It's so sad that the misleading DVD releases of this film (mischaracterizing a cool-to-see, but small early De Niro role as if he actually were the lead) have distracted from this fantastic, compelling drama.
There's so much good stuff to appreciate here - George Segal gives one of his most accomplished performances at the best stage of his career, Ivan Passer does his best work outside of Cutter's Way, and the 1970s NYC location work is outstanding (maybe the best use of Times Square outside of Taxi Driver).
This deeply sad, yet energetic and humorous character study of Jay, a hopefully directionless addict, is definitely anchored by Segal's performance. Known for some of his lighter roles, he shows great depth here and brings to life the film's many disparate elements to make it a compelling whole.
The film deserves a reputation comparable to more widely heralded such as The Panic in Needle Park. That said, almost any copy available of the film appears to be a VHS rip and is in very poor quality. The underlying drama is compelling enough to make it worth a watch, but it's sad that, outside of the FIlm Forum, no one can see this film in its original high visual quality.
Hopefully a reputable DVD company (Criterion, Shout! Factory, Kino Lorber) or the original copyright owners (United Artists?) can step up soon and restore this film to its original state so it can be more widely appreciated.
There's so much good stuff to appreciate here - George Segal gives one of his most accomplished performances at the best stage of his career, Ivan Passer does his best work outside of Cutter's Way, and the 1970s NYC location work is outstanding (maybe the best use of Times Square outside of Taxi Driver).
This deeply sad, yet energetic and humorous character study of Jay, a hopefully directionless addict, is definitely anchored by Segal's performance. Known for some of his lighter roles, he shows great depth here and brings to life the film's many disparate elements to make it a compelling whole.
The film deserves a reputation comparable to more widely heralded such as The Panic in Needle Park. That said, almost any copy available of the film appears to be a VHS rip and is in very poor quality. The underlying drama is compelling enough to make it worth a watch, but it's sad that, outside of the FIlm Forum, no one can see this film in its original high visual quality.
Hopefully a reputable DVD company (Criterion, Shout! Factory, Kino Lorber) or the original copyright owners (United Artists?) can step up soon and restore this film to its original state so it can be more widely appreciated.
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