MacArthur Park
MacArthur Park
| 21 January 2001 (USA)
MacArthur Park Trailers

A portrait of a homeless park community bonded by crack cocaine addiction. In the park's drug-fixated shantytown, Cody is a kind of crackhead father figure who helps his friends when they are in trouble or in desperate need of a "blast." His girlfriend, Alicia, is a romantic who's losing her soul to the drug, and E-Max is a street hustling pimp who is trying to scoop young Linda into his motley legion of harlots. Hoover Blue, earth mother to all the addicts, attempts to pound some knowledge into the starry-eyed Linda while Cody tries to help young P-Air get his hustle on to record a hip hop track and make it big. But when Cody's real son, Terry, tracks him down to tell him his wife has passed away, Cody doesn't even recognize him at first and then can't help him with postmortem affairs. After five years of crack addiction, Cody wants to get straight and do right by Terry, but the harder he struggles to escape the park, the more it closes in on him.

Reviews
Casey Duggan

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

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Sanjeev Waters

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

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Deanna

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

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Bob

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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doncorleon818

Although I have lived in Los Angeles for 7 years now, I never knew anything about MacArthur park. I knew that places like that existed and that there are dark places in society that most of us would consider hell. I knew that there were people that have lived in such places and were able to escape that world. I have a lot of respect for those that have made it out. I had heard about this movie but I never saw it. It was not until a co-worker of mine asked me if I had ever seen the movie. I told him I had not and he told me it was "his" movie. I was hesitant to believe him but he told me he wrote the screenplay. I looked it up and there it was; Tyrone Atkins. "Cody" as he goes by, gave me a copy of the movie and I was rather impressed with it. I totally recommend this movie. Very gritty movie. There is a whole different world out there that most people tend to ignore and we cannot forget how fortunate and blessed we are until you see people who truly have lost it all.

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Audrey Beavers

Billy Wirth's dedication to this movie is proof of his many talents and I highly recommend it. His involvement in the screenplay, direction and starring role is what makes MacArthur Park a winner! As a result I will look forward to more of his productions.

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mlvaussie

I viewed this film at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York City. Mr. Wirth was present and introduced the film. He held a Q and A session after the showing. The film has some humorous lines in the beginning and then takes off into a realistic look at the darker side of life. The sound track adds to the intensity and reality of this film. Mr. Wirth knows when to zoom the camera in for heightened emotions regarding character inter-reactions. This film deals with homelessness and substance abuse in an inner city park in a no nonsense manner. It is based on the journal of Tyrone Atkins, a man who documented his own personal struggles. You may not like the subject but the acting and directing are wonderful, you feel like you are right there in MacArthur Park. I feel that the general public needs to know that this film is based on fact and at the end people need to know that Mr. Atkins has become a productive member of society.

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wyattlevi

I saw this film at Sundance and was very impressed. I met Billy Wirth at Sundance 2 years ago and have stayed in moderate contact with him, all the time asking how progress was on this project. An associate of mine bought tickets, not knowing anything about the film, and brought me to see it. I was thrilled to see Billy there and his film was poetic, elegant and real. It was inspiring to see someone, a contemporary, actually accomplish such a dynamic film. Thomas Jefferson Byrd was incredible and obviously put his heart into the role, a role that had to be extraordinarily demanding. Balthazar Getty also impressed me with the intensity he was able to convey with his character. The film had a flow, continuity, and takes you on a roll of emotions, from apathy to empathy, from fear to triumph.

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