{"id":12713,"date":"2011-08-16T21:14:06","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T20:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=12713"},"modified":"2011-09-05T05:00:09","modified_gmt":"2011-09-05T04:00:09","slug":"dvd-the-panic-in-needle-park-al-pacino-kitty-winn-jerry-schatzberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2011\/08\/16\/dvd-the-panic-in-needle-park-al-pacino-kitty-winn-jerry-schatzberg\/","title":{"rendered":"DVD: The Panic in Needle Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The film which provided Al Pacino with his breakout role is also a vivid glimpse into the drug culture of New York in the early 1970s.<\/p>\n

\u2018Needle Park\u2019 was the nickname given to an actual location in New York’s Upper West Side<\/a>, located near 72nd Street<\/a> and Broadway<\/a>, where real-life junkies congregated in Verdi<\/a> and Sherman Square<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The \u2018panic\u2019 refers to the period of time when there weren’t a lot of drugs on the market, due to other factors such as suppliers being busted, and the subsequent desperation felt by users as they searched in vain for their next fix.<\/p>\n

A drama set amongst a group of heroin addicts in this area, the story pivots around the relationship between a small-time hustler (Al Pacino) and a drifting woman (Kitty Winn).<\/p>\n

It was notable for the cluster of talented people involved in bringing it to the screen: photographer-turned-director Jerry Schatzberg<\/a> had established himself in features with Puzzle of a Downfall Child<\/a> (1970); Dominick Dunne<\/a> produced whilst his\u00a0brother John Gregory Dunne<\/a> co-wrote the screenplay with Joan Didion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The commitment to realism isn’t surprising, given that the writers were two acclaimed journalists, and the film was adapted from\u00a0a 1965 Life magazine piece<\/a>, and subsequent book<\/a>\u00a0written by James Mills.<\/p>\n

Schatzberg was part of the New Hollywood<\/a> generation influenced by the techniques and style of the French New Wave<\/a>, which emphasised immediacy and utilised new camera technology<\/a> to depict reality on location, rather than the grand\u00a0sound stages\u00a0of Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most obvious American comparison is with Midnight Cowboy<\/a> (1969), which also depicted lost souls struggling in the poorer side of New York.<\/p>\n

It is not a coincidence that both films share the same cinematographer, Adam Holender<\/a>, who shoots with a raw v\u00e9rit\u00e9<\/a> style, featuring terrific use of real New York locations, including the park of the title and hotels in the surrounding area.<\/p>\n

Avoiding the usual establishing shots of the New York skyline and utilising long lenses to film on actual streets, the film captures the energy of the city and the characters trying to survive within it.<\/p>\n

Absolutely rooted in the time it was shot, it also has a striking fidelity to the subject matter: not only does the central relationship feel convincing, but the unflinching depictions of drug use have even\u00a0caused problems with UK censors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The graphic scenes of people shooting up, the matter-of-fact approach to dealers as well as the wider heroin and drug culture is pervasive, giving it a jolting ring of authenticity.<\/p>\n

The production even used a location that attracted the attention of real life drug-dealers and prostitutes, who greeted them as equals (!), which was perhaps a testament to the actors and filmmaker\u2019s commitment to realism.<\/p>\n

Lacking a conventional score (or indeed any music at all) also gives everything a special atmosphere, with no audio cues to guide us as to what we should think or feel.<\/p>\n

Pacino is fiery and convincing, displaying the young charm and energy which marked out his early work – it isn\u2019t hard to see why Francis Ford Coppola wanted to cast him in The Godfather<\/a> (1972) after seeing this.<\/p>\n

Kitty Winn<\/a> is equally strong with a performance, full of feeling and raw innocence which later won her the Best Actress Award at the Cannes film festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n