In the dark corner of the city, they found light

God help Bobby and Helen. They're in love in Needle Park.

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.


The Panic in Needle Park is a 1971 American film directed by Jerry Schatzberg and starring Al Pacino in his second film appearance.[2] The screenplay was written by Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, adapted from the book by James Mills.
The film portrays life among a group of heroin addicts who hang out in "Needle Park" (the nickname of Sherman Square on New York City's Upper West Side near 72nd Street and Broadway).[3] The film is a love story between Bobby (Pacino), a young addict and small-time hustler, and Helen (Kitty Winn), a restless woman who finds Bobby charismatic. She becomes an addict, and life goes downhill for them both as their addictions worsen, eventually leading to a series of betrayals.

Release Date: July 13, 1971


Distrib: 20th Century Fox