Pickup on South Street (1953)

Thanks for the memories!

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Arrogant smart aleck pickpocket Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) really picks on the wrong purse when he snatches a wallet from Candy (Jean Peters). Both of them had no idea that the wallet consisted a microfilm with top-secret government secrets meant for communist spies.Screenplay is masterfully written, right on the point stuff without too much unnecessary fat, characters are well developed, story flows so naturally that none of the twists and turns take too much focus on one singular moment. I guess Samuel Fuller's journalist background has something to do with it. Smooth and detailed direction with nice nuances and touches almost unnoticeable - scene where Candy discovers that her wallet is gone from the purse, an alarm goes off in the background.Richard Widmark is in his usual top form as arrogant pickpocket with heart at right place and Jean Peters is wonderfully natural as punching bag, but never just as damsel in distress. Thelma Ritter gives warm and interesting performance as street stoolie Moe (no wonder she received six Academy Award nominations including one for this role). Rest of the supporting cast deserves high recognition also without pointing anyone particular.With 'Pickup on South Street' Samuel Fuller's potential and craftsmanship as a director really came together and the result is well written, masterfully directed and magnificently acted smooth film-noir.

Good solid and impressive noir with fabulous central performance from Richard Widmark. Perhaps not surprising because Widmark is always good but the real surprise is Jean Peters. Wish she had done more films, because here she is a revelation in a complicated role as gangster's moll cum prostitute with a heart of gold and then some. She is also believably tough. Big bad boyfriend sends her out with the gun, her only trouble is that she is up against Widmark. The wisest wise guy going. Apparently in Germany and France the communist theme was replaced with drug dealing and for me I reckon that would be a better idea - the 'better dead than red' US flag waving element being the weakest part of the film BUT seeing an excerpt in the extras with big bad Sam Fuller talking about the film, it is clear this was very much to his heart. So, hard for us Brits to ever quite understand the American position here but I guess it resounds even today. Very entertaining film with great location shots and impressive studio sets for the waterfront. Thelma Ritter is also great!

What is it about Thelma Ritter? She has enriched so many films and in almost every one becomes a sort of Greek Chorus; it's Bette Davis we watch in All About Eve, but it's Thelma that backgrounds the commentary--whether it's an acidic riposte to Eve's sad story of theatrical neglect or the plethora of furs on the bed--"looks like a dead animal act." Ritter was nominated many times for an Oscar, and should have won in this film for her worn-out informer who is "just doing her job" in this tightly-knit film noir.It's Jean Peters who is perhaps the titular star, surprisingly rich as a rather confused femme fatale who falls for Richard Widmark's hard-edged, nervous pickpocket, living on the water in a strange little coop where he keeps his treasures on a rope in the water. This is deservedly a noir classic, with all the hallmarks of the genre, and Sam Fuller's dynamic direction guiding his three main characters through a labyrinth of crime: each has a code that has very little to do with ethics of the FBI, but are oddly admirable in their sense of self.

If there's a picture that epitomizes the noir genre, this one has to be one of the top contenders. It's got everything you need - seedy atmosphere, a stunning femme fatale, good guys, bad guys and ones you can't tell until they get into a jam, and Thelma Ritter as the icing on the cake with a street smart credibility that puts even the cops to shame. Throw in a Commie angle and you have a fairly stunning potboiler here, courtesy of Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Richard Kiley and the aforementioned Ms. Ritter.Virtually every reviewer on this board goes into a description of the main plot, so I don't think it's necessary to go there. I'd just want to mention a couple of scenes that managed to blow me completely away. How about Skip McCoy (Widmark) belting the unsuspecting Candy (Peters) square in the jaw and putting her lights out? Followed up by that beer chaser. I believe that's what they used to call hardboiled back in the day. Then there's Moe Williams (Ritter) never giving an inch when Joey makes it known it's curtains. Classic. But the wildest was when Joey shoved Candy into the lamp and she bounced off into the bookcase. That looked a little too real to me and I had to wonder how they managed to pull that off.The film's not entirely perfect, like other viewers I found the romantic angle to come on too quickly and lack a semblance of credibility. As hustlers and con artists, it didn't make sense to me that McCoy and Candy would have been immediately attracted to each other romantically. In other ways, no doubt about it. But take the good with the bad and this is a pretty taut film that's a must for your noir library. You'll also marvel at a time when you could get a 'handsome men's suit' for only $14.50, a bargain that doesn't come along every day.