This film really had it's subject-matter nailed and it was as true in 1972 as it is today. That is, drug enforcement is just a matter of politics. Also, a drug-user's life is controlled by his addiction. It's not a joke, as portrayed in many movies.
I am watching it now on Netflix. I was a young woman back in '77 and knew a number of heroin addicts from college. I used to go with one to his methadone appointments.
This movie strikes me as very real (I'm enjoying the big 'fros and guys' clothes). You plan stuff, and they can't follow through, you have stuff and they steal it, they cry and moan they will change, and they don't. The only difference with my experience is that it was all very clean in a Midwest college town, not gritty NYC. But the behaviors and the events, yeah, all too familiar. I'll force myself to watch until the end, but I kinda have a feeling how it goes down, which is why I've never watched it in all these years.

The biggest problem with drug movies is that they are made by people who are clueless about drugs - - or at least clueless about the real situation.
This film really had it's subject-matter nailed and it was as true in 1972 as it is today. That is, drug enforcement is just a matter of politics. Also, a drug-user's life is controlled by his addiction. It's not a joke, as portrayed in many movies.
If only the film didn't look so cheap and grimy . . .
Sometimes the internet is useless.

It was awfully depressing, to be honest i don't think much of it, i was expecting to because it's Al Pacino, whose movies i usually really like. Most drug movies are depressing, apart from Fear and loathing in las vegas, which is very uplifting.
That's a very fine Chardonnay your not drinking.

I agree. I think he said "How could you?"
So how did you like the film?
I gave it a 6/10.
The acting was great and I liked the way the subject matter was handled, but I don't enjoy bleak ultra-realism.
It's not you. It's the military-industrial complex.

Now that i listened to it a bit more closely, it sounds like "How could you!?"
That's a very fine Chardonnay your not drinking.

Yes. The C word that rhymes with runt.
The next thing he said before "I was gonna marry you" sounds either like "I'll cut you" or "I'll gut you". (It is not shown in the subtitles, unlike the c word.)
It's not you. It's the military-industrial complex.