You know I'm a sucker for New York nostalgia, especially when the time period is the 70s or 80s and there's drugs and crime involved. That's why I can't wait to go see Jerry Schatzberg's 1971 drama Panic In Needle Park starring Pacino in his big screen debut at Film Forum.

There's little triangle at the intersection of Broadway and 72nd St. (aka Sherman Square) where decent Midwesterner Kitty Winn is headed from the moment she spies artist boyfriend Raul Julia making a connection with small-time crook and pusher Al Pacino. Scintillating star debut for Pacino (Paramount execs green-lighted him for The Godfather only after Coppola screened Panic for them) as the Boyfriend from Hell — and an equally smashing debut for Winn, granddaughter of General George C. Marshall: she won the Best Actress award at Cannes for her performance.

Stark, music-less, near-documentary treatment of drug life — and an offbeat love story — with scenes shot on Gotham streets (B'way & 69th doubled for the real Needle Park), and with Pacino often improvising from the solid basis of Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne's screenplay. Only the second film from photographer Schatzberg (already renowned for his fashion work and Bob Dylan images, including the iconic Blonde on Blonde cover), Panic established him as a distinctive stylist.

Read more here on Film Forum's site and get showtimes and tickets. I thought I'd seen every Pacino film ever made, but clearly I was wrong. Panic is news to me and I can't wait to see it.

Director Jerry Schatzberg, co-star Kitty Winn, and co-screenwriter Joan Didion will appear at the 7:40 show on Friday, January 30. See you there.