20th Century Fox, 1953

starring: Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter and Richard Kiley

written and directed by: Samuel Fuller

the plot: Fresh out of jail, pickpocket Skip McCoy (Widmark) quickly returns to his old habits on a crowded subway. McCoy’s target is Candy (Peters), a good looking dame with what McCoy thinks is a purse full of cash. But McCoy gets more than he bargained for when he learns that Candy was unwittingly transporting a piece of confidential microfilm destined for a ring of Communist spies. The feds are on Candy’s trail, the cops are after McCoy, and the pair is playing a game of cat and mouse with each other. Caught in the middle is Moe (Ritter), a wise-cracking stool pigeon who doesn’t hesitate to sell out McCoy—that is, until she learns that a brutal Commie gang is after her friend. After multiple attempts to get the film back, Candy’s ex-boyfriend Joey (Kiley) takes matters into his own hands. In between dodging the cops, avoiding Candy’s advances and trying to make a little dough off the microfilm, McCoy discovers that the price for his latest crime is exceptionally high.

why it’s good: Dark, gritty and with a wicked streak of black humor, “Pickup on South Street” was director Samuel Fuller’s second major picture for 20th Century Fox. Full of the street-level realism that characterized much of Fuller’s work, “Pickup” dwells comfortably in a criminal underworld populated by charming pickpockets and kindly, if sharp-tongued, informants. Of course, Widmark is the star here as the brash, overly-confident McCoy, but it’s veteran actress Thelma Ritter who steals the middle portion of the film. Like McCoy, Ritter’s character thinks the criminal trade is all fun and games until she butts heads with some no-good Commies. When Moe shows up at a diner and tries to appeal to McCoy’s patriotism (and throws a few choice quips at him), her anxiety and weariness are palpable. But, instead of lingering on McCoy, Fuller then follows Moe as she tries to hawk some ties and later returns home, broke and beaten down. It’s a powerful sequence, one that makes the rest of the film—packed with brutal violence and an exciting climactic battle in the subway—all the more breathtaking.

why you should own it: “Pickup on South Street” is a must-own film noir. The Criterion Collection’s DVD features a new transfer with restored sound and picture, along with a number of interviews with Fuller and an excerpt from an interview with Widmark about the making of the movie.