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Panic is a disturbingly beautiful piece of work - a very bleak vision shot uncompromisingly by director Jerry Schatzberg, whose use of improvisation and verite style filmmaking puts us right there on the grimy streets with the protagonists. Unlike most drug themed films from this period it does not indulge in the glorification of drug use, which may be part of the reason it flopped at the box office.
The movie features a pre-Godfather Al Pacino in only his second screen appearance, giving one of his best performances. Not a movie for the squeamish, the subject matter is presented realistically and harshly. Needles are shown in close up going under the skin, long harrowing scenes of overdoses, and dirty living conditions in shoddy apartments with filthy clothes and cheap food, addicts hanging out in the concrete jungle known as Needle Park. Schatzberg’s vision conveys no glamour in being an addict. It is not an easy movie to sit through and certainly not a Friday night date movie.
In this subterranean setting, a love story is played out between Bobby (Pacino) a small-time criminal, hustler and drug addict and Helen (Kitty Winn), originally from the mid-west who has recently split with her boyfriend/artist Marco (Raoul Julia) after aborting their baby. They meet when Bobby comes up to Marco’s apartment to sell him some dope and he notices she is not feeling well. Helen ends up in the hospital from complications of the abortion. While there, Bobby visits her and soon after she is released, she moves in with him.
Charismatic, cocky and confident, Bobby feels he can do anything yet he lacks any vision beyond the buying and selling of drugs. Trying to impress Helen, he steals a portable television from the back of a van. Soon after they move in together Helen starts chipping. The heroin habit gets worst and their life together quickly spirals downward. While Bobby is in and out of jail, Helen succumbs to prostitution as a way to support her increasingly expensive heroin habit, even sleeping with Bobby’s brother, another small-time crook. After Bobby’s release from jail, he discovers Helen’s been selling herself on the streets. In a fit of rage, he screams out, “I was going to marry a whore!” Cowering in a corner of the bathroom, Helen pleads with Bobby not to hit her. As he moves toward the bathroom, however, he doesn’t hit her; instead, he hugs her. Together, they talk, making plans about getting married, moving to the country, but it’s only just talk, the only road they are on is going nowhere.
The “Panic” in the title refers to a police crackdown on drug selling and usage in the park. Heroin becomes scarce; suppliers are nowhere to be found. After Helen is arrested for prostitution a narcotics detective named Hotch (Alan Vint) begins to pressure her into giving up Bobby, offering her a break in the charges filed against her. She refuses but Hotch is persistent. Eventually, she betrays Bobby and he is arrested and sent away. After his release, despite the betrayals, the petty crime and the prostitution Bobby and Helen stay together, continuing on their destructive course.
The film is a disturbing harrowing gritty view of people living and lost in a marginal world. Contributing to this mood is Schatzberg’s lack of any background music. The soundtrack includes only street noises consisting of cars honking, motorcycles, and people talking. Unlike many other drug themed films of the period, Schatzberg does not indulge in any psychedelic, strobe lighting effects that now look so dated. He does not celebrate nor does he criticize his characters. He refuses to condemn or pity them.
Both performers are gut wrenching and courageous in their roles. Pacino, hungry for a film career, gives an astonishing performance as Bobby, never going over the top, as he's been apt to do in some of his later performances. Pacino is effective in so many scenes it’s difficult to select just a few highlights. Whether he’s the cocky street kid trying to impress a girl by stealing a television or overdosing and near death, he has a commanding presence. He created a character you feel you know or have seen, maybe someone you grew up with from the neighborhood. Francis Ford Coppola admired Pacino’s performance so much in this film that he fought with studio heads at Paramount, insisting he be allowed to cast Michael in The Godfather.
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For Kitty Winn, this was her first feature film and she is magnificent as Helen, the girl from the midwest who develops an $80 a day habit. We watch her as she slowly deteriorates, wasting away before your eyes as the film progresses. Winn gave such an outstanding performance she deservedly won the Best Actress award at Cannes. Incredibly, she was not even selected for an Oscar nomination that year.
The film has lost none of its power over the 35 years since its release. Its relevance today is apparent in more recent films, such as “Drugstore Cowboy”, “Trainspotting,” and “Requiem for a Dream,” all of whom owe a debt of gratitude to Schatzberg. Today, the area once known as Needle Park, officially called Sherman Square, located at the intersection of Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue on the upper West Side of Manhattan, is clean and upscale. Of course, the problems that made it famous or infamous did not go away. It just moved to other neighborhoods and cities. In 1973, Schatzberg made one other great film that has been underneath the radar, before slipping into mediocrity. The 1973 film “Scarecrow” also starring Pacino, along with Gene Hackman, is arguably the best 70’s buddy movie ever made.
- John Greco (0 comments)