SUMMERFEST '22: BNAT Fave Double Features II - Ambiguous Baddies Double

I love a good complex character who challenges my expectations of whether I'm supposed to root for them or not, and today's movies have some great ambiguous baddies.

I've also included links to my old LJ posts about the relevant BNATs, where they're mentioned underneath the photos. You know, in case you really need a life. :P (I didn't do it for yesterday's post because I didn't attend either of those BNATs.)

Pickup on South Street (1953) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 9 (2007)

Trailers: The Naked Kiss, Night and the City

This is an interesting Cold War noir from Samuel Fuller. Jean Peters plays Candy, a woman who is running an errand for her ex-boyfriend and is unaware that she is actually passing sensitive information to the Russians. Things get even more complicated when her wallet (containing the item she was to deliver) is stolen by a pickpocket (played by Richard Widmark). Widmark and Peters are both excellent, but the absolute MVP of this movie is Thelma Ritter in maybe her best role – the stool pigeon (and necktie saleswoman) Moe, who’s saving up money for her funeral. This is genuinely great, and a rare noir that has a relatively happy ending.

The Professionals (1966) (rewatch)

Played at BNAT 7 (2005)

Trailers: The Wild Bunch, The Dirty Dozen

Ralph Bellamy assembles a team of tough guys to rescue his wife from a Mexican revolutionary-turned-bandit (played by Jack Palance). We follow Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Woody Strode and Robert Ryan as they face all kinds of obstacles to get to the woman in question (played by Claudia Cardinale). As one might expect, things turn out to be more complicated than they bargained for, both in terms of the trouble they experience trying to complete the job and the question of whether the woman needs rescuing in the first place (and from whom). This is a great movie, maybe my favorite Lee Marvin role. And he has an incredible final line in the movie, delivering one of the sickest burns I’ve ever heard.