Pickup

The reviewer who said "Citizen Kane it ain't" got it right. This is lowbrow stuff to be sure, but for what it is, Haas demonstrates a surprisingly keen eye for both dialogue and characterization, two things supremely lacking in the cheaper and lesser BAIT produced a few years later. Best of all, this is a highly entertaining ride, with a solid and credible performance by Haas as the pigeon who all but begs for a plucking until he sees the light (or rather hears the dark) when he overhears the plotting and venomous bile directed at him by his conniving and venal wife, who believes him to be deaf.

Trumping all however is the bravura dominatrixesque performance of Ms. Michaels as the throaty pointy-bra'ed femme fatale. Here's one of the few broads I've ever come across who might be able to actually compete with Ann Savage's mouthy and devouring DETOUR chippie for supremacy over a castrated male race. And leave the male species begging for more.

Also in the movie's favor is a reasonably tight storyline which features some nice twists and reveals with great gusto the true depths of treachery to which Michaels gleefully stoops to get her $7300 out of Haas. Again, this isn't DOUBLE INDEMNITY and it certainly isn't Shakespeare but it's charmingly pulpy and has an agreeably creamy evil nougat centre.

The set-up is the same as in "The postman always calls twice", but Beverly Michaels is no Lana Turner. She is much worse, much cheaper and much more vulgar but at the same enticingly prettier and more taunting. You will hate her but at the same time adore her splendid vulgarity. Hugo Haas is the poor old service man who is stupid enough to marry her without suspecting the consequences. Allan Nixon is the young man who becomes her second prey, but as he cannot fulfil her desires he is actually saved. The most interesting part is Hugo Haas' spells of losing his hearing, which forms a vital part of the drama. It is not a very remarkable film but very good of its kind, having had no ambitions for any masterpiece, but it should go along well together with "Detour".

Citizen Kane it ain't, but Pickup isn't nearly as bad as one might think. Actor-director Hugo Haas deserves better, and I hope I can help the poor man (long departed) out. Haas,--no, I won't go into his career and background--let's just say the man had the reputation for being an okay actor, but as a director he was considered a sort of Central European version of Ed Wood. Pickup is about an older man, played by Haas, whose life is made a wreck of and nearly ruined by a toothy, gum-checking but withal irresistible blonde, portrayed by the unforgettable Beverly Michaels. The girl is, to be as genteel as possible, a worthless tramp, and nasty and stupid in the bargain. She plays with her adoring and naive lover like a cat with a mouse, and has an affair with a much younger man on the side. Amazingly, no one is murdered in the course of this film, which is actually at times quite sweet. Look, every novelist cannot write The Brothers Karamazov and every composer cannot write the Eroica, so why put down poor Mr. Haas whose only sin as an artist that I can tell is that is that he isn't Orson Welles. The man had a heart and soul, and this comes through in many scenes. He understands cruelty, too, and the woman in this film is, for all the melodrama, a not innacurate portrait of a certain kind of low-down broad who, if one were to show her videotapes of her inflicting her standard dose of pain on whoever the poor dope fool enough to get involved with her at the moment is, would shrug, light a cigarette and say, "Well, he was asking for it, wasn't he?". I'm not too sure about the character Mr. Haas plays in this film, but there is a kernel of truth in the mean little tale he tells; tacky though it may be, there's life in it nonetheless, which is good enough for me.

Hugo Haas had a fascinating life - a top actor in his native Czech Republic, he lost everything when the Nazis took over. He escaped just in time but he lost many relatives in the concentration camps. Coming to America, he established himself as a working character actor throughout the 1940s but in the early 50s Haas started making films himself - they usually were looked down upon by the critics of the day but a few did very good box office - like PICK UP. The film is now regarded as a terrific little noir and Haas is good as well as the femme fatale Beverly Michaels. If you enjoyed PICK UP, check out some of Haas' other films THE GIRL ON THE BRIDGE, BAIT, THE OTHER WOMAN, HIT & RUN, HOLD BACK TOMORROW, etc. Yes, they are low budget but they are always interesting and filled with good performances.

(1951) Pickup DRAMA

Adapted from the novel "Watchman 47" by Josef Kopta produced, written, directed and starring Hugo Haas. He plays somewhat overweight and older train track maintenance man, Jan "Hunky" Horak. His workplace also happens to be his place of residence as well as he lets in a familiar friend nickname the "Professor" (Howland Chamberlain) to serve himself some coffee. The Professor then informs Hunky that puppies are for sale at the state fair, after learning Hunky has just lost his dog. A new employee, Steve Kowalski (Allan Nixon) then shows up to take his place for awhile, while Husky visits the county fair to possibly fetch himself a new puppy. While there, we find out Husky is tight with his money, arguing over the price with the person selling it to him, and it is not long before he is taken in by a young gold digger, Betty (Beverly Michaels) after seeing her riding on a carousal with her best friend. Betty assumes he has money despite him not her type and she bets her friend, she can get Hunky to pay for her meal. It was not long before Hunky pays for everything. By the time Hunky drives her to his place of residence, while he goes out to get something for the coffee, she then takes the opportunity to snoop around and take a look at his bank account. By the time she is driven back into town with Steve, she then finds out her and her friend are being evicted with three month back rent owing. The next scene then showcases both older Husky and young gold digger, Betty married, sleeping in separate beds with Husky attempting to show Betty what he does for a living. It was at this point is when Husky loses his hearing. As the doctor could not figure out how to regain his hearing back, it was as soon as he was heading back to town and was almost hit by another vehicle is when his hearing came back. The intended crime is when Betty professes Husky her actual reason why she was with him in the first place, and tries to manipulate Steve involve into murder.

What I liked about "Pickup" is the fact that just when you think something terrible was going to happen, which would have made the entire experience routine and expected- it doesn't. Making the entire theatrical experience much more humanly easy to identify.