Made in 1953, director Samuel Fuller‘s ‘Pickup on South Street‘ is considered one of the best classic films of the ‘film noir’ genre. Built around a story (also written by Fuller) that is not among the most original or surprising, the film manages to win the attention of viewers through some remarkable acting creations, the professionalism and expressiveness of cinema, and the realism with which it recreates the atmosphere of New York the first half of the 1950s. Viewed from the perspective of the 68 years that have passed since its making, ‘Pickup on South Street‘ has moments in which it looks surprisingly modern, even if the dialogues and the structure of the story undoubtedly belong to another century.
There are no good guys in this movie. If we were to pick some, though, they would be the police and FBI agents following a group of communist drug traffickers. However, they look boring and incompetent enough to leave no lasting impression. The lead characters, on the other hand, each have their own vices and problems with the law. Skip McCoy ( Richard Widmark) is a pickpocket who has three convictions in his criminal record, and if he collects the fourth he is liable to life imprisonment. That doesn’t stop him from continuing to ‘operate’ and in the scene that opens the film we see him in the subway stealing a wallet from the purse of the gorgeous Candy (Jean Peters). What Skip doesn’t know is that she is a (unknowingly) courier for a gang of Soviet spies and that in the stolen wallet she was carrying a microfilm with the chemical formula of a drug that can wreak havoc. The police and the FBI are on the trail of Candy and soon of Skip, the Soviet agents are also capable of anything to retrieve their information, and soon the plot will get complicated, kind of a stalking game that puts their lives in danger.
Samuel Fuller had a career as a screenwriter and director for over half a century that included many ups and downs, as well as experimentation and controversy. ‘Pickup on South Street‘ is perhaps the best known of his ‘mainstream’ films and contains enough elements of good cinematography that demonstrate an excellent mastery of the profession of filmmaker. The scenes on the subway or on the streets of New York are authentic and finished down to the last detail. Skip’s house on the river bank with its unstable bridge and the city in the background combines aesthetics with a feeling of danger and fragility. Most of the key scenes take place at night, in the good tradition of ‘noir’ movies. Richard Widmark, who plays the lead role with charm and aplomb, shows us why he was a rising star at the time. Jean Peters, who is his partner, was a formidable and very beautiful actress, who unfortunately had a too short career. Two years after making this film, she met the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes and married him, giving up her acting career. A life story similar to that of Gene Kelly, except for the tragic and early death. An excellent supporting role is played by Thelma Ritter who plays an informant who helps the police but also the bad guys to identify Skip by his pickpocketing technique. The story itself is not that credible, but there are plenty of other reasons why this American ‘film-noir’ of the ’50s deserves a viewing or reviewing nowadays.