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 2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Richard Widmark	...	Skip McCoy
Jean Peters	...	Candy
Thelma Ritter	...	Moe Williams
Murvyn Vye	...	Police 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:

new york city subway | thief | woman murdered | violence against a woman | microfilm | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Crime | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

Remade as "The Cape Town Affair (1967)" with James Brolin, Jacqueline Bisset, and Claire Trevor.

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Goofs

Joey tells Candy that the stolen film is of "a new patent for a chemical formula" and "we can't get another copy of it". It is a common misconception that patents are secret. Actually they are open to the public, and another copy could have been obtained from the U. S. Patent Office for a nominal fee.

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Quotes

Joey: You'd sell anybody for buttons.
Moe Williams: Yeah, but not to *you*, Mister!

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Alternate Versions

When the movie was released in France, the French dubbing replaced the communists spying with drug dealing to avoid political controversy. No English print with subtitles went in circulation. The French title "Le port de la drogue" could be translated by "Pier of Drug". The original version was released several years after.

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Connections

Featured in Century of Cinema: A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995)

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Soundtracks

Again
(uncredited)
Music by Lionel Newman
[love theme for Candy and Skip]

User Reviews

Film Noir at it's FINEST! Yippee!!

I watched this last night on TV (HBO). I have to admit, that the tension in this movie was unsurpassed by most other FN era movies. I loved the way Chip would be all calm one moment and then VIOLENT the very next moment. It was classic. Ahh yes. The dames, the villians, the cigars and thuggish cops! It has it all. This movie delivered all the goods to me. I especially loved the way they mixed communism into the plot, very common for this era of movie. Very daring also since blacklisting was popular in those days. I rate this movie one of the best I have seen in the FN genre!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 August 1953 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Blaze of Glory

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$780,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min 75 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1