Product: Pickup on South Street (The Criterion Collection) (1953)
Rating: 5.0
Ripped from today's headlines!
Pickpocket, b-girl and pinko nabbed in bizarre love triangleAccording to the Inspector, they "wasn't good and they wasn't smart." After the cannon grifted the dame on the train, he was hot. The law wanted to pinch the booster on a fourth offence and send him up for good. The muffin wanted to make happy her pinko boychik, who was just in it for the glory of Uncle Joe. The stool pigeon wanted to make enough bingo to keep out of Potter's Field.Okay, enough of that silliness. Listening to filmster Samuel Fuller on the extras on PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET makes you want to speak in slang and punch in some yellow journalism touches (Fuller started out working for a yellow rag, one of the text specials tells us.) This is the second Fuller film I've seen and the first one I could tolerate. The characters here - Richard Widmark's pickpocket, Jean Peter's b-girl, Richard Kiley, Thelma Ritter, are all living on the edge of society and emotions.PICKUP is one of those convergence-of-the-stars movies where just about everything works at a high level. Widmark and Ritter are brilliant and the rest of the cast is excellent. The plot is smart and uncluttered and Fuller's direction is driving and emotional. Highly recommended.