What was it that Steve kept popping into his mouth (and giving out handfuls?)
was it E?
Ya I said "cuz im cool like that"
No it was obviously some sort of "downer" drug. E would make you extremely uplifted with tons of energy to dance, instead the characters who took the pills were very sedated. I just saw the movie yesterday and thought it was similar to Party Monster. Very good movie.
Steve was swallowing Quaaludes, also called 'ludes. They were sedatives, I think prescription. They were VERY big in the 1970s.
Ecstasy wasn't really in the US until the mid-1980s. It was actually legal in Texas until it was made illegal nationwide in 1985 or 86.
Back in the mid 80s there was a club here in Houston that used to keep a big bowel of X or E on the counter of the coat check booth for anyone that wanted it. This was before it was illegal. That club is still in business so it shall remain nameless.
shareDallas had a club like that, too, but the X was at the bar, so your friendly bartender could mix you a drink or give you a tablet of Ecstasy.
sharestarstattootoo is correct. It was a prescription sedative. At clubs, parties, etc, in the 70s, Quaaludes were frequently used to offset the stimulant effects of cocaine.
During this period in pop youth culture history, alcohol was considered to be an old-fashioned, square relic of your parent's generation. Instead, these "drug cocktails" (abusing more than one drug simultaneously) were extremely popular. Typical was the scene where Billie, Shane, Anita, and Greg are in the balcony doing both coke & pot and when Anita gives Shane a quick hit of cocaine in the coat room to offset the "downer" effects of the Quaaludes.
Having grown up in the 70s/80s era (and having been to Studio), I can attest to the numerous weaknesses in the accuracy of the film. However, Mark Christopher's depictions of such rampant casual drug use were pretty close to the way it really was.
The final version of the movie isn't what Mark Christopher had wanted. The Miramax producers decided they wanted a more teen-idol mainstream film, so they added a lot of the Neve Campbell/Ryan Philippe romance much later. (You can tell what was filmed later because Ryan wears a wig. The 'original' scenes have his real hair, which he cut after principle photography ended.)
Miramax also nixed alot of the more 'scandalous' elements of sexuality and drugs in the club. There was a subplot where Breckin Meyer and Ryan Philippe made out that was removed. And of course, the timeline doesn't match up to the actual events of the raid on the club, etc.
Hollywood lingo for a while had the term "54" to mean when a director's original movie is hijacked and reedited by the producers, as in, Wow, Mark Christopher was totally 54ed with that film.
LOL thats a great story, 54'd. Sometimes the producers of a movie are required to a fire a director and reedit the whole thing. As in Pretty Woman. It was complete garbage before they canned the origonal director. Not that it was good after.
This movie 54, would have been much better if it had focused more on Rubbell, and his life in the years the club was alive. Kind of like Blow or Goodfellas.
More info of what happened to the movie, and the changes, can be found in this thread:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120577/board/thread/9768246?d=29078825#29078825
the following postings in the tread also contain info.
Downers, kinda like the movie itself. I keep waiting for Mike Myers to break into Austin Powers, look at the camera and say "groooovy baaby!"