Pickup on South Street

Pickup on South Street

Posted On: May 2, 2012
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★★★

Director: Samuel Fuller
Year: 1953

I was in the mood for a noir film. But this one played out differently. I’m surprised this got a Criterion treatment as well as all of the critical praise recently, versus the tepid one it received when it was released. I’d say it’s an okay noir film.

Some of the highlights of the film is looking back at NYC in ’53 and realizing just how bad the piers and docks were. If it’s to be believed that this man lived in a shack on the piers, pretty crazy. And as with any old New York film, I do love and miss those accents. I thought the police detective’s accent was awesome. Another amazing scene is where Candy gets beaten up. It’s an intense scene and the cinematography and orchestration is terrific.

But what really annoyed me were those scenes where Vaseline is applied for close-ups of the actresses. It was really annoying because there was no need for it plus it was inconsistent. Oh well, sign of the times.

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