The 20 Most Influential Stoners in Film History

Had to get this one out of the way, but it did have its impact.

Without a doubt, Cheech and Chong's "Up In Smoke" is considered the "Citizen Kane" of "smuggling cars made of Marijuana out of Mexico" flicks.

Made in 1978, the flick got Mary Jane outta of the closet, and started to give it its due in the public eye (positive). But despite this marijuanassance (which lasted for eight happy years), MJ got shoved right back in around 1986 (all thanks Ronnie and Nancy Reagan--a big negative!).

Regardless of the sad history, the trailer is hysterical to watch. With the Paramount theme that is just a bit too warm and fuzzy, all the way to the squarest sounding announcer ever. It's almost as if the voice over announcer didn't even understand the puns he was iterating. Wonderful.

Hey, it's Jay and Silent Bob.

Drug dealers as lovable as Muppets.

These guys made it okay to be friends with your pot dealer. Up until Jay and Bob, drug dealers were portrayed as less than desirable elements in our culture. They made it possible for bromances like Pineapple Express to come later.

The Dude. The Dude. The Dude. You either get him or your don't. And for those of you who don't, we're coming after you and we are gonna pee on your rug.

The Dude just is. He is the pot smoker we all want in our lives and the pot smoker we would want to be if we ever took up the habit on a daily basis. He is the "Relax, it'll work out" stoner. The little bit of positive we all want to have and don't, but should.

You know that a character has a great outlook on life when what his best friend says after any terrible event is "f**k it dude, let's go bowling".

Cannonball it!

Many folks who have only seen an edited version of Caddyshack on TV may incorrectly assume that Carl the Gardner (Bill Murray) is just a mentally handicapped dude who blows up a golf course.

He's a STONER who blows up a golf course. There's a big difference.

This often cut-from-TV scene proves that Carl has been growing a hybrid Kentucky Blue Grass/California Sensimilla in his living room. A new slogan for stoners everywhere: Carl can grow, and so can you!

Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) is a positive example of a stoner because he is THE original surfer dude and model Californian. Okay, we're not sure that Governor Arnold is down with that, but he's probably got some weed running somewhere through those steroid veins of his. Man, that can't be healthy.

Anyway, unlike many of the shallow, always-stoned-but-never-smoke-rip-offs that followed his footsteps (Paulie Shore, Stephen Baldwin and Keanu Reeves), Spicoli just seems like the kid with the sunglasses on in high school that everybody loves to like, but doesn't necessarily want to "be".

So movie industry, listen up. When picking a stoner character, you should always pick a strong actor like Spicoli. That way, when you plug "stoner" into Urban Dictionary you'll get the synonym "Awesome", as in "Totally Awesome!"