Review of Pickup on South Street (1953) by Matthew S — 20 Jun 2010
A rather strange addition to the film noir genre. You have all the elements of a noir film all be it some are reversed (the femme fatale is a man - Richard Widmark) plus some really brutal violence against the two lead women (one suffers a very cleverly shot psychological beating before she is murdered off screen - whilst the leading lady is violently thrown around a room during a sustained beating that concludes with her being shot), These scenes are still shocking today and separate this film from every other film I can think of in the genre.
You have a heavy anti-communist propaganda element and the only spoiling factors are some obvious continuity errors and some rather cheesy incidental drama. That said, this is a great film. Samuel Fuller seems much more confident directing the tense and violent scenes and it's these scenes that make the film.
Widmark is fantastic and confident 2-bit criminal but every cast member plays their role convincingly and with conviction, except perhaps Jean Peters but even she can be forgiven for her rather flat delivery considering the sustained beating she takes!
This review of Pickup on South Street (1953) was written by Matthew S on 20 Jun 2010.
Pickup on South Street has generally received very positive reviews.
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