Scott Baio, still playing Chachi on HAPPY DAYS at the time, stars as the titular drunken boy in this cautionary TV-movie. Baio, as the macho-named Buff Saunders, plays the son of a full-fledged alcoholic ex-hockey star dad that he tries and emulate. The highlight is a teen party where Buff gets wasted and hits on his friend's gal and then pass out and soils the rug. Besides this it's a pretty typical AA-fueled afterschool special sort of deal. Baio does come off as a dick through most of it which was the complete opposite of his persona at the time though maybe it's prophetic because many people seem to see him that way these days.
There were a couple of other Baio TV-flicks in this same vein around this time including STONED from 1980, where he discovers the dangers of the devil-weed!, and RUN, DON'T WALK from 1981 where he's a crippled dude who helps cheer up a depressed gal in the same situation. These were actually part of the AFTERSCHOOL SPECIALS program so I'm sure they're just as sappy and preachy as this prime-time special.
CBS special presentation!:
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