Review(s): DVD Pickup on South Street - Criterion Collection
SUPERB NOIR CRIME DRAMA...
Samuel Fuller's "Pickup on South Street" is easily one of his better films and as cynical and tough as crime dramas got in the 50's. Richard Widmark is excellent as a cocky pickpocket who swipes the wallet of sexy Jean Peters that contains microfilm of government secrets to be delivered to a Communist agency. Peters is unaware of the Communist angle and is only doing a "job" for her slimy ex-boyfriend Richard Kiley (who's also excellent). Getting mixed up in the mess to get back the microfilm is street peddler/police informant Thelma Ritter who sells information to whoever wants to buy it. The film is gritty and unsentimental and none of the characters are saints. New York City is depicted as a tough place to survive especially on the dirty waterfront where Skip McCoy (Widmark) lives and stashes his loot and Moe Williams (Ritter) plies her trade. Candy (Peters) is a girl who's been around due to a shady past and never known a decent man in her life. She's trying to survive too. Peters (who's miles away from her ingenue in "Niagara" also the same year} is sexy and streetsmart with the bad-girl swagger that only Gloria Grahame knew how to pull off. Ritter earned an Oscar nomination for her role as Moe and she is simply fantastic as a doomed fringe-dweller who's getting tired. The film is a good hard look at crime and the school of hard knocks. The Communist plot line is only that---a plot line. The film takes no political stand. It's a story of people doing what they do to survive and the understanding between them that "everybody's gotta eat". "Pickup on South Street" is a fine noir crime film and another excellent DVD package from Criterion with lots of good extras. THIS is a collector's item.
The Face of Film Noir
The face of film noir wouldn't have been the same without the distinctive face of Richard Widmark who exploded into the genre with his memorably over-the-top performance as baddie Tommy Udo in 1947's Kiss of Death. For my money, however, it's the underrated Victor Mature who really carries that film, although Widmark gets all the flashy scenes (his pushing of a wheelchair-bound Mildred Dunnock down the stairs is widely considered one of the cruelest in film history).
In Jules Dassin's Night and the City (1950) and Pickup on South Street, however, Widmark truly comes into his own with two of the finest film noir performances of all time. The stage trained actor had added some substance to the flash. You find yourself sympathizing with the callous Skip McCoy (Pickup on South Street) and nervous Harry Fabian (Night and the City) despite their bad qualities. There's an underlying vulnerability behind all the tough talk and rough gestures (the fact that Widmark looked so undernourished in the '50s may have also had something to do with it).
With the uncompromising Sam Fuller (Shock Corridor) at the helm and Thelma Ritter (All About Eve, Rear Window) in a scene-stealing supporting role, you can't go wrong. An essential release for the film noir afficionado.
missed opportunity
Made during the height of the cold war hysteria, this film gets sidetracked by mindless red baiting. It also descends into cheesy melodrama on a couple of occasions marring the pacing of the movie. It's too bad but pickup doesn't live up to its reputation as top notch noir.
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