Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

elvircorhodzic PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET is a good thriller. Morally problematic protagonists cause a greater amount of violence and explicit. The key word in this film is blackmail. The main "hero" is a professional pickpocket who during pick pocketing comes into possession of microfilm with state secrets, but who want to return to the US government and communist spies. The story shows how the Communists, with the help of former prostitutes, trying to persuade him to hand over the microfilm, but she falls in love with him, which leads to violent consequences. This movie is politicized and ideological to evoke anti-communist hysteria in American society '50s of the last century, and in which Mr. Fuller expressed sympathy for people with social margins, according to petty thieves, prostitutes and poor police informants.The story is pretty incoherent. At times it is confusing, although I must admit that the characterization is extremely strong. Richard Widmark as Skip McCoy is a sadistic pickpocket, who at one point slapping ransom demands, in another moment ransom demands with kisses. Finally, he takes the law into his own hands for the love and moral obligation. Jean Peters as Candy is a beautiful former prostitute who intends to "satisfy" all sides. This character is not a victim. I think she enjoys that an abuse if it will be subsequently rewarded with kisses. The violence against women is quite explicit, inappropriate and seasoned with cheap sex interruptions. Thelma Ritter as Moe informant who collects the money, to be buried in a decent place. The protagonist is a victim of madness in this movie. She understands and sympathizes.Why so much violence? The story has flaws. Is that the reason? Draw attention. This story is hard to believe. Tension and excitement are very well designed. Characterization is worthy of a noir. The story could have been much better without the coerced conflict between the American dream and Communism.

wes-connors On a crowded New York City subway, petty pickpocket Richard Widmark (as Skip McCoy) sneaks his fingers into the purse of pretty part-time prostitute Jean Peters (as Candy). He thinks he's got Ms. Peters' wallet, but Mr. Widmark has unknowingly stolen some top-secret microfilm Peters was delivering to her pimp-like ex-boyfriend Richard Kiley (as Joey). The police employ street-wise peddler Thelma Ritter (as Moe Williams) to help find Widmark and the microfilm, before it falls into the hands of Communists plotting against the USA. Fresh out of prison, Widmark wants to stay ahead of the law while committing his crimes. He also notices Peters is pretty enough to kiss, albeit with roughness. With the fate of the entire free world hanging in the balance, various and sundry characters must retrieve the microfilm before it falls into Communist hands...Samuel Fuller's weird mix of Damon Runyon characters in a Mickey Spillane setting almost works – the weakest part is the "Red Scare" element, involving Communists plotting something presumably earth-shattering in New York City. Secondarily, the occasional cuteness of the characters, who seem to operate in a cozy circle in New York City, doesn't always jive with their violent outbursts. Nevertheless, the role played by Ms. Ritter – peddling ties instead of apples – comes across the screen exceptionally well. Ritter breathes great life into Mr. Fuller's nicely developed character. As the sweaty spy, Mr. Kiley also impresses. Widmark is reliable and Peters vulnerable – but their parts are less appealing. Murvyn Vye and the others seem real, despite being directed to randomly pull and leaf through suspects' photos. Joe MacDonald's photography is stylish.******* Pickup on South Street (5/29/53) Samuel Fuller ~ Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter, Richard Kiley

Dalbert Pringle Due to its excessive brutality and sadistic beatings (especially the rough slapping around of pretty Candy), this rough'n'tough Crime/Thriller from 1953 ran into a lot of serious flak from the censors prior to its initial release.In order to appease the picky censor board's pointless grumblings, several violent scenes were quickly re-shot and even a "cutesy-pie", little happy ending was tacked onto the story for good measure.And because this film's theme dealt directly with Communist espionage on American turf, FBI agent, J. Edgar Hoover, even got into the act and complained to Darryl F. Zanuck (then head of 20th Century Fox) about the unpatriotic attitude of Richard Widmark's lippy character and his "Are you waving the flag at me?" line.Of course (as you can well-imagine), the whole controversy that all of this silly attention stirred up prior to "Pickup's" initial release did absolute wonders as a means of advertising and, thus, selling it to the curious movie-going public, and generating big box-office bucks.Pickup's story deals with the serious events that are set into motion after the brazen pickpocket, Skip McCoy, steals a wallet being carried by pretty, little Candy.Unknown to both Skip and Candy, this innocent-looking wallet actually contains a strip of microfilm of top-secret information that was being delivered to a group of ruthless Communist spies operating within the seedy underworld of NYC.Filmed in stark b&w, this hard-edged Crime/Drama had a running time of only 80 minutes. It was directed by Samuel Fuller whose other films from the 1950s included Forty Guns, Hell and High Water, and Underworld USA.

RResende This is not groundbreaking and it will not change you in any fundamental way. But it is deeply noir, and that is something always worth seeing.We have a story centered on a character who is, among every character, the one who knows less about what's going on. He is the only one totally outside the juicy plot he gets sucked into, and yet the only one that everybody (police and communists) believe to be in control of everything. Everything happens to him, he fights to control the events, but ends up being swept by them. Notice this: he literally gets into the story by randomly picking a girls' pocket, and steeling some very important film. He doesn't have a clue about the importance and value of what he has, and acts accordingly. In the meanwhile he tries to outplay both the police and the communists, using the girl as his arrow girl, as a shield. He ends up loosing control both of the story (but not quite), as he falls in love with the girl. So here we have a cute sense of chaos in the story, agitated narrative where we find ourselves lost, as much as our surrogate detective, in this case the pickpocket. Fuller has a great sense of pace and mood, and this film has a very special extra thing: the floating shack where many of the fundamental twists in the narrative happen. That is one great set that I will have with me for a long time. As an explored space it is good enough, in studio context. As a metaphor for the unstable mood of the whole narrative it works fine. In the end, this space becomes the odd center of the bizarre noir world of the film, and to root a film so strongly in a place is something I always appreciate.My opinion: 4/5http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com