Hello, my name's Justin McLuhan. I'm here today with Will Sloan. And you're listening to

the Important Cinema Club. And today we're covering exploitation films. For centuries, the world

has been aware of the narcotic menace, Justin. And, you know, we've complacently watched as

Asiatic countries attempt to rid themselves of

the drug curse. We consider ourselves enlightened and think that we could never succumb to such a fate.

But did you know that the use of marijuana is steadily increasing among the youth of today?

I mean, that's the kind of serious message that we're going to get out today.

Wait a minute. I thought there was going to be some hot rod racing, maybe some aliens, perhaps a beast that would rise from the sea.

But it's not this kind of exploitation film that we're talking about today.

The term exploitation film has become very broad. But we're talking about a specific era that lasted from the dawn of cinema to around

1959, but which really peaked in the 30s and 40s. During this year, the Motion Picture Association

of America enforced a production code that Hollywood movie studios voluntarily submitted to that

put strict limits on the sorts of subject matter that could be depicted in movies. So, for example,

I'm quoting from the production code, the sanctity of the institution of marriage and the home

shall be upheld. Pictures shall not infer that low forms of sex relationship are the accepted

or common thing. Adultery, sometimes necessary plot material, must not be explicitly treated

or justified. Miscegenation,

sex relationships between the white and black races is forbidden. Sex hygiene and venereal disease

are not subjects for motion picture. So, of course, the definition of an exploitation film during

this period, here quoted to David F. Friedman, goes,

The essence of exploitation was any subject that would forbidden.

Miscegenation, abortion, unwed motherhood, venereal disease, all those subjects were fair

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