Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Pickup on South Street (Sam Fuller, 1953)

Sunday January 14th 2018, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Pickup on South Street (1953). Directed by Sam Fuller. 80 minutes. In English. Doors open at 20:00, film starts at 20:30.

A wonderful film noir, and one of the key films in the genre. Director Samuel Fuller gave cinema the punch and brilliance that it badly needed. Here we have wonderful hard-hitting acting performances, razor-sharp dialogue, existentialist situations and a labyrinthine plot that knocks you around as if you were a punching bag.

Joey, a lowlife pickpocket, and his ex-prostitute girlfriend Candy, become involved in what they believe is just a simple two-bit theft involving a secret file. But, as it turns out, the stakes are much bigger than they would ever have dreamed. In true noir form, the action is set in 50s New York – a brooding city of predators and power hungry jerks… of sell-outs and finks, of heartless betrayals and con-artists. But despite all of these icy hearts, Fuller manages to make us feel for his characters. All of this is fueled by the director’s trademark raw energy. Starring Richard Widmark in one of his best roles, and Thelma Ritter who gives a performance of a lifetime.

This will be a high-definition screening.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net