DVD: The Panic in Needle Park (18)

This early Al Pacino film about heroin addicts starts, disconcertingly, as a rather sweet 1970s New York rom-com – Annie Hall on smack, if you like.

Then the romance between Pacino's Bobby, a small-time user and dealer, and Helen (Kitty Winn), an impressionable artist, turns predictably sour. The film's locale, between Broadway and 72nd, is not an ideal one in which to panic; events prove as much once Helen becomes a user and the cops start to circle. Poundingly grim between that curious opening and a strangely sweet ending, this is a fascinating film.

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