Pickup on South Street - "Feeding the Tiger"

Pickup on South Street (1953)

H: Just four things. I'm changing my name to Tiger; I'm storing my beer in "the drink"; I'm referring to large bodies of water as "the drink"; and I'm waking my women up (after knocking them out) by pouring beer on faces. Your witness.

K: Hey, you look for oil, sometimes you hit a gusher.

H: That's all you're gonna say?

K: It worked for Skip McCoy. How come Skip can be a total A-hole (SFW), but at the end you're cheering him on ("Go skip, punch that commie!")? I understand that Moe makes the distinction that she and Skip live in a different world than we do, but Skip goes against the cops, the law, and he hurts other people. There was beer on Candy's face, he punches her...he just goes against everything.

H: He is an anti-hero and it's hard to believe at the end that he's reformed much.

K: To me, it doesn't matter if he's reformed, it matters if he got the bad guy. Even if he wakes up every morning to pour beer on Candy's face, that would be fine as long as he gets the commies.

H: After all, Skip never carries a gun and he hasn't killed anyone. Joey killed Moe (who was a classic in her own right) and almost killed Candy (and Jesus he knocked her around), so he's a lot worse than Skip.

K: There was never any comparison. You never saw Joey in action in the first half of the film. Skip was always in action. Joey was always anxious and when he had to prove himself, he did it in a cowardly way. Skip was always using his head.

H: Moe told Skip that he's always using his hands when he should be using his head. He was never too concerned about himself and I don't know that he always used his head. At the start of the movie, Skip seems like the bad guy and Joey, if not the good guy, seems fairly mild mannered, though a bit nervous. As we learn about what Joey's actually involved in, that's when we know he's bad.

K: At least Skip can be in a situation and react to it. Joey avoids situations and makes Candy do everything for him.

H: This movie deals in moral codes. We learn about what each character tolerates and where they draw the line. Who do you think is the most moral? I think Candy was the most moral, because she didn't seem to be operating out of self-interest.

K: I agree with that, and without stealing your answer I'll name someone else. I would say that it's a toss up between Skip and Moe. They know how to play within the rules that they've set out for themselves. They push as far as they can, and they live in different realities and they live to the rules of those realities.

Propaganda is used in this film - there are posters in different scenes about the war, "Make sacrifices for your boys", and things like that. Skip is always saying, "Don't wave your flag at me." He's all about money, but he ends up fighting against the commies. It's an interesting idea.

H: Yeah, but he fights against them because of how they treated Candy and Moe, not out of patriotic obligation.

K: That's true, but the director is saying that even common criminals stand up for American ideals, which is fighting against evil. In this case, evil is communism. Skip is very much the reluctant hero in this story.

H: I'll say, Candy has to knock him out and do his hero work for him. Despite the moral relativism that film noir and this movie particularly promote, it doesn't make much of a gray area for communism. Communism is unequivocally evil and there's no way a communist could be a decent person.

As far as subway fight scenes, this movie tops the list. I've never seen someone knocked over the turnstyle.

K: The last seven minutes of this film kick into thriller mode. This movie is so blunt. "Don't shoot my head off," Moe says. Joey shoots her, next thing you know the cops are talking about her head being shot off. So, when Joey is looking for Skip, you know there's going to be action, that there will be this huge climax.

All the characters had a back story that made them all really unique. It was really interesting to see the characters interact with each other, especially the scene with Candy and Moe. It made sense that both characters would warm to each other and it felt like a genuine moment.

H: What do you think about people having a price? Moe had a price for selling out Skip, Candy once upon a time had a price for selling herself, and Joey will try to get what he needs at any price. Does everyone have a price? If so, how much are you?

K: Oh honey, I'm not cheap.