Themes: Dishonor Among Thieves, Unlikely Heroes, Redemption
Main Cast: Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter, Murvyn Vye, Richard Kiley
Release Year: 1953
Country: US
Run Time: 80 minutes
Plot
Samuel Fuller scarcely used Dwight Taylor's source material, a languid courtroom romance, in crafting this pugnacious potboiler. Pickup on South Street is strictly Fuller film noir -- lean and wicked straight to its core. Barely out of prison, loner and pickpocket Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) quietly helps himself to the contents of a woman's purse. His beautiful victim, Candy (Jean Peters), turns out to be an unwitting courier for the communist underground; McCoy's booty is actually microfilmed U.S. government secrets, formerly en route to Moscow. Both the FBI and Candy's employers are desperate to retrieve the film. The apolitical and arrogant McCoy has a plan to play both ends against the middle and come up ahead. However, dealing with the authorities may mean life in the clink, and the sadistic communists would rather kill McCoy than pay him off. He quickly becomes embroiled with Candy, who will risk everything to right her wrongs, and eventually even more to save her new man. When McCoy loses a cohort and Candy is almost killed, the cocksure pickpocket finds a stronger motivation than personal gain. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
Review
Pickup on South Street is a quick, belligerent tour de force of film noir. A crime reporter turned filmmaker, writer/director Samuel Fuller is famous for adhering to the who, what, when, where, and why of cinematic storytelling, an aggressive tendency that is fully realized in Pickup. He offers no superfluous subplots, back story, or Hitchcockian MacGuffins. He shuns a first act set up and jumps immediately into the film's main action, proceeding at a breakneck pace toward a tight, curt finale. His shooting technique is equally straightforward and informative. With a cinematic style that never fails to "hook you with a headline tabloid mentality," as described by fan Martin Scorsese, Fuller exploits extreme close-ups, high angles, long takes, and zooms to make each of Pickup's shots a pronouncement. Combined with Richard Widmark's vigor as the erratic, narcissistic, and violent protagonist, this frankness truly packs a punch. Such intensity may seem incongruous with the grace of most prestigious film noir melodramas, but one must not forget that the genre is the offspring of hardboiled fiction, an unsentimental tradition bred from tabloid journalism and tough-minded heroes. Pickup's only flaw is its reliance on the Red Scare as a plot device. The film's collection of capitalist thieves (both patriotic and unpatriotic), communist villains, and unimpressive government agents pays homage to every type of political reading, and can distract many critics from its craft. Yet, Pickup on South Street's raw energy prevails; it is Samuel Fuller's most heralded work and one of film noir's greatest thrillers. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
George Patrick - Art Director, Lyle Wheeler - Art Director, William Travilla - Costume Designer, Ad Schaumer - First Assistant Director, Samuel Fuller - Director, Nick De Maggio - Editor, Leigh Harline - Composer (Music Score), Lionel Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Ben Nye, Sr. - Makeup, Joe MacDonald - Cinematographer, Jules Schermer - Producer, Al Orenbach - Set Designer, Ray Kellogg - Special Effects, Harry M. Leonard - Sound/Sound Designer, Winston H. Leverett - Sound/Sound Designer, Dwight Taylor - Screen Story, Samuel Fuller - Screenwriter
