MovieChat Forums > The Panic in Needle Park (1971) Discussion > this film view addiction the way it is

this film view addiction the way it is

posted 17 years ago by krillin1212
8 replies | jump to latest

this movie is the only movie that show addiction in reality trust me i've been using heroin as a chippy for a while but now am proud to say to quit this *beep*

no other movie really shows addiction like this movie does, any addict or a previous user would certainly agree with me the way they shoot up, the way to look when they are on high doses(like in the scene where she wants him to have sex with her, and he's too high to function.) thats completely true.

at certain doses when your too high, you can't even pee. i've seen the basketball diaries candy and other movie about heroin, but nothin gets as real as this film. like the look of them nodding while they are high seemed so real that prostitute when she was talkin in that park, it seemed so real that i kinda started believin that the casting must've been users in some point of their lives.

i wanna hear opinions from users or previous users, have you ever seen a movie that portrays addiction like this one?

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] rrpostal 16 years ago

It's always amazed me that people are able to chip. How can you like it enough to want to do it, but not want to do it all the time? It's like yeah, I "sort of" like opiates. It really lends credence to the idea of a genetic component to addiction.

"Dark End of the Street" is a good doc about the SF area street junkies. By no means a "global" view of heroin use. I don't think a single person had a job. It's a good watch regardless. Another one centers on a Chicago area and I can't remember the name of it...it's named after the area that homeless live in "The...something"

This movie is awesome also. I don't think there's a better H movie to this day including "Trainspotting", "Candy", "Christianne F", "Permanent Midnight", "Sherry Baby" or even the great and depressing "Requiem". "Basketball Diaries" just makes me want to read the book again like as I'm sure "Candy" would if I'd read it.

[–] kateyk12 13 years ago

thats what I thought too. the way their pupils are real tiny at times, then big as pies at other times. how did they do that in a movie?

[–] sugarteacream 13 years ago

Lighting - or maybe.... real opiates

[–] bloodredlipstick 11 years ago

I was pretty panicked at the thought if having to use those old syringes! Ah! All the tapping around. No plunger? *beep* that. I'm a small girl, I lost all of my vains soooo quickly. I live in San Francisco so it's not nearly as cold as NY, but still if I was trying to hit a vein outside & there was a slight breeze they would hide & be impossible to find. I started muscling & using my jugular. Going straight into my neck. Gross, I know.
HOW IN THE WORLD would anyone be able to hit with those syringes while being sick & shaking?! What a mess. I guess that's why the cop felt the need to tell Helen he couldn't find the tracks on someone cause they were on his "private parts". I guess they would just get huge, long needles & hit their fem? Fun.

[–] EliHayes 11 years ago

I would agree with you that this film is a masterpiece that portrays heroin addict extremely accurately; the only film that I'd say does it better is Christiane F. This is coming from a recovered addict as well, just so you know that I'm not spouting nonsense, haha.

[–] griffinesq 11 years ago

You should check out a Don Cheadle film from back in the day re: The Goat Manigault.

"...the dick swagger you roll with; I'd think you could spot crazy pussy".

[–] activista 10 years ago

Here's a interview from a couple of years back with the director himself, Jerry Schatzburg, about making the film:

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idXJ1MtYzQk

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDGB-E48HM0