Review of The Panic in Needle Park (1971) by Richard S — 10 Jan 2008

Wow... This movie was incredibly good; I've heard Al Pacino talk about it in interviews, and he's said that he didn't know how to act for the camera yet, as this was his first film, so I wasn't expecting much.

But I was pleasantly surprised to find that this movie is very well-crafted and poignantly acted. Al Pacino is wonderful as the goofy, playful, but heroin-addicted Bobby, and Kitty Winn gives an amazing performance with the broken, doe-eyed innocence of Helen.

Like other addict films, Panic plunges you rght into the junkie's vicious cycle:, makeshift syringes, dirty hotel rooms, and scarred arms alike. And in the midst of the brilliantly detailed realism, the film also gives you Helen and Bobby's terrible spiral from their sweet beginning to the most horrible sacrifices they are forced to make as their addiction tears them apart.

I was really struck by Helen's devotion to Bobby; it was heartbreaking to see how far she would go to 'help' him, eventually starting to shoot heroin hersef just to be closer to him. Inevitably painful, and yet beautiful in its simplicity and humanity, Bobby and Helen's relationship is definitely one of the best I've ever seen developed onscreen.