It's impossible to imagine ... a movie like Pick-Up on South Street (which Sam Fuller made in 1953 with Richard Widmark) being made as an A picture by any of the studios. It is simply too subversive. The sentiments of the pickpoket 'hero'--cynical, brutal, anti-patriotic, misogynist--seem more in line with the 70s, and the movie is so much fresher and more alive than most of the 'classics' from this period (the 50s marked a low point in Hollywood filmmaking) that the only wonder is why it took the French to recognize Fuller as a formidable film artist. (Unlike Aldrich or Siegel, Fuller never graduated to A pictures; he did not enjoy even retrospective success in the US.)
Horsley, Jake. Dogville vs. Hollywood: The War Between Independent Film and Mainstream Movies. London: Marion Boyars, 2005: 47.
2 comments:
You seem to be very much into movies...you should check out "Scene Unseen Movie Reviews."
Ever hear of these guys?
Irreverent, sure, bet they appreciate Fuller!
Google 'em, you'll thank me...
Chris (I'm assuming you are the Chris that does these reviews),
Interesting concept to your program and I had come across your podcasts a few weeks ago (I'm an avid listener of podcasts since I don't watch TV), but the idea of uninformed criticism annoyed me somewhat and I couldn't get into it...
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