Rent The Panic in Needle Park (1971)
3.5 of 5 from 89 ratings
1h 45min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- After a botched abortion, Helen (Kitty Winn) has a chance encounter with small-time hustler and heroin addict, Boddy (Al Pacino), and the pair fall in love. But their bleak existence in and around Manhattan's 'Needle Park', with its overdoses, betrayals and police raids, pushes their relationship to the extreme.
- Actors:
- Al Pacino, Kitty Winn, Alan Vint, Richard Bright, Kiel Martin, Michael McClanathan, Warren Finnerty, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Raul Julia, Angie Ortega, Larry Marshall, Paul Mace, Nancy MacKay, Gil Rogers, Joe Santos, Paul Sorvino, Arnold Williams, Vic Ramano, Bryant Fraser, Dora Weissman
- Directors:
- Jerry Schatzberg
- Producers:
- Dominick Dunne
- Writers:
- James Mills, Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne
- Aka:
- Pánico en Needle Park
- Studio:
- Ilc Prime
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- Acting Up: Top 10 Performances At Cannes, Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Al Pacino, A Brief History of Film..., Top Films, What We Were Watching in 1971
- Awards:
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 26/09/2016
- Run Time:
- 110 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Jerry the Photogrepher (2004): Jerry Schatzberg discusses his life and career
- Jerry the Filmmaker (2004): Jerry Schatzberg discusses his work as a director
- Al and Jerry (2004): documentary exploring the relationship between actor and director
- Jerry in Cannes (2004): the director recalls his selections at the Cannes Film Festival
- Selected scenes with director commentary (2004): Jerry Schatzberg reflects on five key scenes
- Panic in the Streets of New York (2011): featuring Jerry Schatzberg and cinematographer Adam Holender
- Writers in Needle Park (2011): interview with writer Joan Didion
- Original Theatrical Trailer
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Reviews (1) of The Panic in Needle Park
Love in the Time of Withdrawal - The Panic in Needle Park review by griggs
The Panic in Needle Park is a cold, unvarnished look at addiction, stripped of sentiment and moralising. It follows Bobby and Helen—two young drifters orbiting each other in an Upper West Side overrun by heroin. Kitty Winn is superb, all quiet uncertainty, but it’s Pacino—extraordinary in his feature debut—who commands the film. He’s magnetic, impulsive, and terrifyingly plausible as a petty hustler fuelled by charm and bravado.
Schatzberg’s direction is almost forensic: no score, no stylisation, just the city’s din and the flat rhythm of junkie life. The film refuses redemption arcs or easy judgement. It simply observes, with a mix of detachment and despair, as love becomes co-dependence and survival morphs into routine.
What emerges is bleak, occasionally tender, and deeply unsettling—a portrait of two people clinging to each other while quietly drowning.
Uncomfortable, unsentimental, and still chilling in its realism.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.