This is such a very powerful and eye opening movie and a real true gem as nothing like it has been made or duplicated since. To me this movie is one of my personal top 5 Al Pacino movies of all time for many reasons as this was his 2nd major lead role, and it tackled a very strong subject that even to this day still exhist and that's drugs. Over the last 50 years America has done a better job of tackling this head on but back in the late 60's to 80's it was at its very peak and this movie really shows you the true ugly side of drugs, it's abuse, the consequences for using it and where it may lead you. If you have a child, friend, realitve, just someone you know that may be thinking about or is taking drugs or you just want to get away from all the special graphics, cue in the soundtrack theme for when this actor walks in the room, get eady for 5-8 sequel type of movies then kick back and enjoy this one!
Kitty Winn plays Helen who is miles away from home who in my mind doesn't want to go back home. Why I'm not sure but it gave me strong feelings that she's away from home because it's boring and she just doesn't want to go bac to that lifestyle, she doesn't feel accepted. Helen was living with a artist who got her pregnant and made her go get an abortion or as he put it lightly " do me a favor", and you can just see how hurt she feels and the lack of no compassion, comfort from her artist boyfriend just has her feeling lost and once again not accepted. To add even more insult to injury he splits for reasons unknown and Helen is without a job, doesn't know anybody and is just lost, down on her luck. Now enters Al Pacino as Bobby who in this movie really starts putting you on notice with the diversity of his acting in this film. You truly beleive that his Bobby character is just really in need of an intervention. Like many of Pacino's movies where he commands the screen naturally this one has you locked on to him and he does such a superb job, right down to the minor details. You can tell that he really devoted the time to understand the mind of a junkie, hustler, that he really tried living the life. Something that a lot of actors don't really do nowdays. Bobby is a hustler and a addict who supplied Helen's boyfriend with drugs from time to time who's hears about what happened to her and offers her a place to live even though he doesn't have a place as we learn later on he lives hotel to hotel. Helen accepts te gesture and not before long these two fall in love with one another. Helen's love as we see the movie progress gets the very best of her as she's exposed to Bobby's hustling ways so he can feed himself a $50 a day drug habbit and rather than try to help him get clean she just accepts it and adapts to it and Bobby as well as his drugg addicted friends who mostly hang out in the park scheming, trying to figue out ways to make a quick buck so they can score again.
Helen to me really comes off as just wanting to be accepted and not judged and lead me to beleive that she liked being exposed to all this because it was new, exciting and no judgement was made on her, she was accepted. How many of us growing up felt like this character? Whether it was in school and trying to make new friends, or at a party, or even trying to get picked to play dodgeball or tag and to be rejected? It rings so true of wanting to be accepted, even in todays society this still rings true but its the dark desperation and demise of Helen that will have you mad and sad at times and even yelling out loud what the hell are you doing? This is a dark movie about love, acceptance, drugs that was beautifully written by James Mills and directed by Jerry Schatzberg. For her portrayal of Helen, Kitty Winn won the Best Actress Award at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. Also the film and its director, were also nominated for the Palme d'Or award so do yourself a favor and grab a copy to own, stream, or rent. You'll love and be sure to thank me later. Enjoy! 5 out 5 stars
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The Panic in Needle Park
IMDb7.1/10.0
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Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
DVD
September 26, 2016 "Please retry" | — | 1 |
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| $18.85 | $16.56 |
DVD
June 19, 2007 "Please retry" | — | 1 |
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| — | $31.94 |
DVD
September 6, 2011 "Please retry" | Special Edition | 1 |
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| — | — |
Genre | Drama |
Format | Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Dubbed, Subtitled, Full Screen, Widescreen |
Contributor | Kitty Winn, Kiel Martin, Al Pacino, Michael McClanathan, James Mills, Richard Bright, John Gregory Dunne, Paul Mace, Jerry Schatzberg, Larry Marshall, Warren Finnerty, Raul Julia, Alan Vint, Joan Didion, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Angie Ortega See more |
Language | English |
Runtime | 1 hour and 50 minutes |
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Product Description
A New York heroin addict brings his new girlfriend down with him. Directed by Jerry Schatzberg.
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.85:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.72 ounces
- Item model number : FOX2227711DVD
- Director : Jerry Schatzberg
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Dubbed, Subtitled, Full Screen, Widescreen
- Run time : 1 hour and 50 minutes
- Release date : June 19, 2007
- Actors : Al Pacino, Kitty Winn, Alan Vint, Richard Bright, Kiel Martin
- Dubbed: : English, French
- Subtitles: : English, Spanish
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
- Studio : 20th Century Fox
- ASIN : B000A9QK6E
- Writers : James Mills, Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #72,711 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #2,922 in Romance (Movies & TV)
- #12,229 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
300 global ratings
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5 Stars
Why are the best forgotten??
An archetypal, poignant movie that touches after continued viewings.This is mature and professional independent film realism at its best.Flowing and free wheeling. True to life.Dialogue and plot blend seamlessly.Some of the best character acting ever.Schatzenberg deserves a lifetime achievement award.A time capsule of innocense lost.
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2011
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2007
I was a little taken aback by the film's "PG" rating. Drug use is treated frankly, there's some strong language and fleeting nudity. But then I thought why shouldn't young people of a certain age see this film. They are the most vulnerable in being ensnared into the drug culture and maybe they should heed the film's cautionary message. I also found the timing of this film's release, 1971, interesting because it comes at a time when the drug culture was in full bloom and we were only a few years removed from "Easy Rider". The selling point is, of course, Al Pacino who is nothing short of amazing as the small-time thief who goes from pecking to full-blown addiction. I thought this was more Kitty Winn's picture, though. Her character could be anybody's daughter who for reason's unknown takes up a serious drug habit. The film is essentially a love story between Pacino and Winn's characters. I couldn't decide whether the love between the two brought a little light to their dismal straits or that they were enabling each other into a worse addiction. For obvious reasons the film's message is timeless because, unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. Pacino and director Jerry Schatzberg would later collaborate on another seventies gem, "Scarecrow", that is well worth checking out.
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2021
Those who recall New York City in the late '60s and the '70s will recognize its ambience with a shudder. This movie captures the degeneration of a great city before its improbable come-back in the mid-'90s. The frantic quality of Pacino's performance among the addicts in squalid Sherman Square (West 72d and Broadway) makes the film; but it has a lot of fine supporting performances from others like Richard Bright (later Al Neri in Godfather), Katy Winn, Raul Julia, and even Paul Sorvino in his second movie, a bit part as a "john". Grim, unrelievedly grim, stuff -- but a well made and memorable film. It was Pacino's big break.
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2022
My DVD player checked a "region code" and refused to play this disc, citing "licensing." Watch for non-US companies selling to American households.
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2017
I'm a big Al Pacino fan and let me say, he makes the movie. His character, although struggling with a drug problem, is charismatic and fun to watch. Without him, I don't know if I would have liked the film because all the other characters and elements of the film are pretty depressing. The movie as a whole isn't something that's going to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. In fact, it will probably do the opposite. It's basically about a bunch of drug addicts in New York who are all panicking because the heroin supply in the city is drying up. The movie gets pretty dark at times, and pretty depressing, but Pacino makes you hang on till the end. I woudln't think this is the kind of film I'd want to see more than once, but surprisingly, I liked it enough to watch it several times now and ultimately buy the DVD.
Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars
an excellent performance by a very young al pacino
Reviewed in Canada on August 18, 2017
an excellent performance by a very young al pacino.....based on a book that was considered fiction but the author did his research so that much of what you see actually did happen in real life
One person found this helpful
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Mystery Martian
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent performance from Pacino
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 10, 2010
Like many people I bought this DVD as an Al Pacino completist. For that, you get everything you want for your money - he is on top form, playing an absolute black sheep of a character who you still root for. But he's not just affable and sympathetic, he also effortlessly gives what could have been a very difficult role a kind of emotional weight and resonance that you feel long after watching it. The other actors are solid and convincing without ever trying to upstage him (few actors can do that anyway). I felt myself genuinely feeling for the characters (and their poor little puppy).
Without Pacino this would be a decent 3 star sort of movie. But Pacino gives it aggro and intensity, the like of which you just don't see often enough in movies these days. He's one of those rarities, just shining his very unique light wherever he goes. And I really enjoy this sub-sub-genre sort of movie, a character movie inside a drugs movie inside a New-York-story kind of movie. Despite the fact that it deals with some pretty serious and heavy 'problems in society' I like watching it for the look and feel of the time. The clothes, styles, hairdo's and most of all gritty old New York during the 1970's, shown here for all it actually was rather than the sanitised and very often glamourous false image it is still often given. If you're looking for a disco-era weren't-the-seventies-funny movie look elsewhere!
Without Pacino this would be a decent 3 star sort of movie. But Pacino gives it aggro and intensity, the like of which you just don't see often enough in movies these days. He's one of those rarities, just shining his very unique light wherever he goes. And I really enjoy this sub-sub-genre sort of movie, a character movie inside a drugs movie inside a New-York-story kind of movie. Despite the fact that it deals with some pretty serious and heavy 'problems in society' I like watching it for the look and feel of the time. The clothes, styles, hairdo's and most of all gritty old New York during the 1970's, shown here for all it actually was rather than the sanitised and very often glamourous false image it is still often given. If you're looking for a disco-era weren't-the-seventies-funny movie look elsewhere!
24 people found this helpful
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Steerpike
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Reviewed in Canada on July 6, 2019
Classic movie
james
4.0 out of 5 stars
PRETTY AUTHENTIC
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2014
As an intimate observer of the junkie scene (but not a participant) back in the late 60s and early 70s I rate this film as pretty authentic. The lack of glamour, the paranoia, the squalor and futility is all captured here. This was one of the early method acting productions and a fine example of cinema's attempt to relinquish the clichéd norms of the Hollywood era.
5 people found this helpful
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123schipperke
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Panic in Needle Park
Reviewed in Canada on June 6, 2013
Had forgotten this film I saw decades ago, but it's fantastic. And for an Al Pacino fan it's a must to watch. I really loved it and the supplier sent it on time and in good condition. Just as described.
2 people found this helpful
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