The Pick-Up is a late 60s blend of post-noir and roughie. It regards, as its title suggests, a money pick up, by two mob couriers, which doesn’t go quite as planned. The film's first half is mainly focused on the noir side of things, with a few light touches of softcore- then it turns very fleshy, sleazy, and nasty. Here, from Severin, is a Blu-ray release of the fully uncut film - the two-disc affair takes in commentary tracks, other extras, and on the second disc, we find Mau Mau Sex Sex- a long out-of-print doc regarding history of exploitation films- with a focuses legendary producers David F. Friedman and Dan Sonney- this once again has commentary tracks/ other extras- though this double Blu Ray version of the release is only available direct from  Severin.

The Pick-Up is from the year 1968 and is filmed in moody and stark black ‘n’ white. It was directed/ co-written by  Arizona-born Lee Frost- a key figure in US exploitation in the 60s and 70s. He had thirty-four full-lengths to his name, touching down in most types of exploitation- going from sexploitation horror mash-up House On Bare Mountain Hill (1962), onto sex slave roughie The Defilers (1965).  On to a few Mondo’s Mondo Freudo (1966), Mondo Bizarre (1966), western roughie cross breed Hot Spurs (1968) and Witchcraft '70 (1969).  He made a Nazisploitation Love Camp 7(1969), WIP film Chain Gang Women (1971), and a nasty blacksploitation The Black Gestapo (1975)

The one-hour and thirty-minute film opens with our two couriers driving into a nighttime Vegas. We have the seasoned, sleekly dressed, and shade-wearing Tony (Wes Bishop), and the thick side-burned new guy Frankie (Stefan Zema).  Frankie has never been to Sin City before, and he hassles Tony to have a ‘walk-around’- he initially says no, but is quickly worn down, with the pair playing slots/ checking the place out.

The next morning rolls around with the pair picking up their package, which needs to be driven to LA. They chat as they drive along, and fairly soon they come across a broken-down car with two women standing nearby- Tony just wants to drive by, but Frankie is keen to get his end away, and it looks like he will as after the pair get in the car the one with him has nearly completely undressed…and here I’ll leave the plot, so as not to spoil the films unfold, moments of tension, and double crossing.

Both of our leads are good enough in their roles- Bishop is initially cool, calm and controlled, though as things unfold, he shifts from uptight/desperate, cruel/focused, and fearful/ timid. Zema shifts from looking for a good-time guy to flustered/ panicked. Staying on the acting side of things, there are two supporting actors worth a mention- both of whom are exploitation writer/ producers in their own right.  Bob Cresse plays Sal, a bespeckled & lightly tubby mob boss, who stays largely cool, calm, and manipulative. And David F Friedman, the older, sleeked back grey-haired mob boss who is constantly been interrupted, and later becomes a little twitchy.

As mentioned at the start of the review, the film shifts in its genre make-up as it unfolds. For the first forty-five minutes or so, we’re dealing very much of a post-noir road movie/ mob film, with some light, brief softcore touches. Then we shift into the sleazy, and fairly soon, nasty violence- first we get a swaying side to side shot montage of fully naked & entangled women, which is somewhat dizzying. Then the sleazy nastiness kicks in-this moves from bare back whippings, held under boiling shower sessions, and most notably/ shocking breasts covered in water, tapped, then plugged into the mains.

The whole thing is fairly well realised, with the story flowing nicely, having some decent twists and turns along its length. Some of the plotting does stretch believability somewhat, and the mob members are rather clichéd- but as a mixed, shifting genre film, The Pick-Up is rewarding.

Over on the second disc, we have the 2001 documentary  Mau Mau Sex Sex- and as mentioned, this is only available on the release brought directly from Severin.  And I must say it is well worth picking up, as it’s built around exclusive interviews with legendary exploitation producers David F. Friedman and Dan Sonney- the pair were in their 80s when this film was made.

The film runs for one hour and eighteen minutes- it’s a mix of exploitation history and fly-on-the-wall doc, looking at the pair's lives. Adding in additional comment/ historic detail, we have Frank Henenlotter ( Basket Case, Frankenhooker, Brian Damage). And appearing briefly is Something Weird's  Mike Varney.

The documentary was directed by Ted Bonnitt- he has one other director's credit to his name, Phil And Ted’s Sexy Boomer Show- a podcast that ran between 2020 & 2024.  He does a good job with the film- balancing well the fly-on-the-wall & historic stuff, though the latter is not as detailed as some docs on exploitation cinema.

I’m guessing if you have even a passing interest in US exploitation, you’ll know of Mr Friedman, but just in case you don’t know who he is, here’s a rough rundown of his career. Between the 1960s and early 2010’s he had fifty-nine production credits, he had twenty writing credits, twenty-eight acting credits, and seven director credits- most notable of these being The Defilers (1965), one of the first/ prime roughie films.

Dan Sonney isn’t as well-known but was again an important part of Us exploitation- he also collaborated/ worked with Friedman.  Between the late  40’s and late 70’s, he had fifteen producer credits, including titles like A Virgin In Hollywood (1953), Knockers Up (1963), and Friedman's She Freak (1967).

The footage of the pair of producers moves between sitting in the back of car banter, seeing each man's house/ meeting their long-term wives, and visiting a few places- including where they had their offices back in the day.

All in all, Mau Mau Sex Sex- an extremely fascinating documentary, which like most successful docs can be watched/ enjoyed by anyone.

Moving on to this new two-disc set, both discs here are region-free. On The Pick-Up disc, we have a new 4 K scan of the film- this features a largely well-defined black and white print, which for this type of cheaply filmed movie is going to be the best you’ll get.

Extras-wise, on the first disc we get two things- first, is a new video essay Sirens On The Road: Post-Noir Vision And Beatnik Glory In The Pick Up(15.04), here filmmaker Stephen Broomer looks at how the film uses the tropes of both the roughie and neo noir genres, as well as nods towards beatnik culture. It’s a well-observed/interesting featurette, which is well worth a play.

Otherwise, we have a minute and forty-two seconds audio interview between David F Friedman and Something Weirds Mike Varney- this is played over a promotional gallery for the film. The clip focuses on how Varney tracked down one of the film's twelve surviving prints, and we get an amusing story connected to it. As well as an original trailer.

On the second disc, we get three commentary tracks- a new one with director Ted Bonnitt and Severin Films' David Gregory, and two archive ones- one with David F. Friedman and Dan Sonney, and the other with director Ted Bonnitt and writer Eddie Muller. The new track is both an informative and chatty affair. They go from discussing why they decided to focus on Friedman and Sonney, and how the whole documentary came about.  They discuss the great chemistry between the two producers.  We get chat regarding Mike Varney, and how he was initially rather stand-offish when it came to getting to use his own materials for the doc.  We find out that the original interviews/ footage of the pair was filmed over a five-day period, with Henenlotter coming in towards the end of the project to tie it all together. They comment on the movie clips as they appear, we get about the film's score, and much more- so most certainly worth a play track. Lastly, we get a trailer.

In summing up this release, if you have either an interest in roughies, neo noir, or American exploitation in general, it’s a must pick-up!. And it most certainly is worth buying the two-disc/ Severin webstore exclusive of this release, as the documentary is excellent, with worthy extras to boot!