The Cuts Don't Work

Rob Daniel doesn't have to risk jail to watch The Panic In Needle Park

The 1971 Al Pacino film The Panic In Needle Park is being shown on Sky Movies Cinema uncut, for the first time since the BBFC waived the cuts earlier in the year.

Heroin abuse, the subject of the film, has been the bete noire of the British Board of Film Classification (nee Censors) for decades, second only to onscreen sexual violence.

In 1971 The Panic In Needle Park was rejected outright by the Board, finally gaining a cinema release three years later.

The BBFC site does not mention whether this version was cut but, in 1987, when the film was released on video, it was trimmed by 57 seconds. All cuts removed explicit drug imagery, such as the preparation of heroin and the actual injection.

Draconian

The BBFC has always taken issue with drugs in films. The laughable anti-cannabis film Reefer Madness (1936) - tagline: The Demon Weed With Its Roots In Hell - was given an adult-only X rating in 1973, although it was awarded a more realistic 15 video certificate in 1993. And Roger Corman's The Trip (1967) remains banned in this country, 35 years on, due to a belief (held by the ex-chairman of the BBFC, James Ferman) that it glorified the use of LSD.

But heroin abuse has created most contention for the BBFC. Films such as The Panic In Needle Park and Christiane F (1981) were rejected from, or cut for, the cinema - but video was where heroin films truly suffered.

Blame for this cannot be solely laid at the Soho Square door of the BBFC. In 1985, the draconian Video Recordings Act (which made it a criminal offence to watch The Evil Dead uncut for almost 20 years) was passed, as the Government jumped on the censorship bandwagon. Compulsory video classification was now law, and films liable to "deprave or corrupt" (a nebulous term indeed) had to be dealt with firmly.

Drug fiends

Basically, "deprave or corrupt" inferred extreme imagery, regardless of context. Therefore, the plasticine gore of many an Italian zombie gut-cruncher led to them being labelled video nasties while serious films, such as The Panic In Needle Park, were robbed of their power.

But James Ferman largely dictated BBFC policy by onscreen drug depiction. Using the "deprave and corrupt" umbrella, he demanded the removal of "instructional" imagery. 'Cooking up' (the preparation of heroin) and 'shooting up' (mainlining heroin) were definite no-nos.

Ferman believed viewers would watch and re-watch contentious scenes out of context and so become slavering drug fiends, or sex-crazed maniacs. Neither he nor the Board seemed to realise that people sticking needles in their arms would leave audiences squirming in their seats.

Pale imitation

On video, even shots of needles in arms offended, which is why mainlining shots in Pulp Fiction and Trainspotting - both uncut at the cinema - were optically tampered with or cut altogether. The BBFC seemed to miss the point that cutting out such images would perversely make the film - and thereby heroin addiction itself - less horrifying and more palpable.

When Christiane F was released on video in 1986 it had been cut by a shocking five minutes and two seconds. The film still remained potent but, without such horrendous moments as characters sticking needles in their necks, using water from toilet bowls to shoot up or suffering from revolting withdrawal, it was a pale imitation of its former self.

Mark Kermode encapsulated the ferocious power of Christiane F, in introducing it, saying: "If you want to be put off the idea of taking drugs for life, then this is the movie for you."

Misery

There is no way to take the fierce uncut imagery from The Panic In Needle Park - needles, a gruelling overdose and prostitution sequences - out of context and make it palatable. Since the BBFC waived all cuts, I have legally watched complete versions of The Panic In Needle Park and Christiane F, and know how to cook up and shoot smack into my arm, neck or leg.

But the point is, I have no desire to do so, because heroin films terrify. They depict lives spiralling into oblivion, destroyed in a storm of addiction and misery. Traffic, currently showing on Sky, contains explicit freebasing imagery, but I've yet to try that either.

So this may be the first time you can watch The Panic In Needle Park uncut without risking jail - but bear in mind that the chances of you scoring smack because of it are non-existent.