Punk music was in recent years compared with Trump presidency, because the main appeal of both phenomena was in the disruption of an old order and showing the middle finger to the Establihsment. The latter is something that was recognised by the authors of *Times Square*, 1980 drama film that tried to interpret emerging popularity of punk music as an act of new youth rebellion.
The plot is set in New York City, mainly in the areas of and around Times Square, in early 1980s infamous for its sex industry, drug dealing, crime and various shady activities. Nicky Marotta (played by Robin Johnson) is a homeless teenager and aspiring punk musician who gets arrested and sent for observation in New York Neurological Hospital. There she shares room with another teenager, Pamela Pearl (played by Trini Alvarado), daughter of wealthy and powerful politician David Pearl (played by Peter Coffield) who wants to clean up Times Square. Although they came from different worlds, two girls soon find that they like each other – Pamela is impressed by Nicky’s sassiness, while Nicky appreciates Pamela’s gift for poetry. Two of them escape from hospital, find home in an abandoned factory near Hudson River and make their living through car window cleaning, street card tricks, petty theft and various odd jobs. Johhny LaGuardia (played by Tim Curry), DJ of local radio station, is impressed with their antics and encourages them in his late night monologues. This ultimately leads to Nicky and Pamela forming the underground punk band Sleez Sisters which is promoted by LaGuardia’s radio station and gets large number of fans. Pamela, however, begins to feel tired of her adventure and that thinks of returning to her father.
This film flopped at the office, and this should best explained by its conceptual flaws. While the idea of punk rock film featuring rebellious teenagers as protagonists was good idea, its setting in Times Square was not. Film simply asked audience to suspend too much disbelief while having two teenage girls spending all of their time in the area frequented by drug addicts, dealers, prostitutes, pimps and various perverts – shown in the film, which was made at authentic locations - without anything bad ever happening to them. One such dive into unconvincing fantasy is potentially disturbing scene of 13-year old Pamela (played by 13-year old Alvarado) getting a job a dancer in strip club despite refusing to perform topless; club owner actually applauds this decision claiming that she has “class” and that is something his bar actually needs. Even less believable is the idea that the daughter of an influential city official could successfully hide in part of the city where most inhabitants are likely to point fingers at her for ridiculously low amounts of money or small favours.
Despite the problems with script, Moyle directed film competently and it show that he was actually fired from the set. Acting is also very good, with Curry, specialist for outlandish characters, playing LaGuardia with surprising levels of subtlety. Two main stars also do great job and have great chemistry together, with energetic and outrageous Johnson having a sort of straight man in Alvarado. Two young actresses also give great performance in “Your Daughter Is One”, song which is the most memorable part of the soundtrack that also features great names of punk and New Wave music. This failure caused Moyle to take almost a decade-long pause from film making, before he explored the similar subjects in his much more successful 1990 film *[Pump Up the Volume](https://steemit.com/film/@drax/retro-film-review-pump-up-the-volume-1990)*.
Ironically, greatest value to *Times Square* was added by history. By recording strip joints, peep show parlours and porn film theatres with great detail, Moyle created a time capsule of Times Square and, in broader terms, New York that doesn’t exist any more. A decade a half after the premiere Rudy Giuliani succeeded in what his fictional equivalent could not and turned Times Square into “clean” family-friendly tourist attraction.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/76411-times-square
Critic: AA