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Pickup on South Street (1953)

APPROVED 80 min  -  Film-Noir | Thriller  -   1 August 1953 (Japan)
7.9
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Ratings: 7.9/10 from 5,472 users  
Reviews: 71 user | 52 critic

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 and Thelma Ritter
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Cast

Complete credited cast:
Richard Widmark ...
Jean Peters Jean Peters ...
Thelma Ritter ...
Murvyn Vye Murvyn Vye ...
Captain Dan Tiger
Richard Kiley ...
Willis Bouchey Willis Bouchey ...
Zara (as Willis B. Bouchey)
Milburn Stone Milburn Stone ...
Detective Winoki
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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. Written by alfiehitchie  

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

Communist | Microfilm | Purse | Subway | Police  | See more »

Taglines:

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

Genres:

Film-Noir | Thriller

Parents Guide:

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

(Japan) See more »

Also Known As:

Lange Finger - Harte Fäuste See more »

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation See more »
Show detailed company contact information on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

 | Spain: (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Shot in 20 days. See more »

Goofs

Factual errors: When Skip gets off a subway train at the 33rd street station, he is getting off of an IND line R-1 train. There is no 33rd street station on any IND line. The only 33rd street station is on the Lexington Ave Line(today known as the #6 train). The Lexington Ave line is a branch of the IRT line and did not use the R-1 cars. They used the Low V cars. An R-1 car was too wide and would not fit on to the IRT tracks See more »

Quotes

Moe Williams: Ask a silly question, you get a dopey look.
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Connections

Featured in Edge of Outside (2006) See more »

Soundtracks

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