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Desperate Lives is a american film of genre Drama directed by Robert Michael Lewis released in USA on 3 march 1982 with Tom Atkins
Desperate Lives (1982)
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Add to a movie listReleased in USA 3 march 1982
Length 1h36
Directed by Robert Michael Lewis
OriginUSA
Genres Drama
Rating57%
Desperate Lives is a 1982 made-for-TV film about drug use in a high school. The film has a very strong anti-drug message.
Synopsis
The Cameron family seems, on the surface, to be the perfect family, but things are not as they seem. Their two teenage children, Scott and Sandy, fall in with the wrong crowds at their high school and eventually become involved with drug experimentation. Sandy, after ingesting angel dust made by her boyfriend in the school's chemistry lab, jumps through a glass window of the school (purposely cutting her arms with the cut glass in the process) and is subsequently paralyzed from the fall. A caring guidance counselor, Eileen Phillips, sees the problem that is going on in the school and, after other tragic incidents involving two other students (one of which involves Scott and his girlfriend smoking drugs and crashing their car off a cliff) and when no one else on the staff is willing to do anything about it, takes the steps to deal with and confront the problem. The aftermath of this tragedy makes Scott and Sandy's parents realize that even their "perfect" kids can be affected by drugs, especially after Scott has a violent reaction and goes into the hospital. At a school assembly, Eileen Phillips storms in and confronts the students about the increasing drug use, sending a message to the crowd about the effects of what the drug problem is doing to the kids and the tragedies that resulted because of it.Actors
Tom Atkins
(John Cameron)
Diane Ladd
(Carol Cameron)
Helen Hunt
(Sandy Cameron)
William Windom
(Dr. Jarvis)
Diana Scarwid
(Eileen Phillips)
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