hum...bad....GOOD
bad bad directing but such a great film debut for Pacino!
shareI thought the directing was good, very focused on the characters not self-congratulatory camera moves and editing. The film was made to look gritty and like a documentary, one of the first films of the 70's to do so.
share I saw this film when it was released-- I was very anxious to do so, as I lived in that neighborhood and often sat around the Square which the film calls "Needle Park".
The square did not host an 'abundance' of junkies as the film implies. In fact, there was a mostly mixed lot of folks in the area, and it changed by the hour. The Continental (gay) Baths (which we called "Connie's") was just across Broadway from the park, and the bath house was in it's heydey at that time. (the film "The Ritz", which was made a few years later-- was a comedy based on the Continental Baths).
During the day, a lot of older and retired men sat on those benches, but at night there was an always changing mix of younger men & women-- gay, bi, and straight-- some junkies, some just buzzed, and some not high at all.
A block south of 72nd Street and 'the park' was a 24 hour sandwich shop which was known to us all as a place to cop drugs. It was always packed with junkies, as well as occasional druggies, all looking for a high.
I was 21 years old when the film was released, and like many young men in my neighborhood, I hung out in the streets.
I liked the film-- but it was no more a true look at 'Needle Park', than "The Ritz" was a true look at the phenomenon of 'Connie's'.
--and it wasn't even close to portraying full-time junkies-- (a group I was well aquainted with...). The film was more Hollywood than Sherman Square, and as such, it did boost Al Pacino to real stardom.
BY THE WAY: One night two friends and I were riding in a cab up Park Avenue South which, in those days, was a mostly deserted street at night.
When our cab stopped at a traffic light, a car containing Al Pacino stopped for the same light in the lane right next to us. We looked at him, he looked at us, we screamed "It's Al Pacino!" and his car floored the gas-pedal and sped off in the night.
Wow that's so interesting dana-dana. It must be distracting to see inconsistencies if you were there at the time... I'm only 36 so when I saw this film I related more to generalities than time and place.
However, the scenes depicted translated emotion well to me and a similar scene I experienced ...different time, different place though. The people and situations reminded me a great deal of life as I knew it on the lower east side, east village in the 90's-recent. Of course I'm sure many of those people have been edged out by NYU students most recently... and those people would argue with me if I described their neighborhood as I recall it. The addicts I knew were invisible to many people who would visit that part of town- unless you knew what you were looking for.
Also, from a friend that I know who WAS using dope at that time- "the panic" wasn't isolated to just one small area. I guess they just thought it was a catchy title??? What do you think?
Panic in Needle Park seemed to me more of a microcosmic view of the drug scene, focused on the lives of two people and their small clique. It couldn't portray every aspect of the life, but it did a pretty sensitive job of doing what it did. But that's just my humble opion.
All junkies become insane from the pain of the down times, except maybe young ones who can get away with it for a while. People dont understand that.
Pacino in this film acted like someone who used maybe once a week after getting off from his desk job.
I agree it wasnt an accurate portrayal of junkies.