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I grew up in the ’9os. It was a time when every week on Fox there was a new “When Animals Attack” or “Deadliest Police Shootouts,” and Real TV ruled the airwaves. I remember vividly one particular show was advertising real death, and a teacher of mine watched it and spoke about it class in disbelief. Now with Youtube ,and the internet in general, it’s much easier to find crazy footage and share it amongst friends. There was a time though, when these images weren’t seen. Cameras were expensive and were mostly used to film home movies rather then capture the bizarre and violent. Charlie Ahearn, director of Wild Style did just that. Living in a small apartment in Times Square, he filmed the strange and disturbing sights right outside his window during the 1980s. Doin’ Time in Times Square is a vérité documentary of that footage.

No narration, titles, or music, the film is the raw experience of living in NYC before the streets were cleaned up. Fights, arguments, prostitutes, drug deals, bums, drunks, and New Year’s partiers populate this shocking film; intercut with footage of his young family having birthday parties and enjoying holidays. The juxtaposition of these clips helps to show just how ugly the world was outside his window. We see his cute children and his wife going through the normal motions of life, while outside we see the worst the world has to offer. Just when the violent denizens of the street become normal we are snapped back to reality by the wholesome footage and horrified again by the depravity. The whole time I was watching, I wondered why he didn’t call the police, or in some instances, rush out to help. Making me see what was going on and not being able to do anything about it was truly frustrating and I imagine that was exactly how he felt witnessing it. Helpless. What can one man do? It isn’t a movie. It’s real life. We are conditioned to view films and root for the hero; look for the good guy. But here, it’s real life with real life consequences. It’s an interesting doc to be sure and a unique artifact of a time gone by. The streets have been cleaned up and the Big Apple is rotten no more, or at least that’s the image the corporate owned Times Square wants us to believe. But it was not long ago it truly was a dangerous place to be.

Doin’ Time in Times Square is like Taxi Driver. Only real.