This was the worst Samuel Fuller film I've ever seen, it was the fifth film I saw of this filmmaker. The film is very "forced" in many aspects, especially in the passion so fast and unreliable that happens between the two protagonists. Richard Widmark's performance in this kind of role, in "noir" film, did not convince me anything. Jean Peters and Thelma Ritter are way better than Widmark. The film is also very politically correct to my liking, with the Communists, as was convenient at the time, to be the bad guys on tape. Despite everything the film has some very well done scenes, as is the case of the opening scene with the robbery of the wallet of Jean Peters by Richard Widmark, is in fact a scene very well filmed.

Good solid and impressive noir with fabulous central performance from Richard Widmark. Perhaps not surprising because Widmark is always good but the real surprise is Jean Peters. Wish she had done more films, because here she is a revelation in a complicated role as gangster's moll cum prostitute with a heart of gold and then some. She is also believably tough. Big bad boyfriend sends her out with the gun, her only trouble is that she is up against Widmark. The wisest wise guy going. Apparently in Germany and France the communist theme was replaced with drug dealing and for me I reckon that would be a better idea - the 'better dead than red' US flag waving element being the weakest part of the film BUT seeing an excerpt in the extras with big bad Sam Fuller talking about the film, it is clear this was very much to his heart. So, hard for us Brits to ever quite understand the American position here but I guess it resounds even today. Very entertaining film with great location shots and impressive studio sets for the waterfront. Thelma Ritter is also great!

Pickup on South Street is about a petty thief, Skip McCoy, who gets caught up in a spy ring desperately trying to recover two strips of microfilm that the thief stole. The movie is set in New York City and includes exterior location shots. The cinematography creates a somber and sinister mood, with many scenes filmed using dim light. The urban landscape is generally seedy, which corresponds with the kind of characters that populate the story. The principal character, Skip McCoy, is a cross between Slip Mahoney from The Bowery Boys and Charles Tatum, the flamboyant newspaperman, except that Skip is neither funny nor particularly bright. The idea of a petty thief and three-time loser trying to shake down a Communist spy ring stretches plausibility to the limit. Trying to appeal to his sense of patriotism is a waste of time. The character is simply too shallow to be taken seriously. All he wants is money. He is a nobody existing in a shack under a bridge, away from society. The only reason why anybody wants anything to do with him is because he has something that somebody wants, and even after he realizes that what he stole is something serious, his thinking remains incredibly myopic. Then there is Candy, the woman who falls in love with Skip. She is unbelievable. First, she falls in love with Skip, the man who victimizes her, and then tries to use her as go-between with the "Commies." Later she clobbers Skip over the head with a bottle, leaving him sprawled on the floor. Then Candy insists that she is not a Communist, even though she is a courier for a Communist spy ring, has in her possession stolen documents, and her boyfriend is a Communist. Finally, she is physically abused, not by one man, but by two, yet remains loyal to both. Given her nasty, conniving nature, she would have been more believable as someone who shakes down the spies. Regarding the boyfriend, Joey, his behavior is hysterical. A spy by necessity has to keep a low profile and maintain self-control but not in this movie. Here the spy is running around with a gun shooting people and attracting a lot of attention. Also, he seems too apolitical to be a communist. Is he really a spy? Then there is Moe, the woman informant who fronts as a street vendor selling ties. To believe that this woman, who makes Skip McCoy look mainstream, would have any information worth paying for is a stretch. At first, it seems that Moe is in the story for comic relief, but then she goes from being brash and cynical to maudlin and melodramatic, and she is not the lead character. Why should anyone care what she thinks? Moe would have been more believable as a pickpocket. Despite these anomalies, what makes the movie watchable is the terrific acting. Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter and Richard Kiley deliver strong performances. Thelma Ritter is especially impressive. The stunt doubles are impressive too. The movie too has a campy quality, especially in its exaggerated theatrics that seem to parody more serious works in the crime and spy genres, such as The Maltese Falcon in which the lead character also possesses a valuable object, or Sunset Boulevard in which the lead character also craves money. But in those movies, these characters have depth, which adds richness to the plot and makes the stories compelling works of drama. Although entertaining, Pickup on South Street does not rise up to that level.

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.