Pickup On South Street (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #8.1 extract: Pickup On South Street (1953)

Pickup On South Street is a pretty brilliant movie. The direction is great with strong cinematic language that manages to inject some impressive camera movement, cinematography and fight choreography into this narrative. Moreover, the script is pretty solid with an intricate plot, multi-faceted characters and complex subject matter. In such, Pickup On South Street uses the subject of the Cold War to explore the shades of good and bad in dubious American citizens. 

Both in terms of form and content, Pickup On South Street is then a rather impeccable movie, well designed and executed. It nonetheless didn't resonate with me however. The characters weren't very compelling, and neither was the narrative. This lead me to only see the downfalls in logic in character decisions and disengage from the momentum of the plot. I think this all just comes down to the fact that crime-thrillers rarely do much for me. 

Alas, Pickup On South Street is an impressive movie that I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys the likes of Double Indemnity, Touch Of Evil, The Killing and movies alike.