist, playwright, and actress, acknowledged as "the only African-American woman to have written, produced, and published plays for four decades." Childress described her work as trying to portray the have-nots in a have society, saying: "My writing attempts to interpret the 'ordinary' because they are not ordinary. Each human is uniquely different. Like snowflakes, the human pattern is never cast twice. We are uncommonly and marvellously intricate in thought and action, our problems are most complex and, too often, silently borne." Childress became involved in social causes, and formed an off-Broadway union for actors.
Senseless is a 1998 American buddy comedy science fiction film directed by Penelope Spheeris and written by Greg Erb and Craig Mazin. The film stars Marlon Wayans, David Spade, and Matthew Lillard as college students.
Christiane F. is a 1981 German biographical drama film directed by Uli Edel that portrays the descent of Christiane Felscherinow, a bored and depressed 13-year-old growing up in mid-1970s West Berlin, to a 14-year-old heroin addict. Based on the 1978 non-fiction book Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, transcribed and edited from tape recordings by Kai Hermann and Horst Rieck, the film immediately acquired cult status and features David Bowie as both composer and as himself. In 2013, Felscherinow published her autobiography Christiane F. – My Second Life.
The Connection is a 1961 found footage feature film directed by the American experimental filmmaker Shirley Clarke. The film was Clarke's first feature; she had made several short films over the previous decade. Jack Gelber wrote the screenplay, adapting his play of the same name. The film was the subject of significant court cases regarding censorship. It is the first known movie shot in the found footage format and beginning with a found footage title card.
Sounder is a 1972 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt and adapted by Lonne Elder III from the 1969 novel of the same name by William H. Armstrong. The story concerns an African-American sharecropper family in the Deep South, who struggle with economic and personal hardships during the Great Depression. It stars Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, and Kevin Hooks. Taj Mahal composed the film's blues-inspired soundtrack, and also appears in a supporting role.
A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich is a 1973 young adult novel by American author Alice Childress. Set in the American ghettos of Harlem, the novel tells the story of a teenage boy who struggles with the abandonment instilled by his biological father. In order to feel wanted and a sense of euphoria in his dysfunctional life, he turns to drugs, becoming a product of his environment.
"Snowbirds Don't Fly" is a two-part anti-drug comic book story arc which appeared in Green Lantern/Green Arrow issues 85 and 86, published by DC Comics in 1971. The story was written by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams, with the latter also providing the art with Dick Giordano. It tells the story of Green Lantern and Green Arrow, who fight drug dealers, witnessing that Green Arrow's ward Roy "Speedy" Harper is a drug addict and dealing with the fallout of his revelation. Considered a watershed moment in the depiction of mature themes in DC Comics, the tone of this story is set in the tagline on the cover: "DC attacks youth's greatest problem... drugs!"
Monkey Grip is a 1982 Australian drama film directed by Ken Cameron. It is based on the novel, also titled Monkey Grip (1977), by Helen Garner. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. The film was produced by Patricia Lovell and stars Noni Hazelhurst and Colin Friels, and featured an original soundtrack by Australian rock band the Divinyls.
