Pickup
Pickup (1951) – 5/10
This was the first film that Hugo Haas produced and directed once he moved
into that role with a series of low budget noir-ish films in the 1950's. This
one certainly has the femme fatale in spades but only crawls up to sip at
the dark pool of noir before stepping back. It is almost as if in this and
One Girl's Confessions that he is just too nice to go that one step further
into blackness.
Haas's buxom blonde in this one is Beverly Michaels who didn't get far in
her career but developed a decent snarl that she uses like a sledge hammer
in this film. As Betty Horak she has a heart of sandpaper and contempt dripping
from her mouth like a leaky sink. She has nothing but wants a lot and the
only skill she has is using her assets to attract men like rats to sweet smelling
poison. She meets up with an elderly widower (Haas) who has just lost his
dog and replaces it with a stick of dynamite. She picks him up like a bottle
cap that no one wants from the floor. He should know better but old men and
young blondes is like leading a pig to the slaughter house. Once she sees
he has a whopping $7,300 in savings, she fuels up the jets and marries him.
But she is bored living out by the railway tracks and his young handsome co-worker
looks like easy pickings.
The films certainly looks to be treading in The Postman Always Rings Twice
territory but there are a couple nifty change-ups that make the film swerve
away from expectations. Again, for a low budget badly acted film (other than
Haas again) it isn't bad at all. Michaels can't act a lick but she has attitude
- the kind that drowns puppies in their sleep.
