Product: Pickup on South Street (The Criterion Collection) (1953)
Rating: 3.0
A psychopath, a heroic doctor & a now sneak thief.
Richard Widmark plays them all. Later in his career he does numerous westerns & even a mad Navy ship's captain. In this one he is Skip McCoy a happy-go-lucky career criminal. His performance is above the movie itself. He is a pickpocket who steals Candy's (Jean Peters) wallet. Unknown to both of them she is a courier for communist spies & had a piece of microfilm with government secrets in her wallet. The Feds know about it too. Soon they're both in trouble & turn to each other in some of the movies best scenes. She's in trouble with her commie bosses. He's in trouble because he is already a three time loser. He's not particlarly patriotic, even when he figures out what he has. He is looking for a big score. He has to reconcile, doing the right thing, going straight & pursuing a long-term relationship with Candy. Widmark does the best he can with the material he's given in this average B movie. I give him ****.