Pickup on South Street (1953)

A pickpocket unwittingly lifts a message destined for enemy agents and becomes a target for a Communist spy ring.

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writers:

Samuel Fuller (screenplay), Dwight Taylor (story)

Stars:

Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Richard Widmark	...	Skip McCoy
Jean Peters	...	Candy
Thelma Ritter	...	Moe Williams
Murvyn Vye	...	Captain Dan Tiger
Richard Kiley	...	Joey
Willis Bouchey	...	Zara (as Willis B. Bouchey)
Milburn Stone	...	Detective Winoki

Storyline

On a crowded subway, Skip McCoy picks the purse of Candy. Among his take, although he does not know it at the time, is a piece of top-secret microfilm that was being passed by Candy's consort, a Communist agent. Candy discovers the whereabouts of the film through Moe Williams, a police informer. She attempts to seduce McCoy to recover the film. She fails to get back the film and falls in love with him. The desperate agent exterminates Moe and savagely beats Candy. McCoy, now goaded into action, confronts the agent in a particularly brutal fight in a subway.

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Plot Keywords:

communist | purse | subway | microfilm | pickpocket | 

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Taglines:

How the law took a chance on a B-girl... and won!

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Genres:

Crime | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 August 1953 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Blaze of Glory

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min 75 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Candy lights a cigarette in an early scene, the matchbook cover reads "Park Row"--which was the title of Fuller's previous film.

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Goofs

When Joey leaves the basement after assaulting the police officer, he walks out of the shot, then a cat is obviously thrown into the frame.

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Quotes

Moe Williams: I have to go on making a living so I can die. But even a fancy funeral ain't worth waiting for if I've gotta do business with crumbs like you.

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Connections

Featured in Der Ausdruck der Hände (1997)

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Soundtracks

"Mam'selle"
Music by Edmund Goulding
Lyrics by Mack Gordon
Played on the phonograph

User Reviews

Brilliant from alarm bell to chopsticks

Pickup On South Street is one of the most brilliant movies ever made. An example of the directing: When Candy (Jean Peters) starts going through her purse and notices her wallet is missing, an alarm goes off in the background in the building she's in -- as if it's an alarm going off in her head. It's not cartoon-like -- it's subtly woven into the background in a way that strikes you on a subconscious level until you've seen the film a few times and it just "clicks" that there's an alarm bell going off when she starts frantically going through her bag.

Richard Widmark is way on top of his game as a smart-alec -- he's really great -- but the highlight performance of the film was the first scene for "Moe," the street peddler/informer, played by Thelma Ritter. Later, in her apartment, you are not seeing a movie -- you're seeing a real person. I've never seen anyone "act" so real I felt like I was looking into a real room until Ritter's performance -- right down to the way her hair stuck out a bit when she removed her hat.

About a million other things just *worked,* from the way Lightning Louie picks up money with his chopsticks to the way Candy's jewelry clicks when she flicks Moe's hand away from her brooch, to the way Moe gets the dollars and change from the police captain across the FBI guy's chest -- and even the way the captain opens his filing cabinet, like he's been doing it in that way in that room for many years. "Pickup On South Street" is detailed moves (directing) with consummate performances (acting) and superb now-nostalgic visuals of the day, such as the panel truck, the boards leading to the shack out on the water, the dumbwaiter, -- and the unforgettable place Skip stashes his pocket pickings. Wonderful stuff.

"Pickup On South Street" is also one of the few movies where, even though the characters aren't perfect, you do care about them -- perhaps because they have been somewhat branded by their pasts in ways that are hard to escape: Skip as a "three-time loser" and Candy as a youngish woman who has "knocked around" a lot. When these people behave a little more badly than you'd expect, it's in sort of novel ways that make it seem you're looking in at people you'd never otherwise imagine -- and yet you know that they are possible because the actors make them so recognizably human.