Times Square (1980)

Times Square (USA, 1980) 111 min color DIR: Allan Moyle. PROD: Jacob Brackman, Robert Stigwood. SCR: Jacob Brackman, based on a story by Allan Moyle and Leanne Ungar. MUSIC: Blue Weaver. DOP: James A. Contner. CAST: Tim Curry, Trini Alvarado, Robin Johnson, Peter Coffield, Herbert Berghof, David Margulies, Anna Maria Horsford, Elizabeth Peña, Steve James. (EMI Films – Robert Stigwood Organisation)

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At this remove, it is difficult to imagine what in blazes the filmmakers had in mind: an R-rated movie set in “The Deuce” at its seediest, and yet these teenaged runaways who hang out in Times Square never seem to be threatened by all the pimps, pushers and any other unsavoury characters that would’ve infiltrated the streets, the strip joints and, yes, the fabled grindhouses.

Politician David Pearl (Peter Coffield) is gunning to clean up Times Square, citing his daughter’s desire to see One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (gasp!) at a 42nd Street cinema! That Cuckoo’s Nest allusion is well-placed, as Daddy’s little girl Pamela (Trini Alvarado) becomes a patient in the New York Neurological Hospital, sharing a room with Nicky (Robin Johnson), the proverbial girl from “the other side of the tracks”. Both share mental health issues, which act as a contrivance to get the girls together, and mostly forgotten once they escape the hospital and eke out a living on Times Square, in between bouts of mischief.

The dearth of logic or credibility continues when Pamela applies for a job as a dancer in a peeler bar, but stipulates that she won’t take her clothes off; incredibly the club owner goes along with it! Pamela’s likeness appears on wanted posters throughout the Deuce, though no one seems to notice her (even when she stands by one), but her dad has no difficulty finding her daughter in some skeevy dive, dancing to “Walk on the Wild Side”.

First-billed Tim Curry appears as radio DJ Johnny LaGuardia, who broadcasts from a penthouse overlooking Times Square (wow- symbolism), and turns the runaway girls into modern folk heroes: the singing duet, The Sleez Sisters. Allegedly, Curry worked for two days in exchange for top-billing, and it shows, because many of his scenes are slapdash. Ultimately, this thudding paced melodrama becomes a metaphor of how the girls are used by the adult world: Pamela is (quite literally) a poster child for her father’s political agenda; Laguardia exploits the girls’ notoriety for ratings.

Fresh from her feature film debut in 1979’s Rich Kids, Trini Alvarado lends her bright presence to another of her “troubled teen” roles. However, the breakout performance is from Robin Johnson: with her hoarse vocals and animated body language, she and her character eventually grow on you. Even in cringing bad scenes, like where Nicky trashes the studio, one sees the promise of a unique screen talent, which sadly went underused.

The film is a misfire, though a fascinating mishmash of ideas. At the time of production, Times Square was still a dangerous place even before AIDS and crack set in. But you’d never know it, with the dream life that the girls create for themselves in their abandoned warehouse. From their vantage point, Times Square is a playground, best seen when they do their “strut” to Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime” while waving to the Runyonesque background extras. (Admittedly, some of the film’s choppiness can be attributed to some key scenes that were removed prior to release, including those that made the girls’ lesbian relationship more apparent.)

Although it was a critical and box office dud in its day, Times Square is perhaps best remembered for its stellar double-LP soundtrack album released by co-producer Robert Stigwood. The Sleez Sisters even contribute the memorable “Your Daughter is One” to a roster of such new wave talents du jour like Talking Heads, Lou Reed, Gary Numan, Suzi Quatro, XTC, The Pretenders, and… Robin Gibb?!? Well, yes, he was on the RSO payload too… and yet his duet with Marcy Levy lends to the film’s sorely needed ending on a high note.

In a fascinating twist that anticipates Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, the antics of The Sleez Sisters inspire a lot of young girls to escape their suburban doldrums by throwing TVs from balconies (“SCTV begins another broadcasting day!”), paint black over their eyes like Nicky, and converge in the Deuce for a show-stopping finale. Seen today, Times Square fades out as a neon-lit fantasy for those who romanticize about the district, where Pamela and Nicky serenade to the streets full of “Sleez-heads” from atop movie marquees extolling such grindhouse favourites like The Dark and The Dragon Lives. And yet, before disappearing into myth, also comes the tacit acceptance that cultural divides will remain, and conformity will win.