Desperate Lives
Encyclopedia
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.

Plot summary

The Cameron family seems, on the surface, to be the perfect family, but things are not as they seem. Their two teenage kids, Scott and Sandy, fall in with the wrong crowds at their high school, both eventually getting involved with drug experimentation. In a disturbing turn of events, Sandy, after ingesting angel dust
Phencyclidine
Phencyclidine , commonly initialized as PCP and known colloquially as angel dust, is a recreational dissociative drug...

 made by her boyfriend in the school's chemistry lab, winds up suddenly jumping 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 councilor, 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. 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.

Cast

  • Diana Scarwid
    Diana Scarwid
    Diana Scarwid is an American actress. Scarwid has done work in film, television and theater.-Personal life:Scarwid was born in Savannah, Georgia, and left Georgia at the age of 17, heading to New York to become an actress. She graduated from Pace University and The American Academy of Dramatic...

     as Eileen Phillips
  • Doug McKeon as Scott Cameron
  • Helen Hunt
    Helen Hunt
    Helen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets...

     as Sandy Cameron
  • William Windom
    William Windom (actor)
    William Windom is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his work on television, including several episodes of The Twilight Zone; playing the character of Glen Morley, a congressman from Minnesota like his own great-grandfather and namesake in The Farmer's Daughter; the character of John...

     as Dr. Jarvis
  • Art Hindle
    Art Hindle
    Arthur Hindle is a Canadian actor and director.Hindle was born in Halifax. His family moved to Toronto while he was a child. Although shy as a youngster, he grew to be a rebellious and independent teenager...

     as Stan
  • Tom Atkins
    Tom Atkins (actor)
    Tom Atkins is an American television and film actor. He is primarily known for his work in the horror film genre, having worked with writers and directors such as John Carpenter, Stephen King, and George A. Romero...

     as John Cameron
  • Norman Alden
    Norman Alden
    Norman Alden is an American character actor who has performed in television programs and motion pictures since first appearing on The 20th Century Fox Hour in 1957. He provided the voice of Kay in The Sword in the Stone film in 1963 and received Oscar buzz for his role in I Never Promised You a...

     as Coach
  • Tricia Cast
    Tricia Cast
    Tricia Cast is an American actress, best known for her role as Nina Webster on The Young and the Restless.-Personal life:...

     as Susan Garber
  • Sam Bottoms
    Sam Bottoms
    Samuel John "Sam" Bottoms was an American actor and producer.-Personal life:Bottoms was born in Santa Barbara, California, the third son of James "Bud" Bottoms and Betty , both of whom survive him...

     as Ken Baynes
  • Diane Ladd
    Diane Ladd
    Diane Ladd is an American actress, film director, producer and published author. She has appeared in over 120 roles, on television, and in miniseries and feature films, including Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore , Wild at Heart , Rambling Rose , Ghosts of Mississippi, Primary Colors, 28 Days , and...

     as Carol Cameron
  • Grant Cramer
    Grant Cramer
    Grant Cramer is an American actor who has starred in films and on television. He is the son of actress Terry Moore.Grant's first feature film role was in 1980, when he starred in the horror film New Year's Evil. It wasn't until 1984, his big role came in the 1984 cult comedy film Hardbodies in...

     as Steve
  • Michele Greene
    Michele Greene
    Michele Dominguez Greene is an American actress, singer, and songwriter, perhaps most well-known for her role as attorney Abigail "Abby" Perkins in L.A. Law from 1986 - 1991. She returned to that role in 2002 for the TV "reunion" film L.A...

     as Julie Jordan
  • Terry Alexander as Robert Walsh
  • Joyce Brothers
    Joyce Brothers
    Joyce Brothers is an American psychologist, television personality and advice columnist, publishing a daily syndicated newspaper column since 1960.-Personal life:...

     as Mrs. Watson (as Dr. Joyce Brothers)
  • Aggie Terry as Cindy
  • Katherine Kelly Lang
    Katherine Kelly Lang
    Katherine Kelly Lang is an American actress. She is known for her role as Brooke Logan Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful .-Personal life:...

     as Mary
  • Susan McClung as Sarah
  • Clayton Rohner
    Clayton Rohner
    Clayton Rohner is an American actor. He is known for his role as Rick Morehouse in the 1985 comedy movie Just One of the Guys. He also starred in the 1986 film Modern Girls as Clifford and Bruno X. He is a main character in the 1994 film Caroline at Midnight. Other credits include the films April...

     as Monte
  • Jennifer Parsons as Olivia (as Jenny Parsons)
  • Mykelti Williamson
    Mykelti Williamson
    Michael T. "Mykelti" Williamson is an American actor best known for his role as Benjamin Buford Blue in the 1994 film Forrest Gump, as Detective Bobby "Fearless" Smith in the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful crime drama Boomtown, and recently for appearing as the head of CTU for...

    as Jack (as Mykel T. Williamson)
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