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PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK (1971)
‘Panic In Needle Park’ is a disturbing but compelling adaptation of James Mills novel of the same name. Director Jerry Schatzberg cleverly incorporates the lives of derelicts, pimps, prostitutes and drug users in this reality stricken tale based in a section of New York City known as ‘Needle Park’. He also introduces Al Pacino to the world in his first starring role as heroin addict ‘Bobby’. It was this role that Francis Ford Coppola used to convince executives at Paramount to hire Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather.
Bobby is a man on the edge of life, a drug addict who moves around ‘Needle Park’ on a day-to-day basis finding new ways to fund his addiction. He meets and falls in love with Helen (Kitty Winn) who accepts Bobby’s lifestyle whilst, to her credit, trying hard to avoid the temptation herself which, inevitably gets the better of her.
As the movie progresses you begin to feel empathy towards the characters as they slowly begin to flush their lives away. You feel both their love and pain in a society that people generally would prefer to ignore as they pursue their destructive lifestyles.
Schatzberg’s direction is of the highest quality as he uses the streets of New York, his characters and their circumstances effectively creating a documentary feel to the story. Pacino and Winn’s performances, being so believable, are also a huge contribution towards this.
This is not a plot-based movie there are no thrills and rides, no twists and turns. ‘Panic In Needle Park’ is a story about the lives of Bobby and Helen. Reality is all this film is about and with so many big budget movie productions around you need these kind of movies to bring you back down to earth, to see what sort of society we really do live in and the pitfalls and scenarios which can occur within it.
Stuart Evans
‘Panic In Needle Park’ is a disturbing but compelling adaptation of James Mills novel of the same name. Director Jerry Schatzberg cleverly incorporates the lives of derelicts, pimps, prostitutes and drug users in this reality stricken tale based in a section of New York City known as ‘Needle Park’. He also introduces Al Pacino to the world in his first starring role as heroin addict ‘Bobby’. It was this role that Francis Ford Coppola used to convince executives at Paramount to hire Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather.
Bobby is a man on the edge of life, a drug addict who moves around ‘Needle Park’ on a day-to-day basis finding new ways to fund his addiction. He meets and falls in love with Helen (Kitty Winn) who accepts Bobby’s lifestyle whilst, to her credit, trying hard to avoid the temptation herself which, inevitably gets the better of her.
As the movie progresses you begin to feel empathy towards the characters as they slowly begin to flush their lives away. You feel both their love and pain in a society that people generally would prefer to ignore as they pursue their destructive lifestyles.
Schatzberg’s direction is of the highest quality as he uses the streets of New York, his characters and their circumstances effectively creating a documentary feel to the story. Pacino and Winn’s performances, being so believable, are also a huge contribution towards this.
This is not a plot-based movie there are no thrills and rides, no twists and turns. ‘Panic In Needle Park’ is a story about the lives of Bobby and Helen. Reality is all this film is about and with so many big budget movie productions around you need these kind of movies to bring you back down to earth, to see what sort of society we really do live in and the pitfalls and scenarios which can occur within it.
Stuart Evans
