Review of The Panic in Needle Park (1971) by Ben S — 17 Jan 2013

Grimy study of heroin addiction in 1970's New York. Charismatic small time dealer and addict Bobby (Al Pacino) lives a chaotic and desperate life sleeping wherever a bed's available, taking a fix whenever possible and fraternising with the lowliest bunch of misfits and junkies the city has to offer.

While dealing to a customer he lays eyes on the timid Helen (Kitty Winn) and soon becomes infatuated - and with some genuine tenderness and a boyish sense of fun makes her his own. But as their relationship intensifies Helen is drawn deeper into the dangerous sleazy world Bobby inhabits.

Predominantly set in the bedsits and public bathrooms of New York every frame feels genuinely filthy, and coupled with naturalistic performances and a complete absence of music (even the 20th Century Fox fanfare is missing) Needle Park has a fantastic sense of realism - you'd be hard pressed to differentiate the scenes of shooting up from documentary footage.

Pacino's performance is what the film is all about though, capturing all the ravaged emotions of the addict from blind rage to sweetness and light. The descent of the playfully cheeky Bobby who Helen fell for into a menacing desperate junkie is a fantastic transformation.

At the heart of it he's just a mixed up kid who made some bad choices and is forced to live hand to mouth, and fix to fix, but Pacino has instilled the character with enough youthful spark to leave a glimmer of hope that his fate is not yet sealed.

He is offset beautifully by the submissive Winn who is equally lost in the world and craves company and affection. Their chemistry is such that you long for them both to find redemption and a better life.

She undertakes an even bigger transformation, and is unrecognisable from the reserved girl met in the first reel - a performance smaller than Pacino's but equally impressive in its naturalism. The film does, however, lack any solid narrative and is hard work at times, cutting abruptly from one scene to the next creating (intentionally) a feeling of disorientation and of days or weeks having passed unnoticed.

The two characters are well drawn and create varying degrees of empathy, but with no real narrative to push the picture on, the audience is left scrabbling down in filth with Bobby and Helen, waiting for something to come along.

Effective at stirring emotions of desperation, it doesn't make for a wholly enjoyable experience. A dark despairing portrayal of addiction and love powered by two distinguished performances that themselves justify a viewing.