Alcohol: What's in it for Me?
Alcohol: What's in it for Me?
Educational film regarding the horrors of alcoholism amongst teenagers. Formerly distributed by Perennial Education, headed by Henk Newenhouse.
Alcohol: What's in it for Me?
FI title. Opening montage: Wide MS high school students (teenagers) singing on school bus; wide MS Italian-American family at table (outdoor dinner/supper); MS African-American teen girl (dig that Afro) crying in bathroom as Asian-American girl consoles her; MS teen Caucasian girl in riding outfit talking to horse in field; drunken teenage white boy totters in field (diffusion effect on screen periphery); MS old white male driving instructor lectures white boy in car; MS white male teacher wearing tinted eyeglasses lecturing high school class-- on chalkboard, "Don't forget science projects due in 3 weeks!". Diss to opening credits over school bus driving through suburban residential area. Diss to interior school bus, high school students singing "Show me the way to go home" drinking song, white teenagers closest to cam passing a bottle of alcohol, each taking a swig before passing it on (hilariously obvious-- is the bus driver blind or stoned or both?). CU young shaggy-haired male student, no bottle. Diss to TLS yellow school bus stopping at a mailbox in suburbs; two boys get off and stop to check the mailbox; MS/CUs boys talking about not drinking, about not "having to do what everyone else does", about what to do when someone does hand the bottle over; CU younger boy thinking.
Alcohol: What's in it for Me?
FO/FI on TLS high school classroom, students working at desks; white male teacher enters frame & asks principal actor, dorky bookish white male teen student named John about his science project, John holds up title card: "Alcohol: What's In It For Me?"; teacher approves the project. Diss to John in his bedroom at home, practicing his talk to the audience, showing display of bottles including grain alcohol (C2 H5 OH); he shows a chart of Blood Alcohol Level-- too much causes death; second chart demonstrates the hangover problem (drinking too much in too short of a time); CU John, pan to wine bottle in cask in hand.
Alcohol: What's in it for Me?
MCU wine bottle on table, zoom out to MS Italian-American family eating supper outside. VO says there is a low incidence of alcohol abuse among Italian-Americans b/c of the presence of wine among their social & religious traditions. MS "12-year-old" (more like 17) daughter Agnes asking her father for more wine; Pop cautions her, but gives her a small amount; pleasant meal continues, Pop asking for the meatballs to be passed over-- note the priest sitting at the end of the table; Italian stereotypes. Dissolve to girls' washroom (bathroom) in high school; African-American teenager Elaine enters, crying; her Asian-American friend consoles her; Elaine hilariously says, "I'm dumb, I'm dumb, I'm dumb!" before explaining that she was talked into taking a drink before the math test, even though she had studied for it; MS nervous & panicky Elaine talking to Caucasian girl at locker, the latter giving her a drink from a red Thermos; MS Elaine taking desk in classroom, trying to take test but only getting lily-necked & wobbly & visibly confused, even nodding off slightly b/c the booze loosened her up too much; MS Elaine & friend scrambling out of the bathroom as group of other girls enter.
Alcohol: What's in it for Me?
FI on Jean, Caucasian girl teenager in riding habit, walking & talking to her horse in field: "George, baby, I wish you could talk to me. I can't talk to my parents. They just don't understand." Diss to TLS suburban family room, mid-afternoon, her father watching TV, her mother standing beside it; Jean enters, her Mom inviting her to have a drink with them; MS Jean asking Mom if she drinks too much as it is, Mom replying, "Don't be silly, act grown up! A little drink won't hurt you. We're just glad you're not on drugs!"; MS Jean trying to talk to her father-- a sure-fire bet for world's worst actor-- pleading that alcohol is a drug, that she gets uptight when she doesn't drink, that maybe she should go to AA; Pop replies, "Alcoholics Anonymous?! That's for the old folks, old drunks! You kids don t need clubs like that." Diss to Jean talking to horse in field; eventually she mounts the horse and rides away at full gallop-- "I wish I could run away! Run! Run!"
Alcohol: What's in it for Me?
FI on Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam book, zoom out as dorky John continues his science project demonstration; he then shows and quotes line from A.E. Housman poem, "Look into the pewter pot to see the world as the world is not" from "A Shropshire Lad". Diss to reenactment of unsteady drunken 19th century male teenager beholding & ultimately discarding a pewter mug in a field, losing his necktie & falling asleep in the mud; he wakes and crawls out of the mud.
Alcohol: What's in it for Me?
MS front end of big ugly gas-guzzling powder-blue American automobile knocking over orange pylon cone at driving course; VO-- "As soon as he the boy knocked over the pylon, I knew he had been drinking"; TLS driving instructor & dejected male teenager getting out of car, switching sides; MSs driving instructor driving & lecturing the boy on the dangers of drinking and driving-- "This freedom is a great thing, but you had better accept some responsibility along with it." At the Elkhart auto license bureau, the driver gets out & the boy's friends ask if he passed the test; he sadly shakes his head no. Dorky teenager John winds up his presentation; pan to "Alcohol is a drug" poster. John shows his title card again: "Alcohol: What's In It For Me?" Fade out.