A couple loves heroin as much as they love each other in Jerry Schatzberg's grim drug drama. After an illegal abortion at the behest of her faithless lover (Raul Julia), lost innocent Helen (Kitty Winn) finds solace with small-time crook Bobby (Al Pacino), a regular in Manhattan's "Needle Park." As Bobby shows her around his Upper West Side world, the two become inseparable. When Helen realizes that Bobby is a full-blown junkie, she joins him in addiction, and their downward spiral begins in
earnest. Weathering overdoses, prostitution, betrayals, and a "panic" after a major bust, the pair manages to stick together, the habit sealing their fate. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
The movie's well-fed, camera-loving cast and general air of self-satisfied slumming reveal Panic for what it is: the kind of drug movie a pair of Malibu intellectuals and a fashion photographer would cook up.
An occasion to meditate upon the frightfulness of heroin addiction and why many youth opt for the euphoria of white powder rather than the promises of the American dream.
Além de contar com as estupendas atuações de Winn e Pacino (em sua brilhante estréia no Cinema), este ainda é um dos melhores filmes já produzidos sobre dependência química.
A brilliantly performed, remarkably un-exploitative (and occasionally funny) portrayal of the ravages of drug addiction, shot with searing documentary-style realism from Schatzberg.
I loved this movie from start to finish. I could have watched it for hours. I loved the style that Schatzberg uses and it is one of the more realistic drug films I have seen. Al Pacino is phenomenal and it was cool to see a very young Raul Julia and Paul Sorvino. A depressing gem with an amazing ending.
August 6, 2011
Tim Sigur
Super Reviewer
There isn't much going on in this movie it seems, or maybe it's just me? Sure there's a love story, and it has it's ups and downs like all love stories, and yes it's interesting to see what life was like for these people in needle park, but there isn't an end to the movie, and I didn't like that.
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