
            In New York City, soft-spoken Helen returns to the apartment she shares with her boyfriend Marco after enduring an unhygienic and inept abortion. Although Helen becomes ill from the procedure, Marco is satisfied because he was able to procure the abortion through bartering, and thus did not have to expend any money. When Marco leaves briefly to collect some cash, Bobby, an amiable small-time drug dealer to whom Marco owes money, shows unexpected gentleness and concern for Helen. Soon after, when Helen is hospitalized for profuse bleeding, Bobby sneaks in after visiting hours and tells her that Marco has gone away. Briefly, Helen considers returning to her dysfunctional family in Fort Wayne, Indiana. However, after she is released from the hospital, she moves in with Bobby. As they are walking together, Bobby steals a television out of a parked van and pawns it for money to buy drugs. At his apartment, Bobby declines Helen's invitation to have sex until she feels better. When she awakens to find him taking drugs, he explains that he is not an addict, but only "chipping."At Sherman Square, which has been nicknamed "Needle Park" because it is a hangout for drug dealers and addicts, Bobby introduces Helen to various acquaintances that make up his social group of drug customers. At a cheap luncheonette, she meets Bobby's older brother Hank, who wears a suit and burgles for a living. In an apartment used by several addicts, Helen witnesses the intricate ritual of "shooting up" or preparing and injecting the heroin into a vein, and listens to their discussion of the price and availability of drugs. On the street, Bobby becomes anxious when drugs he has paid for are not in the telephone booth where he is to pick them up. After tracking down the man who sold him the drugs, he is re-directed to look into a trash can. That night his drug-taking renders him unable to make love to Helen.When they are evicted for non-payment of rent, Bobby suggests to Helen that she return home, but she refuses and they move into a sleazier apartment. After Bobby asks her to deliver money to Freddy, one of his suppliers, Helen realizes Bobby has not given her enough money to pay for the drugs and that she will be expected to make up the difference by having sex. While Helen is negotiating with Freddy, Hotch, a policeman on the drug squad, and his partner arrest them. As his partner convinces Freddy to assist them in a sting, Hotch explains to Helen about what it's like when there is a "panic." He explains that when the drug supply on the street is low, everyone begins to turn one another into the police, in return for favors. Unexpectedly, Hotch releases Helen without booking her and she returns to Bobby, who begins to use drugs more heavily. While Bobby spends more time sleeping, Helen, who all along has only observed the others, begins to shoot up.Some time later, Bobby is exuberantly playing stick ball with some children, when he passionately kisses Helen and looking into her eyes, realizes she is now using. In his favorite diner, as the drugged Helen sits listlessly beside him, Bobby proposes. Upon hearing the news, Hank asks what they will live on and doubts Bobby's supposition that he can quit drugs. Hank offers Bobby work as a burglar, but Helen rejects the idea, saying instead that she will get a job. However, Helen who has been hired as a waitress, does a terrible job and soon quits. Just before Bobby is to assist Hank in a burglary, he overdoses. With the aid of other users, Helen finds Bobby and helps him through the ordeal, but Hank is angry with Bobby for jeopardizing his plans. Reluctantly, he allows Bobby to assist him on another night, but the theft goes awry and Bobby is arrested. While he is in jail, Helen finds it harder to get drugs and has sex with Hank, in exchange for heroin.When Bobby is released, he and Helen have a big fight, after which Bobby considers moving to the country, but they agree that it is not feasible. Bobby persuades Santo, a major drug dealer, to let him handle distribution in Needle Park, and is directed to an apartment where the heroin is being prepared and bagged. Meanwhile, as they are in need of immediate money, Helen turns to streetwalking. After Bobby distributes Santo's drugs, Needle Park residents are happy to have a reliable source for a while. Bobby tells Helen that he stashed some drugs away as an insurance in case he is arrested, so that he can pay for a lawyer. However, when he finds the drugs missing from his hiding place, he accuses Helen of stealing it. As her health deteriorates from increasing drug use, their relationship suffers. Hotch, who is not surprised to watch her fall from an innocent woman in love to a drug abusing prostitute, keeps an eye on her and, when she is arrested with her john, he asks the arresting officer not to book her, as he needs her for something he is planning.When her mother writes, asking Helen to meet friends who are visiting the city, Helen is reluctant, but dresses up, carefully trying to hide the track marks on her arms. Instead of meeting them, however, she picks up a young virginal customer. When Bobby finds her, he scares the boy away, but then he and Helen begin to laugh. Realizing they have been too serious, they take the ferry to the countryside, where they buy a puppy. On the return trip, they discuss making a fresh start and Helen suggests that they move out of Needle Park, but Bobby refuses and convinces her to go into the men's room to shoot up. When the dog begins to whine, he puts it outside the door. Afterward, Helen discovers the dog missing and finds it just before it falls off the end of the ferry and into its machinery.Desolate, she goes to see Marco, who is back from his trip, but soon returns to Bobby and steals drugs from him. Needing a "fix," she goes to a doctor, falsely claiming she needs drugs for a painful kidney stone. Aware that she is an abuser, the doctor refuses to write a prescription for her, but gives her some samples, telling her never to return. She takes some of the pills, but is arrested for selling the rest to minors. Hotch warns her about the dangers of the women's prison and knowing that Bobby can lead them to Santo, offers to arrange for the charges to be dropped if she will help them to catch Bobby in the act of picking up a drug shipment. When she refuses, Hotch explains that she will go to jail for one to three years, but Bobby, who knows how to work the system, will probably only serve six months. Later, at home, Bobby elatedly tells her that there will be no more "panic" after the new shipment arrives, saying that Santo is giving him as much as he can sell, and is allowing him to have people work under him.In the next two weeks, Hotch approaches Helen several times, reminding her of the pending trial. Depressed, she increases her drug use and spends days in bed, until even Bobby is annoyed. Helen finally agrees to help the police and late one night Helen and Hotch watch, as a squad of policemen apprehend Bobby, who is in possession of a large quantity of heroin. Spotting her on the street and feeling betrayed, Bobby yells, "I was gonna marry you!" Months later, when he is released, Helen waits for him at the gate. Although his first impulse is to rebuff her, he calls to her and they walk off together.[4]
    

The Panic in Needle Park


            In Queens, New York, a young woman (Donna Patti) is raped and murdered in her apartment building. Rubin (Vincent Russo), the attacker, is seen by an elderly woman, but she declines to inform the police. Instead, she notifies a vigilante team comprised of local residents Nick (Fred Williamson), Ramon (Joseph Carberry), and Burke (Richard Bright). They find Rubin on a street corner, bragging to friends about how he evaded prosecution for his crime, and drag him to their van and drive away.The next day, housewife Vickie Marino (Rutanya Alda) comes to the defense of a gas station attendant who is being bullied by Frederico 'Rico' Melendez (Willie Colon), leader of a the Headhunters street gang. When she returns home with her toddler son, Scott, she notices Rico and several gang members parked outside, and calls police for help. Within seconds, the gang enters and assaults her. Scott hides in the bathtub, but gang member Prago (Don Blakely) kills him with a shotgun. Vickie runs to the backyard, screaming for help, and is brutally beaten by Rico.Meanwhile, her factory wielder husband, Eddie (Robert Foster), lunches at a saloon with co-workers Nick, Ramon, and Burke. Patrolman Gibbons (Steve W. James) enters and informs the group that Rubin was found dead in a vacant lot with every bone in his body broken. Nick takes no credit for the murder, but reminds the officer that his neighbors need protection that police and the courts no longer provide.Later, as Eddie leaves work, he asks about the exchange with Patrolman Gibbons. Burke recalls his frustrating career as a police officer, and recommends vigilantism as a more effective form of law enforcement. Eddie returns home to find his house surrounded by police cars. Detective Russo (Randy Jurgensen) assures Eddie that police know the identity of the guilty parties and advises him to file a complaint with District Attorney Mary Fletcher (Carol Lynley). Eddie meets with Fletcher, who informs him that Rico has been arrested.Afterward, Nick recounts a similar tragedy that befell his family, and advises Eddie to carry a gun, rather than allow himself to be victimized. Eddie disagrees, believing an escalation of violence can only lead to anarchy. He attends Rico's arraignment, as does Prago, who pays defense attorney Eisenberg (Joe Spinell) a large amount of cash to assure Rico's freedom. Eisenberg motions to drop the murder charge against the child Scotty, in return for a guilty plea for the assault on Vickie. Mary Fletcher agrees, but demands a 15-year sentence. Judge Sinclair (Vincent Beck) notes that Rico has no prior convictions, despite his 22 arrests, and offers a two-year suspended sentence. Eddie is unable to contain his outrage and violently assaults Rico in open court. Judge Sinclair sentences Eddie to 30 days in prison for contempt of court.With Eddie in prison, Nick and his group try to track down the source of drugs that have been sweeping their neighborhood. Nick chases after a small-time drug dealer named Blueboy (Frank Pesce) in a long foot-chase sequence whom they rough up and make him talk by hanging him by his ankles outside a building. Blueboy caves in and points them to his supplier: a local pimp named Horace (Bo Rucker).That evening, Nick and the group follow and confront Horace the pimp after they watch him beating up one of his prostitutes for not making enough money for his daily cocaine habit. After a short chase through the streets, they force Horace off the road where they torture him to reveal his drug source. Horace tells Nick that a high profile businessman, named Mr. T, is his suppler. After killing Horace, Nick, Ramon, and Burke trace the illegal narcotics trade in their community to Thomas 'Mr. T' Stokes (Peter Savage), a prominent businessman with known connections to organized crime. They ambush and kill him outside his office the following night.Meanwhile, at the prison, Eddie is attacked in the shower by prison bully, Leon (Kim Delgado), and his sycophant, Felix (Burt Pittari) and nearly sodomized, before an older inmate named Rake (Woody Strode) comes to Eddie's defense and subdues both of them.Upon Eddie's release, he joins the vigilantes. They burst into Rico's apartment that same evening as he makes love to his girlfriend, Rosie (Hyla Marrow), and accuse him of killing Scott. Rico insists that he did not kill Eddie's son and blames the murder on Prago, but Eddie shoots Rico to death anyway. But then, Rosie attempts to kill them, and after wounding Burke, gets shot dead by Nick. As the four vigilante's leave, a member of the Headhunters witnesses the group's departure outside the building and informs Prago. As the police investigate the crime scene, Detective Russo advises Patrolman Gibbons not to discuss the killings, believing the media will portray the vigilantes as heroes.Prago takes over as leader of the Headhunters and mistakenly assumes that dirty cops killed Rico. The following night, Prago and the gang ambush a police car and kill both cops, including Patrolman Gibbons, in a hail of bullets.The next day, Vickie is released from the hospital, but refuses to return home, as the trauma left her with no feelings for her husband. Another day or two later, Nick pays a visit to Eddie, who then expresses his intent to leave the city in hope of finding a safer place to live. Nick tries to convince him to stay and fight for his home.A little later, as Eddie is driving through Brooklyn on his way out of town in his van, he spots Prago on the street and recognizes him from the courtroom that day of him being around Rico. Eddie parks his van and follows Prago on foot who soon spots Eddie and attempts to shoot him while Eddie returns fire. A climatic chase sequence begins where Prago hijacks a car and attempts to drive away while Eddie steals another car and chases after him through the streets, evading other cars and pedestrians alike. A police car briefly gives chase, but Eddie manages to knock the patrol car aside and off the road. The chase leads to a local dockyard mill on the East River where both cars crash and Eddie chases Prago on foot again up a storage tower where he confronts him with being the person who killed his young son. Sadistic and insane to the last, Prago admits to killing Eddie's son and then dares Eddie to kill him... who responds by throwing Prago off the tower to his death without hesitating.In the final scene, Eddie targets the last of his enemies: the corrupt Judge Sinclair who sentenced him to jail by planting a bomb under the judge's car in the Brooklyn courthouse parking lot. That night, when Judge Sinclair gets in his car and starts the engine, it explodes, killing the judge. Watching from a distance in his van, the satisfied Eddie drives away into the night.
    

Vigilante


            
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Richard Bright

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