Canadian director Allan Moyle’s cult feature of 1980 is a paean to teenage rebellion, telling the story of two girls who meet in a New York psychiatric unit and, bonding through a shared sense of alienation, go on the run together in spectacular fashion.
Volatile, streetwise Nicky Marotta (Robin Johnson) is a 15-year-old delinquent and aspiring rocker with destructive inclinations while Pamela Pearl (Trini Alvarado) is a timid, isolated girl whose wealthy father (Peter Coffield) is currently campaigning to clean up the city’s famous Times Square.
Johnny LaGuardia (Tim Curry) is the sympathetic laid-back late-night DJ who promotes their newly formed punk outfit, The Sleaze Sisters.
In addition to gloriously gritty scenes of early-’80s New York and pre-cleanup Times Square, the film also boasts a now-legendary rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack featuring songs by The Ramones, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, The Cure, The Pretenders, Gary Numan, Joe Jackson, Talking Heads and others alongside specially-composed numbers including XTC rarity Take This Town, and Flowers of the City, co-written by ex-New York Dolls frontman David Johansen.
Times Square explores themes revisited in Moyles’ Pump Up the Volume a decade later, and allusions to lesbian love have ensured repeat screenings at LGBT film festivals worldwide.
Johnny LaGuardia
Tim Curry Nicky Marotta
Robin Johnson Pamela Pearl
Trini Alvarado David Pearl
Peter Coffield Dr Huber
Herbert Berghof Dr Zymansky
David Margulies Rosie Washington
Anna Maria Horsford Jojo
Michael Margotta Simon
J.C. Quinn Roberto
Miguel Piñero Heavy
Ronald Stevens Eastman
Tim Choate Nurse Joan
Kathy Lojac Nurse May
Susan Merson Don Dowd
George Morfogen Magda
Alice Spivak George
Calvin Ander
Director
Allan Moyle
Video
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Volatile, streetwise Nicky Marotta (Robin Johnson) is a 15-year-old delinquent and aspiring rocker with destructive inclinations while Pamela Pearl (Trini Alvarado) is a timid, isolated girl whose wealthy father (Peter Coffield) is currently campaigning to clean up the city’s famous Times Square.
In addition to gloriously gritty scenes of early-’80s New York and pre-cleanup Times Square, the film also boasts a now-legendary rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack featuring songs by The Ramones, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, The Cure, The Pretenders, Gary Numan, Joe Jackson, Talking Heads and others alongside specially-composed numbers including XTC rarity Take This Town, and Flowers of the City, co-written by ex-New York Dolls frontman David Johansen.
