Times Square (film)
| Times Square | |
|---|---|
Times Square DVD cover
|
|
| Directed by | Allan Moyle |
| Produced by |
Jacob Brackman Robert Stigwood |
| Screenplay by | Jacob Brackman |
| Story by | Allan Moyle Leanne Ungar |
| Starring |
Tim Curry Trini Alvarado Robin Johnson |
| Music by | Blue Weaver |
| Cinematography | James A. Contner |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Associated Film Distribution |
|
Release date
|
October 17, 1980 |
|
Running time
|
111 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.4 million |
Times Square is a 1980 film, set in New York City, starring Trini Alvarado and Robin Johnson as teenage runaways from opposite sides of the tracks, and Tim Curry as a radio DJ. The plot of the film embodies a punk rock ethic of misunderstood youth articulating their frustrations toward adult authority through music.
Nicky Marotta (Robin Johnson) and Pamela Pearl (Trini Alvarado) are two teenage girls who meet in the New York Neurological Hospital, where they're both being examined for mental illness. Pamela is depressed and insecure, and she's neglected and exploited by her father, David Pearl (Peter Coffield), a prominent and wealthy commissioner running a campaign to "clean up" Times Square. Nicky is a tough-talking street kid with musical aspirations, sent to the hospital for an evaluation after an altercation with police. Sharing a room, the brash Nicky and shy Pamela become friends. Nicky admires Pamela's poetic spirit; Pamela admires Nicky's forthright attitude and resents the condescending way in which the doctors treat her. Nicky is released from the hospital and later returns, ostensibly for an appointment with her social worker, Rosie Washington (Anna Maria Horsford), but really to break Pamela out. Both girls escape the hospital, steal an ambulance, and hide out in abandoned warehouse on the Chelsea Piers, making a pact to scream out each other's names in times of trouble.
There is a city-wide search for Pamela after David reports her missing and accuses Nicky of kidnapping her, claiming Pamela needs medical attention. Meanwhile, the girls try to eke out a living by engaging in card games, petty theft, odd jobs, and scavenging. Radio disc jockey Johnny LaGuardia (Tim Curry), who broadcasts from a penthouse studio overlooking Times Square, realizes that David's missing daughter is the same "Zombie Girl" who sent him letters, telling him how sad and insecure she feels. LaGuardia, who resents David's "Reclaim Rebuild Restore" campaign to gentrify Times Square, uses his radio station, WJAD, to reach out to Nicky and Pamela. The girls start writing songs together and form an underground punk rock band, The Sleez Sisters, with the help of LaGuardia, who sees them as an opportunity to undermine David. When an open letter to Pamela from Rosie is printed in the newspaper (with the help of David), calling Nicky troubled and dangerous, the girls perform a defiant Sleez Sisters song live on WJAD, making them even more famous. As an act of further rebellion, Nicky and Pamela also throw TVs off a series of rooftops in the city.
...
Wikipedia