Panic In Needle Park postepaoined again??? (1 Viewer)

[ted:r]

I checked several web sites since the DVD was due to be released today. They all said it will be released...in April 2007!!!

This is at least the second time it has been postponed at the last moment. What is going on???

 

[Dave Mack]

Holy Hi-hats, Batman!!!!
April, 2007...?!?!?!
DAAAAAAAMN! What do they have against this title?!?!?
Great film. I have the R0 PAL full-frame version...

 

[Dave Mack]

Well, amazon and DDD have this for pre-order now, ($9.99, not bad at AM) set for June 19th.
Will it finally make it this time and I can retire my Pal version?

http://www.amazon.com/Panic-Needle-P...9126954&sr=1-1

These are the specs off DDD.com


DVD Features:

Keep Case
Dual Side
Audio:
Stereo - English
Mono - English, French
Subtitles - English, Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
Trailers
Disc 1/Side A: THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK - Widescreen Version
Widescreen - 1.85
Disc 1/Side B: THE PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK - Full Frame Version
Full Frame - 1.33


Very interesting. These discs could very well have been pressed 2 or more years ago and they have just been sitting around. How often is there a WS/FF flipper anymore?

 

[ted:r]

I will not hold my breath again. No sireee bob, not this time. What's that saying, fool me once, shame on you, fool me thrice, shame on me?

 

[Dave Mack]

We'll know in 5 weeks...

 

[Dave Mack]

http://www.dvdfile.com/index.php?opt...=6054&Itemid=3

well, dvdfile has a review up! Guess its coming!

 

[ted:r]

Tricky, tricky, tricky! THEY realize that I'm on to them. Like Lucy with the football. Me thinking, maybe, maybe this time...Oh no, I'm not falling for it. No sirree...nope..no...

Damn...

Write back when I'm flat on my back.

 

[Dave Mack]

Well, it's out tom'w...!

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDRe...eedle_park.htm

time to retire the full frame PAL edition!

 

[Dave Mack]

Well, it's ordered but amazon is taking it's sweet time mailing it out as usual.
Darn that Free shipping!

Anyone else get it?

 

[ted:r]

Neither my local Best Buy or Border's has it. I'm about to go the Amazon route.

It's sad the brick and mortars are carrying fewer and fewer catalog titles on the day of release.

 

[Dave Mack]

My copy came today and sure enought, the copyright for the DVD is 2005. I'm sure these were made then when it was originally suppossed to come out and then they just sat on the shelf for 2 years while whatever happenned (legality stuff, rights issues, whatever...) played out.
Gonna watch it tonite and compare.

 

[Richard--W]

My guess is that The Panic In Needle Park was withheld from release on DVD to coincide with the release of Al Pacino An Actor's Vision and Cruisin' . The latter is loathsome shvt that would best be left in limbo, but Al Pacino An Actor's Vision is a box-set of hitherto unknown and unreleased short films that Pacino directed himself. Of the titles included only To Be Richard has been seen before. So that's three Pacino releases at the same time.

The Panic In Needle Park is as authentic and genuine as On the Waterfront. More so. I remember seeing the stark b&w posters for it in the subway declaring "God Help Bobby and Helen, They're In Love In Needle Park." Needle Park, by the way, was local slang for Verdi Square, an actual intersection at West 77th Street with a subway exit, a bus stop and benches where drug deals went down because there were so many ways to get in and out without being caught. The film became something of a legend at NYU. There was a lot of talk about how the actors and a small crew lived the lives they were making a movie about. About five years after it was released I went with some class mates to see where it was filmed and guess what, Schatzberg & company really did shoot in Needle Park and its environs. We didn't stay very long. It's an austere film that achieves pathos through behavioral acting and documentary camera work. There's no music. It's all natural ambient sound. You haven't seen reality in the movies until you've seen The Panic In Needle Park.

Buy it and watch it when you have time to concentrate. I think The Panic In Needle Park is one of the best movies ever made. Expect it to be prominent in the AFI's next list of the top 100. I put it in the top ten.

For me, that's two of the best movies ever made released to DVD in the same week: The Hill and The Panic In Needle Park.

 

[Dave Mack]

Well, the marketing dept. is quite funny.

"In the dark corner of the city, they found light..."

umm, no.

and on the back...

"A harrowing portrait of drug addiction that is also an immensely satisfying love story."

ummm, the first part is accurate.

Anyways, the DVD looks pretty good but definitely it's been filtered pretty heavily probably to get rid of lots of grain (Can't have film grain, can we boys! ) but luckily it doesn't look like they added alot of EE to compensate. The PAL version is indeed much grainier but looks a bit more natural.
The PAL version also had more consistent colors (fleshtones at time on the R1 veered heavily towards pink and even purplish green in some outdoor shots)
So the R1 is finally OAR, a very clean print that's been pretty scrubbed (DNR)
the PAL looks grittier but also more detailed (also PAL has slightly higher res which can account for a bit of a difference too.)

Overall recommended, especially for $9.99

It's interesting to compare this to "Requiem for a dream"
The people (the leads included) look like junkies, some of the supporting cast eerily so.
Also there is NO soundtrack music, no quick cuts, no subjective stylized photgraphy. This is as realistic as it gets and the ending is abruptly perfect.