Reasons to Love New York
New Yorkcelebrates the citys timeless, peerless connection to movies.
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Samuel Fuller (19121997) became a newspaper copy boy when he was just 12.
All of them had good ledes (just watch the beginning ofThe Naked Kiss).
Its rush hour on the uptown IRT on a hot summer day.
The camera settles on a dark-haired woman in a tight white dress.
Skip moves close to Candy, near enough to grope her.
Soon enough, well find out what happened.
Unbeknownst to him, Skip has pilfered a piece of microfilm that contains a scientific formula.
One thing he does know is that hes just made a score.
The pieces begin to fall together.
Its 1953, and the Russians have just exploded a bomb of their own.
With Joe McCarthy riding high, Americans are seeing commie agents behind every telephone pole.
Fuller wasnt simply another American director to these fans of the New York netherland; he was cinema itself.
The charge touched a nerve since six of the famous Hollywood Ten were, like Fuller himself, Jews.
Characters like Skip McCoy didnt care about ideology.
Their concerns were more street level.
Then theres Thelma Ritter.
(Nominated six times, always in a supporting role, Ritter never won.)
Every subway cannons got his own style.
Hearing Moe has sold him out for 50 bucks, Skip shrugs.
Shes got to eat too.
Desperate to get the microfilm, Joey offers hundreds to find Skip, but Moe wont say.
Joey knows Moe will sell anybody for buttons, so whats the big deal?
What does she know about communists anyway?
I know one thing, Moe replies.
I know I just I dont like them.
He chases after Joey, catching up with him on the subway.
Skip tackles him, pulling him back down the stairs.
As he does, Fuller makes sure the moviegoer sees Joeys chin hit the edge of every step.
Thump: Now thats a New York rhapsody if there ever was one.
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