Pickup on South Street
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| Pickup on South Street | |
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 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Samuel Fuller |
| Produced by | Jules Schermer |
| Written by | Screenplay: Samuel Fuller Story: Dwight Taylor |
| Starring | Richard Widmark Jean Peters Thelma Ritter |
| Music by | Lionel Newman |
| Cinematography | Joseph MacDonald |
| Editing by | Nick DeMaggio |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | June 17, 1953 (U.S.A.) |
| Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Pickup on South Street is writer-director Samuel Fuller's 1953 film noir released by the 20th Century Fox studio. The film stars Richard Widmark, Jean Peters and Thelma Ritter.[1]
In June 1954, Ritter co-stared alongside Terry Moore and Stephen McNally in a Lux Radio Theatre presentation of the story. 20th Century Fox remade the picture in 1967 as The Cape Town Affair, directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Claire Trevor (in the Thelma Ritter role), James Brolin (in his first leading role), and Jacqueline Bisset.
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[edit] Plot
Widmark plays Skip McCoy, a pickpocket who steals Candy's wallet, which contains a microfilm of top-secret government information. This sets off a frantic search for McCoy by the police and other parties interested in securing the microfilm.
[edit] Production
In August 1952, the script was deemed unacceptable by the Production Code, by reasons of "excessive brutality and sadistic beatings, of both men and women." The committee also expressed disdain for the vicious beating of the character "Candy", on the part of "Joey." Although a revised script was accepted soon after, the studio was forced to shoot multiple takes of a particular scene in which the manner of Jean Peters and Richard Kiley frisk each other for loot, was too risqué.
The French release of the movie removed any reference to spies and microfilm in the translation. They called the movie Le Port de la Drogue (Port of Drugs). The managers of 20th Century Fox thought that the theme of communist spies was too controversial in a country where the Communist Party was still hugely influential.
[edit] Cast
- Richard Widmark as Skip McCoy
- Jean Peters as Candy
- Thelma Ritter as Moe
- Murvyn Vye as Captain Dan Tiger
- Richard Kiley as Joey
- Willis Bouchey as Zara
- Milburn Stone as Winoki
[edit] Critical reception
When the film was released, Bosley Crowther wrote, "It looks very much as though someone is trying to out-bulldoze Mickey Spillane in Twentieth Century-Fox's Pickup on South Street, ...this highly embroidered presentation of a slice of life in the New York underworld not only returns Richard Widmark to a savage, arrogant role, but also uses Jean Peters blandly as an all-comers' human punching-bag. Violence bursts in every sequence, and the conversation is slangy and corrupt. Even the genial Thelma Ritter plays a stool pigeon who gets her head blown off...Sensations he has in abundance and, in the delivery of them, Mr. Widmark, Miss Peters, Miss Ritter and all the others in the cast do very well. Murvyn Vye, as a cynical detective, is particularly caustic and good, and several other performers in lesser roles give the thing a certain tone.[2]
[edit] Awards
Nominations
- Academy Awards: Oscar, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Thelma Ritter, 1954.
- Venice Film Festival: Golden Lion, Samuel Fuller, 1954.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Pickup on South Street at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, "Pickup on South Street Mixes Underworld Goons With Communist Spies," June 18, 1953. Last accessed: June 5, 2008.
[edit] External links
- Pickup on South Street at the Internet Movie Database
- Pickup on South Street at Allmovie
- Pickup on South Street at the TCM Movie Database
- Pickup on South Street at Film Noir of the Week (includes trailer)
- Pickup on South Street essay at Criterion Collection by Luc Sante
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