Pickup on South Street (1953)
Directed by Samuel Fuller

Film Review

It was in part down to the efforts of Samuel Fuller, a crime-reporter turned filmmaker, that the film noir crime thriller acquired its grimly realist edge in the mid-1950s, taking the genre into much darker avenues than previously.  Pickup on South Street exemplifies this trend and is one of Fuller's more brutal crime films, a film that still manages to shock with its stark depiction of underworld violence and cynical portrayal of human nature.  A WWII veteran, Fuller directed several notable low-budget war films and crime-thrillers, and came to be a major influence on the directors of the French New Wave, most notably Jean-Luc Godard, who gave him a cameo role in his noir pastiche Pierrot le fou (1965).

At the time of its release, the film was interpreted as anti-Communist propaganda, although Fuller was quick to dismiss this; certainly the moral and political ambiguity of film's hero - skilfully portrayed by Richard Widmark - would seem to belie this.  Interestingly, all references to espionage and Communism were removed in the French dub of the film (re-titled Le Port de la drogue), through concerns that it might antagonise the French Communists.

Pickup on South Street is a superlative example of 1950s noir thriller that manages to sidestep the obvious clichés whilst remaining true to a winning formula.  It retains the distinctive film noir look of the previous decade (with effective use of chiaroscuro lighting and oblique camera angles) but adds to this greater realism through extensive use of real locations and more convincing sets.   Fuller's well-honed screenplay (which is as good as anything Raymond Chandler wrote) also gives the story depth and punch, with some twisted irony and black comedy spicing up the customary B-movie dialogue.

The excellence of the film's scripting, design and direction are matched by the calibre of the contributions from an impeccable cast.  Particularly noteworthy is the on-screen chemistry between Richard Widmark and his co-star Jean Peters, a sizzling rapport with more than a whiff of sado-masochism which makes the film all the more enjoyable.  (Interestingly, Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and Ava Gardner were considered for the lead female role but were rejected by Fuller. When Grable was imposed on him Fuller threatened to walk away from the film.) Thelma Ritter comes close to stealing the show in her supporting role as an ageing police informer.  Her scenes bring an unexpected poignancy to the film and it is not surprising that her performance should earn her an Oscar nomination.

Film Synopsis

Pickpocket Skip McCoy finds himself in greater trouble than he could ever have imagined when he steals a woman's purse containing microfilm of government secrets.  The film was to have been delivered to enemy agents by Candy, the girlfriend of a Communist spy named Joey.  McCoy's intervention thwarts not only this scheme but an attempt by a team of FBI agents led by Dan Tiger to unmask the traitors.  By engaging the services of informer Moe Williams, Dan Tiger manages to track down McCoy and offers him a clean slate if he will hand over the microfilm.  Realising the value of what he has in his possession, McCoy is reluctant to comply.  Unfortunately for him, Joey also knows who now has the microfilm and is prepared to do anything to recover it...