The Panic in Needle Park

Easily winning-over otherwise untethered Helen (Kitty Winn) with his street-smarts, Upper West Side heroin dealer Bobby (Al Pacino) introduces addict friends (Warren Finnerty as Sammy), and “brother” Hank (Richard Bright), in The Panic In Needle Park, 1971, screenplay by Joan Didion and husband John Gregory Dunne.

Helen (Kitty Winn), released from a Manhattan hospital after treatment following a botched illicit abortion, is mostly pleased to find Bobby (a charming Al Pacino, in his first movie lead role), her boyfriend’s dealer, waiting, in director Jerry Schatzberg’s gritty The Panic In Needle Park, 1971

After a long stretch of subway noise under the credits, director Jerry Schatzberg joins Helen (Kitty Winn) riding downtown where she joins artist boyfriend Marco (Raul Julia), then Bobby (Al Pacino), evidently his dealer, joins them, opening The Panic In Needle Park, 1971, from a novel by James Mills.

Still shocking, Al Pacino as New York heroin dealer/user Bobby, happily chatting with new girlfriend Helen (Kitty Winn) while friends (Warren Finnerty, Michael McClanathan and especially Kiel Martin as Chico) shoot up, in director Jerry Schatzberg’s The Panic In Needle Park, 1971.