Last night, I was watching my DVD of Scared Straight.→[More:] I remember stumbling on that flick on TV when I was a 17-year-old halfassed delinquent, and while it didn't exactly make me a good citizen, it did wake me up in certain ways. Even now, 20 years down the line, it's still a riveting piece of documentary cinema, whatever the efficacy of the program itself. It also captures a weird period in American history, the late 70's where the entire culture seemed so hopeless and malaise-ridden. I remember being stunned at the fearsomeness of the inmates (the white guy in the red and white shirt may possiblly be the most fearsome human I've ever seen) and snapping to the fact that the monkey business I was involved in could actually have consequences, and dire ones at that. I dunno if any of the rest of you are familiar with the film or the program, but I felt like rambling about it. Oddly, I also felt somewhat saddened that one of the kids, and three of the inmates had died in obscurity.