noahturks The dire content of 'The Panic...' is groundbreaking. Al Pacino is great as a street urchin in this early role, a precursor to his 'Dog Day Afternoon' performance. In this one, he's just as passionate and intuitive, but the script hinders the effect. Kitty Winn has an old-time-y feel, like she was meant to stay in the 70's, and film-wise, she kind of did as this and 'The Exorcist' are her most famous roles. She was solid here though. Instead of a clear plot, this movie's more impressionistic with it's storytelling, revealing more brushstrokes as it moves along, and I can appreciate that.The weak links were the dialogue, which was lame at times, like with Pacino's movie brother's line about, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" being particularly offensive on the lame-o-meter. Then some of the addicts spouted a few too many buzzwords, though the way they only had drugs, sex, or crime on their minds did ring true in my experience. The actor who played Hotch was expressionless the entire film. He was a pile of tapioca pudding warbling around, and he brought the energy down with him whenever he came on-screen. I understand that acting, especially in grittier, 'street-life' films, is meant to be naturalistic, but he was boring, which I can understand as I've fallen into that trap too: "Am I being too theatrical and demonstrative?" No, you're really not, Hotch.

Ian (Flash Review)This hyper-real feeling portrayal of life as a heroin junky is a tough and sorrow-filled viewing. This appears to be Pacino's 2nd film (my key reason for watching it) and he plays a young man hooked on heroin who is also a small-time burglar to help pay for his habit. This film is also a depressing romance as a young, apparently homeless girl, meets Pacino and believe it or not finds stability in him! He gets her hooked and they share emotional ups and downs which is pretty much the focus of the film. It also shines a light into people addicted to this drug, which could easily be a PSA for stay away from drugs yet keeps a documentary angle rather than trying to get you to feel bad for them. This films also showed the most authentic-feeling scene of a man doing heroin. So authentic feeling, I thought he was actually doing the drug or studied addicts very carefully. Pretty heavy scene with gradation of phases rather than your Hollywood, quick needle poke and euphoric zone out. Grainy and grimy, this film is heavy and well-acted and is hard to forget.

spelvini Episodic and sad, The Panic in Needle Park as a pitiful slice-of-life character study stands out amongst the other drug films of the 70s in its nuanced unfolding narrative of two hapless New York addicts and their ability to survive and stick together under the weight of Police tensions and their own faults.The excellent Kitty Winn is outstanding in the role of the sensitive artist Helen, who falls in love with Al Pacino's drug-addicted, petty criminal Bobby. Winn won the award at Cannes that year for her performance, and looking today, it's still as edgy as it was back in 1971. Pacino pretty much over-plays his part as the antagonist, and functions to support Winn's presence in the film.Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne based their script for the film on James Mills's reportage that was based on a photo spread about a drug-addicted couple that spent their days in Needle Park between pilfering and hustling for their next fix. The films gritty subject matter never sinks to the scatological, but rather, in the prose of Didion, and Dunne retains an elegiac sense.Director Jerry Schatzberg never allows the truth of images to become fuzzy, sticking to a clear documentary-like capturing of action. The camera lingers on characters injecting heroin after preparing the drug, and the images could function as a how-to video in some instances. The complete absence of any music track to indicate to the viewer what they should feel allows a deep sense of truth to burn through the screen.This is the film that Francis Ford Coppola showed to Paramount to convince them that Al Pacino was suitable for the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather. And in retrospect we can see that Pacino possesses a strength that is core to his persona, and certainly something that Coppola relied on to carry the central character of his film.This is not Pacino's best performance but his overbearing screen presence counters Winn's subtle nuanced creation of a woman eroding into human detritus. The film also captures much of the spirit of New York of the early 1970s, when the use of drugs was a relatively unsophisticated activity, very different from much of the condoned abuse that is tolerated today.Watch this film for excellent examples of film performances, and techniques that really don't exist anymore with the present crop of performers coming out of the acting schools. Winn retired too early after Panic brought her accolades, and Pacino continues to work on stage and in film, as his is the kind of acting that can be consider the finest of the period.

leplatypus So I finish my Pacino's DVD with his 1st guest-star movie. It's funny to see how great actors begin their career by playing small losers (see our national French Gégé Dipardiou) and how her fine co-star won prize at Cannes festival and has actually disappear in limbos.The first half hour is great as we see a young Pacino, lively, funny, in love but as soon as the couple starts going into dope, the movie turns too much shabby for me. The movie spares nothing about drug addiction, especially the crude injections, the terrible health and social effect and the more terrible need and run for cash to buy it. I never understand why people turn into drugs and the movie doesn't offer an explanation as well: considering all those bad sides that they can notice on their friends, why aren't they disgusted about it ? Maybe they face a biggest pain but it's not very clear...The director has a good eye as the street of NYC hasn't been so energized and the interior shots close to claustrophobic. It's not a surprise that he came from photography and had the same feeling that Lynch with his paintings: moving the frame to tell a story!