Pickup on South Street (1953)

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writers:

Samuel Fuller (screenplay)
Dwight Taylor (story)

Release Date:

1 August 1953 (Japan)

Genre:

Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Communist | Microfilm | Subway | Purse | Police

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

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

Also Known As:

Blaze of Glory (USA) (working title)
Pickpocket (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

80 min | Spain:75 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Germany:16 (DVD rating) (2004) | Australia:PG | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #16197)

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The French title for the movie is "Le Port de la Drogue" ("The Drugs Port"). The film is clearly about espionage, but in the French version the title was changed to refer to drugs, and even the dialogue referring to the spying was completely replaced by dialogue about drug dealing.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Skip and Joey fight in the subway station, they are fighting in a cleared area near the ticket office and then the next two shots show them confined by exit railings near the newspaper stand and then the next shot cuts back to the open area.

Quotes:

Skip McCoy: [after first kiss with Candy] Sometimes you look for oil, you hit a gusher.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Again

Thelma Ritter kicks butt in Pickup on South Street

Directed by Samuel Fuller, who also wrote the screenplay, Pickup on South Street is a tough, brutal, well made film about a pickpocket (Richard Widmark) who inadvertently aquires top-secret microfilm and becomes a target for espionage agents. Also involved are Jean Peters as a tough broad who is used as a courier by her evil ex-lover Richard Kiley. It's film-noir at its best and although the performances are very good its grand character actress Thelma Ritter who steals the movie. As Moe a weary street peddler selling neck ties (and who also sells information) she is terrific in a role that brought her another Oscar nomination. Its amazing that Miss Ritter was nominated six times for an Academy Award and she never won. This should have been the role that copped it for her!