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When it was time for him to pen his first script, he recalled wandering around Detroit (where the film was also set) with a buddy attempting to enter rehab programs without giving out his parent’s address. At age 16, he decided to kick the nasty habit. As a teen, he was a band singer, guitarist, and heavy narcotics user. It was crucial to Curtis-Hall that Gridlock’d’s premise would be autobiographical. The power play allowed for Pac’s label Death Row Records - a subsidiary of Interscope - to produce the soundtrack, which was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, performing better than the movie.

When Interscope Records decided to fund the $5 million film, Polygram had a swift change of heart. The studio heads were less than enthusiastic about producing another film about dope-addicted people. A year prior to its release, the distributor Polygram released the film Trainspotting. This very climate contributed to Gridlock’d nearly being shelved. Before the 1995 film Kids matured into a cult classic, it was met with some weighty criticism for its portrayal of teenagers who used narcotics with regularity - it even received an adults-only NC-17 rating, one step up from R. Heroin, on the other hand, was a taboo topic in Hollywood. In the early 80s and 90s, films like Scarface and New Jack City were lauded for serving audiences cocaine- and crack-affiliated central characters who appeared bigger than life. Because of this, today’s substance abusers are more often treated with compassion and, most importantly, medical attention instead of treated with draconian-like “justice” and thrown behind bars.

Today’s “war on drugs” is vastly different in both the drugs we condemn and the way we treat the afflicted – especially since they now largely include White Americans.

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The crack cocaine era was pinned to Black and brown people, thus handled like a crime issue instead of a health crisis. Campaigns like “Just Say No” used Uncle Sam’s pointer finger to scold the afflicted, segregating them from civil society before they’re tar and feathered. as a problem that landed unceremoniously on its front door - instead of as the byproduct of its own evil. A rewatch illuminates just how little progress America has made with addressing its narcotic-ridden population.Ī quarter-century ago, like African-Americans post-Civil War, those addicted to street drugs were perceived by the U.S. They may be able to cut the weeks-long wait for rehab acceptance if they take an AIDS test. The men can’t get into a rehab program without a Medicaid card, but can’t secure a card without a welfare card. Lead characters Spoon (Shakur) and Stretch (Roth) spend a day trying to escape both their habit and a local drug dealer while being given the run-around by various social service employees. Starring Tupac Shakur and Tim Roth with an ensemble cast including Thandiwe Newton, Lucy Liu, and Bokeem Woodbine, the film is a sort of Dog Day Afternoon dark adventure. All of this makes the 1997 film Gridlock’d such a worthy revisit 25 years later.ĭirected by Vondie Curtis-Hall, known most for his acting in films like Coming To America, Die Hard 2, and the more recent Harriett, Gridlock’d is an indictment on the country’s impotent treatment system. Even in creative spaces where art imitated life, the victims and this country’s inept rehabilitation systems were given little spotlight. Pregnant women who tested positive for drugs were preyed upon at their most vulnerable point, by physicians and federal prosecutors alike. The flip side saw people with substance abuse disorders – the sick – also treated and prosecuted like criminals. Rockefeller Laws handed large swaths of minorities unjust prison sentences for sales and distribution, even just for weed infractions. Although unethical politics were the root of the country’s narcotics epidemic, poor people of color were the main recipients of blame and subsequent punishment. Īmerica would like you to believe that it won the “War On Drugs” that began in the ‘80s. What was the world like when you first considered this piece of culture, and what’s changed? Does it hold up as timeless, or is it better left to the past? Pitch us at.

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Hits Different is a new series that takes a second look at a TV show, song, album, episode, movie, scene, or clip from the past that, in our current context, just hits different.

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