Pickup on South Street (1953)

Pickup on South Street is a brutal melodrama set against a backdrop of New York's seedy underworld. It delves into the shadowy world of federal agents and communist spies. Skip McCoy is a petty crook, a three-time loser whose actions are motivated solely by greed. When he steals a wallet from the purse of Candy, he finds himself in deeper trouble than he ever imagined. Inside the wallet is top-secret microfilm that Candy is unwittingly transporting for her lover, Joey, a communist spy she believes to be a patent lawyer.

When Joey discovers that the microfilm has been stolen, he demands that Candy find Skip and get the film back. Also on McCoy's track are two federal agents who have been shadowing Candy. Both the agents and Candy get information on Skip's whereabouts from Moe, an aging ex-pickpocket who supplements her scant income from tie peddling by selling information on underworld criminals. Candy tries to use sex to get the microfilm from McCoy but fails. The agents appeal to his sense of patriotism, but this, too, fails since Skip doesn't care about the effect of communism on the American way of life.

With all the interest that has been shown in the microfilm, Widmark knows that it is worth a great deal of money, so he holds out for an offer from Joey. By now Candy has fallen for Skip and has turned against Joey, whom she sees as un-American. Joey attempts to buy Skip's address from Moe, but she proudly refuses to sell to a communist--at any price. Enraged, Joey kills her. McCoy now has a reason to keep the microfilm out of Joey's hands--not because he is a communist but because the spy killed a Joey's friend.

Joey then returns to Candy (who by now has obtained the film) and mercilessly beats her when he learns of her part in the scheme. After discovering that some of the microfilm is missing and obtaining Skip's waterfront address, Joey pays the thief a visit. Skip eludes Joey and follows him to a subway station, where Skip manages to steal back the microfilm. In retaliation for the death of Moe and the attack on Candy, Skip pounds Joey into the pavement and turns him over to the federal agents. Only after Joey is killed is it revealed that his contact is none other than the federal agent who has been heading up the search for the spy. Having assisted the feds, Skip and Candy are reunited.

This provocative film from Sam Fuller is is based on "Blaze of Glory," a straightforward story about drug pushers written by Dwight Taylor. Although this original story line was retained in the dubbed version of the film released in France, Fuller decided to politicize the American version of the film. Unfortunately, the film has been viewed by some as rabidly anticommunist, an assessment that ignores the depth and complexity that Fuller brings to the film. Like so many of Fuller's heroes, Widmark's Skip McCoy fights to retain his individuality in the face of societal pressures. Yet McCoy doesn't foil the communist scheme because of his devotion to the American ideal but because Joey, who just happens to be a communist spy, has done McCoy wrong.

Both Richard Widmark and Jean Peters are first-rate, but it is Thelma Ritter, as the seedy but much-loved Moe, who gives the film its emotional punc. Her performance earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress--something of an oddity for a Fuller-directed "B" movie.

Performer, Character

Richard Widmark, Skip McCoy

Jean Peters, Candy

Thelma Ritter, Moe

Murvyn Vye, Capt. Dan Tiger

Richard Kiley, Joey Willis

Bouchey Zara, Milburn Stone

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Production Credits

Producer, Jules Schermer

Director, Samuel Fuller

Screenwriter, Samuel Fuller based on the story "Blaze of Glory" by Dwight Taylor

Editor, Nick De Maggio

Cinematographer, Joseph MacDonald

Music Director, Lionel Newman