Review of The Panic in Needle Park (1971) by Dan G — 03 Jul 2012

With it's minimal use of music The Panic in Needle Park is an eerie and haunting picture of the heroin addicts who frequented New York's Upper East Side in the early seventies. Al Pacino plays Bobby a young charismatic junky who garners the affections of Helen, a seemingly innocent young girl. As we watch Bobby plunge Helen in to his shady world we recoil as her drug problem begins to lap his, her harrowing downfall spirals the film in to a frenzy and it's last fifteen minutes is creates one of the most gripping climaxes I have seen in cinema.

Pacino's performance is flawless, it is the role that supposedly secured him his parts in both Serpico and The Godfather and it is unsurprising when we witness the intensity, power and presence with which he portrays Bobby. In the latter half of the movie Helen's problem picks up pace and Kitty Winn is given a chance to take centre stage, giving a performance which is both minimal and distressful; almost eclipsing that of Pacino.

As one would expect in a film about heroin addicts, the film features many scenes of heroin being injected, it is in these moments that the films lack of soundtrack is used to full advantage; the anticipation as the needle pierces the skin creates a greater sense of unease than Danny Boyle and Quentin Tarantino could in Trainspotting and Pulp Fiction respectively. A distressing glimpse at lives twisting out of control.