A short, tongue-in-cheek guide to old classic movies from the film noir era. Like Pauline Kael only cooler!
Film noir (a term adopted well after these movies were made) represented a dark departure from the upbeat films that Hollywood produced up un...
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Pickup on South Street (1953) Directed by Samuel Fuller Produced by Jules Schermer Screenplay by Samuel Fuller (story by Dwight Taylor)
This movie was made toward the end of film noir's glory years, when Hollywood movies started reflecting more paranoia about the Red Menace. It manages to combine both the shadowy and gritty aspects of film noir with the threat of communist subversion.
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The fun and games begin when a petty thief named Skip McCoy (played sneeringly by Richard Widmark) lifts a woman's wallet on the subway. The woman, Candy (played by Jean Peters), is delivering what she thinks is confidential business information to her ex-boyfriend, Joey (Richard Kiley). Little do Skip or Candy know that she was actually taking microfilm of top-secret information to Joey, who's actually a Commie spy.
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Nor do they know that Candy is being watched by the government. So the spying Fed seeks police help in finding the thief who took the secret information. With the (bought and paid for) help of informant Moe Williams (a dour Thelma Ritter), the cops get eight names of possible suspects. The Fed recognizes Skip from a mug shot. A lead that gets him nowhere, despite his appeals to Skip's nonexistent patriotism.
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Well, if the Feds can't get the microfilm, you know the Commies are going to go for it. And that's where shit really hits the fan. Especially for poor Moe.
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The movie is an interesting mishmash of film noir, love story, and anti-Communist rhetoric. Much like Where the Sidewalk Ends, it concludes with a vaguely uplifting promise of a happy ending. So, score one for the lucky couple and zero for the Commies.
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Trivia question: True or False: This movie was shot in only 20 days.
Last week's trivia question: True or False: The Hitch-Hiker was based upon a true incident.
