The Panic In Needle Park (1971) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

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Transcript

00:12what's up guys how's it going it's me beau back here on the film scene investigation channel

00:21hope you're all doing good out there today i have another review it's from 1971 it stars

00:28al pacino it's very bleak it's quite dark and we're going to get into it today it's called

00:33the panic in needle park so yes this movie stars the legendary al pacino an actor that i'm you know

00:44i've been aware of for many many years even as a young kid uh seeing him pop up in you

00:50know certain

00:51films and believe it or not you know i've done over 100 videos now on this channel and i've yet

00:59to review any of al pacino's films so i thought it was about time that i got around to checking

01:06out

01:06some of his uh his filmography just before we get into the review guys if you haven't already

01:12please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated so the panic

01:21in needle park from 1971 was a drama directed by the filmmaker jerry schatzberg it was based on the

01:301966 novel by author james mills filmed on location in new york city this was a very small time

01:42low budget production that received fairly mixed reviews when it was released as for the plot it

01:51centered on a drug dealer called bobby who was played by actor al pacino this was a young charismatic guy

02:00who spent his days selling drugs up and down the upper west side of manhattan yes it was a

02:10sketchy sketchy occupation if you can even call it that but for bobby you know he felt it was worth

02:18it

02:19you know the rewards were too good to pass up a young woman would then enter bobby's life

02:27a woman called helen who was played by actress kitty win they met through mutual friends should i say

02:36customers and very quickly hit it off and became romantically involved with one another helen

02:45was very naive it was almost like she was uh like blinded by bobby's charisma and charm and

02:59didn't fully grasp the dangers she was you know getting herself involved with as for bobby well you

03:09know he was a fun loving guy he was quite happy to entertain this young naive girl who yeah just

03:17kind

03:18of fell in love with him pretty quickly as their relationship blossomed bobby would end up introducing helen

03:25to a number of his friends if you want to call them that they were junkies you know addicts that

03:36just you know bought drugs off of bobby he was a well-known figure in amongst the drug community

03:44in needle park these were people that i personally wouldn't want to talk to or even approach really

03:52to be honest with you but for bobby you know that was his life he you know embraced this

03:59very degenerate culture and was clearly not bothered by it he was loving every minute of it

04:07it was a pretty depressing sight to see but in fairness to the bobby character he was a guy that

04:17well he was pretty truthful you know he was authentic he didn't shy away and try and pretend he was

04:25something he wasn't he was a drug dealer and he very much liked that lifestyle and when it came to

04:34helen she just seemed to accept it for her she was kind of just bedazzled by this guy and yeah

04:44they

04:44carried on and had this relationship but of course things eventually turned ugly as you could imagine

04:51because bobby started to microdose on heroin started using his own supply and well as expected

05:02eventually he was hooked the couple would eventually go on to lose their apartment that they were living in

05:11together this was down to uh not paying the rent so as you can imagine the landlord kicked them out

05:18but this was just the first in a long line of just terrible situations that these guys found

05:27themselves in as for bobby's heroin addiction it just got more and more out of control he just couldn't

05:35get his crack together and subsequently helen would end up using drugs herself it's kind of crazy

05:45really to think about it because there you had helen clearly seeing what the addiction was doing to her

05:55boyfriend bobby but all of that didn't seem to scare her in any way it was almost like she was

06:04missing out on something like an experience that she wanted to have and seeing bobby the way he was

06:12and all the people around him so almost in love you know with heroin she wanted she wanted to be

06:20a part of

06:20that i mean as i mentioned she was a very naive and of course bringing that naivety into the equation

06:30well you just had this young woman no clue really what she was doing and yeah becoming a junkie

06:38it was uh yeah a very disturbing kind of sight to see really because ultimately you now had two young

06:47people with so much potential just crippled by their addiction so when it comes to the themes of this

06:56urban decay urban decay played a big part in the foundations of the narrative new york city in the

07:0570s pre-gentrification was a very high crime area and the director jerry schatzberg presented that

07:16very authentically of course drug addiction was at the center of all of these issues but showing

07:25the lifestyles of the people within the community that raised a bigger question as to how a society

07:35could turn out like it did the lack of funding resulted in an underclass of disillusioned people

07:43hooked on street drugs and completely trapped in this cycle of poverty the film also illustrated

07:53how addicts with dependency issues would end up either stealing you know betraying their loved ones

08:01or in helen's case even prostituting her own body to survive it was just this very grim reality

08:11that hung over this entire film it was just yeah just very depressing because ultimately you saw these

08:20people with no real way out of their situation besides death you know that leads me on nicely to talk

08:30about the film's overall aesthetic because you had this very raw and gritty vibe that was uh very common

08:41in the cinema of the 1970s the filmmakers made efforts to use a lot of handheld camera work

08:50and also natural lighting which resulted in this kind of unpolished documentary style quality

08:59we also had these extreme close-ups of these guys shooting up heroin you know you saw the needle

09:07go into the vein and go into the vein and that stuff you know lasted several minutes at a time

09:13after

09:14seeing that it was very clear that the director in no way was trying to glamorize this lifestyle if

09:24anything the director wanted you know to have a true faithful depiction and that's exactly what we got

09:31with this movie interestingly there was also no musical score to accompany the film which only heightened

09:40its gritty nature instead of having musical cues or character themes we were left with the very chaotic

09:50rough and ready sound design of new york city with all the cars the people just the general hustle and

10:00bustle of new york you know i think that's a really smart choice not to use any kind of score

10:07or

10:07soundtrack because obviously the director wanted a very authentic portrayal and by having no music

10:16you know it just added to that unpolished vibe so yeah it definitely worked in their favor when it comes

10:23to the acting al pacino did a solid job playing the fun-loving drug dealer bobby this was actually

10:33pacino's first time in the leading role so yeah there was a lot riding on this for him a big

10:42step in his

10:43career and he knew that he had to deliver and he certainly did pacino played this small-time

10:51manipulative hustler and it felt very natural it didn't feel very you know performative in any way

10:59and yeah it's clear that he fully committed to the role you know for me personally i'm a lot more

11:09familiar with pacino's later work you know the stuff he did in the 90s and the 2000s but it was

11:16really

11:17nice to see a early pre-godfather role and uh yeah i mean he had a lot of charisma it

11:26doesn't really

11:26surprise me that pacino went on to have this big successful career because even in the early stages

11:33you could see that he had the it factor he also had some very strong chemistry with his co-star

11:41kitty

11:41win who played helen who played helen their natural rapport really elevated the emotional elements

11:49of the story and i must say yeah they uh they just bounced off each other so well it is

11:56crazy to think

11:57that uh both kitty win and pacino would go on to both star in two you know mega franchises

12:07one being the godfather for pacino and for kitty win the exorcist franchise as for the actress herself

12:16first and foremost she was the star of the show she you know with her performance it was so compelling

12:24seeing this young naive woman called helen just fall into this addiction it was uh yeah just

12:32so tragic and also i think because it was a slow and gradual decline you know we could see it

12:42coming

12:42you know we knew that she was gonna end up having this kind of breakdown it was just you know

12:49it was

12:49meant to happen it's gonna happen there's no way of avoiding it and yeah kind of like it's kind of

12:57like a car crash in slow motion you know i guess that's the best way i could sum it up

13:02from her

13:03disheveled look to her agitated behavior win embodied this woman who had just completely lost

13:12all control of her life and when you think about it it is actually quite impressive that win was

13:21able to make me feel sympathy for her character even though when you really kind of break it down

13:28helen brought all of this upon herself yeah let's be clear bobby never forced her to take drugs he in

13:38no way shape or form made her do that no that was her choice she took the opportunity when bobby

13:47was

13:47asleep and well she suffered the consequences you know i must say after seeing this performance

13:55i am genuinely surprised that kitty win never went on to have a big film career i am genuinely surprised

14:03because you know i saw her in the exorcist i've reviewed that on this channel before and you know

14:09it was a supporting role she had a much bigger part in this movie but yeah i mean yeah obviously

14:18she was

14:19acting you know alongside al pacino but she she matched him for talent absolutely and the fact that i i

14:26ended up

14:27reading that she uh retired in 1983 you know for whatever reason i'm not too sure but uh yeah very

14:36surprising because uh she was pretty amazing in this film and so dislikes for the panic in needle park

14:45from 1971 my biggest dislike for the film would have to be the whole sequence that involved helen's dog

14:56getting neglected so quite late on into the film we ended up seeing bobby by helen

15:06a dog a puppy as a way to kind of reconcile they'd be having some issues you know rowing arguments

15:15and so yeah this was a way to you know for bobby to make up for it but within hours

15:22of getting the dog

15:24bobby started having these urges to shoot up heroin while traveling back to their apartment

15:31as expected with a junkie he just uh couldn't resist the temptation so he went and started to

15:40shoot up but he also wanted helen to get involved too he didn't want to be high by himself helen

15:48was

15:48quite happy to sit there with the dog while bobby went in the bathroom and used but no he insisted

15:57that

15:57she'd come to and he well basically forced her to while the dog was yeah just forgotten about

16:05anyways they ended up shooting up in the bathroom i'm not too sure how much time elapsed but eventually

16:13we saw helen come out and try and find the dog she was looking around and then she eventually spotted

16:22the dog as it ran off the boat they were traveling in of course helen was in complete shock she

16:29couldn't

16:29believe it and yeah i must say i just hated this whole sequence yeah i make no bones about it

16:37i'm a dog

16:38lover i have a dog and seeing that happen and to be honest with you any kind of animal neglect

16:46i uh i don't like it it it does it does disturb me you know make no mistake about it

16:52i am biased you

16:54know i obviously love dogs and um i've actually i've actually got a key ring of my dog there polly

17:04but you see you know when i see that kind of stuff i it just turns me off and yeah

17:13that was a big kind of

17:15like moment sequence i just yeah just was happy that it ended when it did you know of course

17:23someone watched this movie that doesn't have a love for dogs because there are people out there who

17:28don't like dogs then obviously if they see this they wouldn't have that kind of connection so

17:34yeah it's obviously something that's personal to me so seeing that you know animal neglect but

17:41especially a dog getting neglected uh yeah just not my not my cup of tea i just i just wasn't

17:48a fan

17:48and to be honest with you this movie was depressing and dark enough i don't think it even you know

17:55needed

17:56any kind of animal cruelty involved with it but uh yeah there you go and so ratings for the panic

18:06in needle park from 1971 i'm gonna be rating this movie a solid 6 out of 10 the panic in

18:16needle park

18:16was a movie that explored the devastation of addiction and how it can completely ruin people's

18:26lives both pacino and kitty win really committed to their respective roles which left us with this very

18:34dark and depressing portrayal i will say i i did like how the film was left with there being no

18:46real

18:46clear resolution to the story the director decided to be ambiguous with what happened to the characters

18:56and yeah i thought that was quite an interesting idea i got the impression that evil bobby or helen

19:04were gonna die i mean one of these guys is gonna overdose or something like that maybe get shot by

19:10another

19:10drug dealer who knows but i just kind of sensed something would happen but ultimately they survived

19:18just yet still unable to break this cycle of addiction they both found themselves in i'm glad

19:29that the filmmakers didn't cop out with some hollywood happy ending because yeah ultimately that just would

19:38not have suited the vibe of you know the rest of the film but thinking about it i think if

19:45we'd had some

19:46super sad ending i don't know maybe that would have been a little bit predictable because that's what

19:52i was thinking that was going to happen and it it didn't so it was surprising how it was left

19:57and

19:57ultimately i guess that was the the right choice from the filmmakers involved if you've seen the panic

20:04in needle park then please let me know your thoughts and memories in the comment section below

20:10for those out there who haven't seen this one yet it is a recommendation from me especially if you like

20:18gritty 70s drama a good way to sum it up i think would be to bring up the movie the

20:26driller killer

20:27from 1979 obviously two different stories one's a you know drama of as a horror film but

20:37both share very similar aesthetics so if you have seen the driller killer and you haven't seen this

20:43one yet um yeah you'll you'll probably like it too and well that is all from me today guys i

20:51do hope

20:51you've enjoyed this review of the panic in needle park from 1971 i'll be back next week of course with

20:59yet another cult movie review if you haven't already guys please do think about subscribing i really

21:05do appreciate it and of course take care

21:12you

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