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My local video store buys a lot of offbeat, quirky films. I love watching offbeat, quirky films, so I rent a lot of movies there. My wife recently found a real gem though, a 1983 made-for-TV movie that was recently re-released on videotape called Cocaine: One Man's Seduction.

The reason I liked this movie so much is that it stars Dennis Weaver, who starred in TV's McCloud, Gunsmoke, and Lonesome Dove, and classic movies such as Duel and Touch of Evil. You may be more familiar with Dennis Weaver, dressed in western clothes and riding a horse, as the TV spokesperson for Great Western Bank.

I also liked the fact that although it trys to teach us a moral lesson (drugs are bad), it just can't help but be unintentionally funny in all sorts of ways.

Dennis Weaver has always played upright, uptight, and morally straight characters. Seeing him play this role as an over-the-hill real estate salesman trying to regain his edge by using larger and larger quantities of cocaine was, in a word, surreal.

Not only did Dennis Weaver's character develop a coke habit, but what's really amazing for a made-for-TV movie, is that he did so in a completely believable way. Dennis' portrayal was so realistic that I was utterly convinced that he'd done quite a bit of "research" when preparing to play the part.

From the bursts of manic energy, to the sudden urge to rearrange all of the glasses in the kitchen cabinet "in a more efficient way," to the way he desperately scraped out the last remnants of coke from the baggie he'd just finished, Dennis played the part of a coke fiend like he was born for that role.

If you can find this film at your local video store, rent it.

uaka@pigdog.org