Vintage

Pervasive drug content, language, some violence, and sexuality are all things parents would most likely not want their children to be exposed to and would therefore probably not want their child to watch the film Blow.  If they took the time to look a little deeper, though, I think they may see Blow as a great way to teach children why they shouldn’t do drugs.  Seriously, I do.

Blow is based on the true story of George Jung, one of the most successful drug dealers of the 1970’s and early 80’s and tells his story from the innocence of childhood all the way up until his ultimate incarceration which continues to this day.

At the outset of the film we learn that Jung grew up in a not-so-wealthy Massachusetts family with a bitchy mother and a hard-working father, played by Ray Liotta. At a young age Jung decides he doesn’t ever want to be poor.  Soon we see his older version (Johnny Depp) traveling from Boston to California, where “people used words like ‘right on’ and ‘solid’”, in search of a better life.  He soon finds it thanks to the booming marijuana, market on California’s beaches.

A chance encounter with an old Bostonian friend of his leads George to begin smuggling pot back to Boston with the help of his stewardess girlfriend in what becomes an extremely lucrative arrangement. Soon, though, George is arrested for the first of several times throughout the movie and is sent away to jail.  This chapter of life would seemingly straighten one out but George gets lucky when he rooms with a Colombian man named Diego who teaches him all about the wonderful world of cocaine sale and distribution.
Upon his release, George starts to sell coke and eventually gets to deal directly with Pablo “El Padrino” Escobar in what was the beginning of the cocaine boom in the United States. George is again making money hand over fist despite the fact that he is still on parole.  Thanks to his Colombian acquaintances, he meets and eventually marries and has a child with Penelope Cruz who remains hot throughout the movie even when coked-up and yelling about “fucking hyp-o-crits”.

Cruz does slip up a bit in her trashy 80’s neon-windbreaker-wearing phase but I can let that slide. Anyway, as I was saying, they had a kid which seemed to straighten out George for a while but soon problems with his bank account and another arrest lead him to go broke and to jail.

When he gets out George tries to reunite with his daughter and decides he wants to move with her to California and start a new life funded by “one last score.” Unfortunately George is set up and whisked off to jail one final time which actually gave me an idea for a fun new interactive drinking game to be played while watching this movie.

Here’s how it works: every time Johnny Depp gets arrested in the film, take a shot and every time he has a new pretty blonde hairdo, do the same.  Just kidding.

I don’t want to encourage such behavior. Besides, as I mentioned before, this movie should be used to discourage drug use. Sure, Depp looks cool with his sunglasses, women and drugs but the picture of the real-life George Jung and his weathered skin that looks more squash-like than his on-screen father Ray Liotta’s should be enough to deter even the most hopeless of junkies from further drug use.

All jokes aside, I thought this was an excellent film. A true “King” if I’ve ever seen one. The acting was good, not overly dramatic or anything, which made it seem realistic; an important factor for something based on a true story. On top of that, I thought the soundtrack was an amazing backdrop for the on-screen action. It seems to me that all the good drug movies have a good soundtrack.   Blow was no different.

The movie covered a fairly long period of time: from Jung’s childhood in the 50’s to his incarceration in the 80’s.  The use of music from those eras and everything in between really helped the viewer get an idea of what things were like back then.
If you haven’t seen Blow, definitely do so soon.  But don’t do drugs, because drugs are bad and if you do them you’ll end up like George Jung and chances are you won’t have a sweet movie made about you.

Kevin Meehan is a writer scratching out a living in Pittsburgh.