In Pickup on South Street, a pickpocket unwitting intercepts microfilm on its way to Communist agents. And they want it back at all costs …
Pickup on South Street (1953) starring Richard Widmark, Jean Peters
On a crowded subway, Skip McCoy picks the purse of Candy. Among his take, although he does not know it at the time, is a piece of top-secret microfilm that was being passed by Candy’s consort, a Communist agent. Candy discovers the whereabouts of the film through Moe Williams, a police informer. She attempts to seduce McCoy to recover the film. She fails to get back the film and falls in love with him. The desperate agent exterminates Moe and savagely beats Candy. McCoy, now goaded into action, confronts the agent in a particularly brutal fight in a subway.
Product Description
Petty crook Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) has his eyes fixed on the big score. When the cocky three-time convict picks the pocketbook of unsuspecting Candy (Jean Peters), he finds a more spectacular haul than he could have imagined: a strip of microfilm bearing confidential U.S. information. Tailed by manipulative Feds and the unwitting courier’s Communist puppeteers, Skip and Candy find themselves in a precarious gambit that pits greed against redemption, right against Red, and passion against self-preservation. With its dazzling cast and writer-director Samuel Fuller’s signature hard-boiled repartee and raw energy, Pickup on South Street is a true film noir classic by one of America’s most passionate cinematic craftspeople.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack • New interview with critic Imogen Sara Smith, author of In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City • Interview from 1989 with director Samuel Fuller, conducted by film critic Richard Schickel • Cinéma cinémas: Fuller, a 1982 French television program in which the director discusses the making of the film • Trailers • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing • PLUS: An essay by critic Angelica Jade Bastién and a chapter from Fuller’s posthumously published 2002 autobiography, A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking
From the manufacturer
The hard-boiled noir classic by Samuel Fuller—bursting with raw energy and now available on Blu-ray
Petty crook Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) has his eyes fixed on the big score. When the cocky three-time convict picks the pocketbook of unsuspecting Candy (Jean Peters), he finds a more spectacular haul than he could have imagined: a strip of microfilm bearing confidential U.S. information. Tailed by manipulative Feds and the unwitting courier’s Communist puppeteers, Skip and Candy find themselves in a precarious gambit that pits greed against redemption, right against Red, and passion against self-preservation. With its dazzling cast and writer-director Samuel Fuller’s signature hard-boiled repartee and raw energy, Pickup on South Streetis a true film noir classic by one of America’s most passionate cinematic craftspeople.
Cast of characters
- Richard Widmark (Road House, Murder on the Orient Express [1974]) … Skip McCoy
- Jean Peters (As Young As You Feel, O. Henry’s Full House) … Candy
- Thelma Ritter (All About Eve, As Young As You Feel) … Moe Williams
- Murvyn Vye (Road to Bali) … Police Captain Dan Tiger
- Richard Kiley (The Little Prince) … Joey
- Willis Bouchey (Support Your Local Sheriff, Red Planet Mars) … Zara
- Milburn Stone (The Frozen Ghost, Gunsmoke) … Detective Winoki