Noirathon - LA vs NY: Round 6
The Champ: PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (NY)
PICKUP is often called Fuller’s finest and it’s difficult not to agree. Irreverent, kinetic and full of great actors who deliver top notch performances, this film is one that I can watch a hundred times. A cynical pickpocket (Widmark) lifts a hooker’s wallet on the subway without realizing the wallet contains a piece of stolen top-secret microfilm destined to be sold to the reds by communist spies. Despite the dated “commie” angle, this movie is very modern in it’s portrayal of Widmark as a wily, amoral antihero who scoffs at blind patriotism and just wants to make a fast buck. Thelma Ritter is also wonderful as the quirky, tie-selling stoolie. Her poignant death scene still has the power to choke me up every time I see it. A lot of movies in this genre take the strict, moralistic “crime doesn’t pay” attitude, but in PICKUP the ineffectual cops and evil, cowardly commies are like cardboard cowboys and Indians. The more complex, flawed but still sympathetic characters are these small time criminal shadow dwellers who are just trying to get by in the underbelly of the big city. Highly recommended, though I should mention that anyone who might be upset by scenes of intense violence towards women ought to give this one a miss. Lovely Jean Peters gets slapped up one side of this movie and down the other. The scene where her commie boyfriend beats her within an inch of her life is particularly nasty. I also have to mention that I’m completely tortured by the big rack of 15 cent paperbacks in front of the newsstand during the fight scene in the subway. I want every single one.
The guest was lovely Gloria Pall, who played stripper Sugar Torch in CRIMSON KIMONO. She was vivacious and funny and had some great stories about Fuller, Elvis and showing her navel.
The Challenger: THE CRIMSON KIMONO (LA)
I have a real soft spot for KIMONO, even though it’s hardly a perfect film. It’s uneven and overly talky in some sections but it’s still got so much going for it. It’s packed with gorgeous footage of historic Little Tokyo. It features one of the first martial arts fights in an American movie. Plus it deals with issues of interracial romance, identity and the Nisei experience in a way that (despite the implications of the silly, titillating “Where da white women at?” trailer) comes off as mature, sensitive and complex. The plot revolves around a murdered stripper but the real story is about the relationship between a pair of detectives, one Japanese American (Shigeta) and the other Caucasian (Corbett), and the Caucasian woman they both love. Yet despite the heavy emotional heart of the film, KIMONO still packs plenty of action. The dynamic opening scene of scantily clad Gloria Pall running along a crowded street before being gunned down between speeding cars is classic Fuller. The kendo scene where Shigeta snaps and beats the tar out of his best friend is also brutal and wonderful. This one was a tough call for me, but the truth is that as much as I love KIMONO, PICKUP is really a better film. Of course, KIMONO is full of great LA street scenes and PICKUP is all shot on soundstages here in Hollywood, so it hardly seems fair to give this one to New York, but that’s my verdict. It’s PICKUP by a nose. That makes the score 4-2 in New York’s favor.
Tonight’s match up: THE GLASS WALL vs THE CROOKED WEB.
PICKUP is often called Fuller’s finest and it’s difficult not to agree. Irreverent, kinetic and full of great actors who deliver top notch performances, this film is one that I can watch a hundred times. A cynical pickpocket (Widmark) lifts a hooker’s wallet on the subway without realizing the wallet contains a piece of stolen top-secret microfilm destined to be sold to the reds by communist spies. Despite the dated “commie” angle, this movie is very modern in it’s portrayal of Widmark as a wily, amoral antihero who scoffs at blind patriotism and just wants to make a fast buck. Thelma Ritter is also wonderful as the quirky, tie-selling stoolie. Her poignant death scene still has the power to choke me up every time I see it. A lot of movies in this genre take the strict, moralistic “crime doesn’t pay” attitude, but in PICKUP the ineffectual cops and evil, cowardly commies are like cardboard cowboys and Indians. The more complex, flawed but still sympathetic characters are these small time criminal shadow dwellers who are just trying to get by in the underbelly of the big city. Highly recommended, though I should mention that anyone who might be upset by scenes of intense violence towards women ought to give this one a miss. Lovely Jean Peters gets slapped up one side of this movie and down the other. The scene where her commie boyfriend beats her within an inch of her life is particularly nasty. I also have to mention that I’m completely tortured by the big rack of 15 cent paperbacks in front of the newsstand during the fight scene in the subway. I want every single one.
The guest was lovely Gloria Pall, who played stripper Sugar Torch in CRIMSON KIMONO. She was vivacious and funny and had some great stories about Fuller, Elvis and showing her navel.
The Challenger: THE CRIMSON KIMONO (LA)
I have a real soft spot for KIMONO, even though it’s hardly a perfect film. It’s uneven and overly talky in some sections but it’s still got so much going for it. It’s packed with gorgeous footage of historic Little Tokyo. It features one of the first martial arts fights in an American movie. Plus it deals with issues of interracial romance, identity and the Nisei experience in a way that (despite the implications of the silly, titillating “Where da white women at?” trailer) comes off as mature, sensitive and complex. The plot revolves around a murdered stripper but the real story is about the relationship between a pair of detectives, one Japanese American (Shigeta) and the other Caucasian (Corbett), and the Caucasian woman they both love. Yet despite the heavy emotional heart of the film, KIMONO still packs plenty of action. The dynamic opening scene of scantily clad Gloria Pall running along a crowded street before being gunned down between speeding cars is classic Fuller. The kendo scene where Shigeta snaps and beats the tar out of his best friend is also brutal and wonderful. This one was a tough call for me, but the truth is that as much as I love KIMONO, PICKUP is really a better film. Of course, KIMONO is full of great LA street scenes and PICKUP is all shot on soundstages here in Hollywood, so it hardly seems fair to give this one to New York, but that’s my verdict. It’s PICKUP by a nose. That makes the score 4-2 in New York’s favor.
Tonight’s match up: THE GLASS WALL vs THE CROOKED WEB.
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Comment
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Comment by Naomi Hirahara on April 22, 2007 at 3:04pm
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A really fair assessment, Christa, although I was pretty much blown away by the footage of the historic Little Tokyo. And the Asian man/white woman angle was so ahead of its time.
I had to laugh because I had forgotten that a columnist that I had hired for The Rafu Shimpo (Japanese American daily newspaper) a while back was in the movie. His name is George "The Horse" Yoshinaga, and he played that Hidaka judoist who couldn't break the boards. There was an inside joke in that Yoshinaga was also the name of one of the film's characters.
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