Pickup on South Street (1953)

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writers:

Samuel Fuller (screenplay)
Dwight Taylor (story)

Release Date:

1 August 1953 (Japan)

Genre:

Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

How the law took a chance on a B-girl... and won!

Plot:

A pickpocket unwittingly lifts a message destined for enemy agents and becomes a target for a Communist spy ring.

Plot Keywords:

Communist | Microfilm | Subway | Purse | Police

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Richard Widmark	...	Skip McCoy
Jean Peters	...	Candy
Thelma Ritter	...	Moe Williams
Murvyn Vye	...	Captain Dan Tiger
Richard Kiley	...	Joey
Willis Bouchey	...	Zara (as Willis B. Bouchey)
Milburn Stone	...	Detective Winoki
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Parley Baer	...	Headquarters Communist in chair (uncredited)
George Berkeley	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Virginia Carroll	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Harry Carter	...	Detective Dietrich (uncredited)
Heinie Conklin	...	Subway Passenger (uncredited)
Clancy Cooper	...	Detective Eddie (uncredited)
George Eldredge	...	Fenton (uncredited)
John Gallaudet	...	Detective Lt. Campion (uncredited)
Frank Kumagai	...	Lum (uncredited)
Jay Loft-Lyn	...	Microfilm Library Clerk (uncredited)
Ray Montgomery	...	FBI Agent Ray (in Candy's apartment) (uncredited)
Ralph Moody	...	Coffin Boat Captain (uncredited)
Roger Moore	...	Mr. Victor (uncredited)
Jerry O'Sullivan	...	FBI Agent Enyart (uncredited)
Victor Perry	...	Lightning Louie aka Godkin (uncredited)
Stuart Randall	...	Police Commissioner (uncredited)
Maurice Samuels	...	Peddler (uncredited)
Henry Slate	...	Detective MacGregor (uncredited)
Ray Stevens	...	FBI agent (uncredited)
George E. Stone	...	Willie - Police Desk Clerk (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook	...	Elevator Passenger (uncredited)
Wilson Wood	...	Police Driver (uncredited)

Directed by
Samuel Fuller

Writing credits
Samuel Fuller		(screenplay)
Dwight Taylor		(story)

Produced by
Jules Schermer	....	producer

Original Music by
Leigh Harline

Cinematography by
Joseph MacDonald		(as Joe MacDonald)

Film Editing by
Nick DeMaggio		(as Nick De Maggio)

Art Direction by
George Patrick
Lyle R. Wheeler		(as Lyle Wheeler)

Set Decoration by
Al Orenbach

Costume Design by
Travilla

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ad Schaumer	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Harry M. Leonard	....	sound
Winston H. Leverett	....	sound

Special Effects by
Ray Kellogg	....	special photographic effects

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Le Maire	....	wardrobe director
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe supervisor (uncredited)

Music Department
Lionel Newman	....	musical director
Edward B. Powell	....	orchestrator (as Edward Powell)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century - Fox)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1953) (USA) (theatrical) (released by)
• CBS/Fox (1991) (worldwide) (VHS)
• Fox Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Koch Media (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Video Film Express (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Filmax (2006) (Spain) (DVD)
• Centfox (1953) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Rank (1961) (France) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Blaze of Glory (USA) (working title)
Pickpocket (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

80 min | Spain:75 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Germany:16 (DVD rating) (2004) | Australia:PG | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #16197)

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The German title for the movie is "Polizei greift ein" ("Police takes over"). The film is clearly about espionage, but in the German version the title was changed and even the dialog referring to the spying was completely replaced by dialog about drug dealing.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At one point, Candy refers to an address in New York City on Houston Street (pronouncing it like John Huston or the Texas city). In reality, the street is pronounced "House-ton" - something known to every New Yorker.

Quotes:

Skip McCoy: So you're a Red, who cares? Your money's as good as anybody else's.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Mam'selle

hard boiled fuller

This 1953 Sam Fuller movie contains some of his best work, and its sad that he couldn't continue to get the backing of major Hollywood studios to do his stuff. The story line goes something like this. A tough hard broad (read prostitute) is riding the subway one hot summer day, and gets her pocketbook picked by Skip McCoy. What Skip (and the dame) don't realize is that she is also carrying some microfilm to be passed to commie spies. This opening shot without dialogue, and mostly in tight close-ups is a beaut,one of the many that Fuller uses throughout the movie. Playing the babe known as Candy is Jean Peters, who was never better nor better looking. One forgets how beautiful she was, and she handles this role very well. The Pickpocket is played by Richard Widmark, who had already made his mark, and set his style with 1947's Kiss Of Death as the crazy creep with the creepy laugh, and although he's a little "softer" here, he's still scary. These hard edged characters do have soft spots here and there, but its noir and nasty all the way. The standout performance belongs to the wonderful Thelma Ritter,who plays Moe the stoolie saving up her dough to pay for her own funeral. Ritter received a well deserved Oscar nomination for her performance, but lost out to the boring but popular performance of Donna Reed as the B girl (read prostitute) in "From Here To Eternity." Hollywood loves it when a good girl goes bad, and loves to Oscar them even though their performance is usually awful. See for instance Shirley Jones in "Elmer Gantry. Set among the docks and dives of New York City, with crisp black and white photography by the great Joe MacDonald,and some very good art direction. Especially good is the set representing the New York City subways and Widmark's shack near the river. Made at the height of the cold war and red scare, the villian of the piece is the ordinary looking commie, played by Richard Kiley who is much more dangerous than the pickpocket who is a criminal but is just trying to make a living and above all is a loyal American.