“PICKPOCKETS
AND STOOL PIGEONSâ€
By
Raymond Benson
Samuel
Fuller’s 1953 film noir, Pickup on South Street, was
shocking in its day and still manages to deliver a punch to the gut.
In
the conservative early 50s, who would have thought that Hollywood would green
light a picture in which a pickpocket, a “loose†woman, and a stool pigeon are
the protagonists? Film noir titles often told stories from the point of
view of the criminals when they didn’t focus on cynical and hard-boiled private
investigators, but Pickup attempts to make these lowlifes sympathetic.
Surprisingly, the movie succeeds. While the film was not well-received upon
release, the years have been kind to it. Today, Fuller’s hard-edge crime
story-cum-Cold War spy thriller is considered a masterpiece of its ilk.
Sleazy
Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) is a professional pickpocket, often preying on
unsuspecting women on New York subway trains. When he lifts the wallet from the
attractive and sultry Candy (Jean Peters), Skip doesn’t realize that she’s being
watched by the Feds. Candy is unwittingly delivering the movie’s MacGuffin—a
microfiche of top-secret government goods—to a Communist cell in the USA. Candy’s
handler and former boyfriend, Joey (Richard Kiley) seems subservient to his
bosses at first, but we soon realize he is a dangerous powder keg. The Feds
enlist the NYPD’s help to recover the stolen wallet, and the cops, in turn, go
to stool pigeon Moe (the fabulous Thelma Ritter), who has her own problems with
the law—but she seems to know everyone in the underworld. Eventually, McCoy
realizes he’s in possession of something quite valuable, so he embarks to play
both ends against the middle, with Candy as a pawn in his risky game.
“Red
Scare†movies were a thing in the late 40s and early 50s. The paranoia went
part-and-parcel with the Hollywood blacklist and House Un-American Activities
Committee work to flush out Communists in the entertainment industry. Several
anti-Communism pictures were produced, mostly B-movie crime thrillers that were
similar to the cheap science fiction alien invasion movies also being made at
the time. Pickup on South Street, though, is one of the better Red Scare
movies in that it is more of a crime thriller… and a sort of twisted love
story, too.
Yes,
McCoy and Candy develop a sizzle for each other, despite McCoy violently abusing
and assaulting the woman. This aspect, perhaps, is a bit difficult to swallow
in terms of believability—why would she fall for a guy who punches her in the
jaw? But this was 1953, and film noir characters did not often behave
rationally (or realistically).
While
both leads are terrific, it is Thelma Ritter who steals the movie; in fact, she
was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance. The
picture is also buoyantly elevated by the several supporting character actors
who play cops, Feds, and underworld figures.
Pickup is loosely based on
a short story, “Blaze of Glory,†by Dwight Taylor, but the screenplay is by
Fuller himself. The direction is tight, frank, and economical. It is easily one
of the controversial director’s most accomplished works.
The
Criterion Collection’s new Blu-ray release is an upgrade from a previous DVD
edition. This time the feature is a 4K digital restoration with an uncompressed
monaural soundtrack. Most of the DVD’s supplements are ported over—a 1989
interview with Fuller conducted by critic Richard Schickel; a 1982 French TV
program in which Fuller talks about the film; a Hollywood Radio Theatre adaptation
from 1954 with Thelma Ritter reprising her role; and trailers for this and many
other movies directed by Fuller. New to the Blu-ray is an excellent interview
with critic Imogen Sara Smith, a film noir scholar and expert, who
provides many enlightening tidbits about the picture, its director, and the
cast. The booklet comes with essays by Martin Scorsese (Pickup is
allegedly one of Scorsese’s favorite pictures) and critic Luc Sante, plus a
chapter from Fuller’s autobiography.
Pickup
on South Street should
appeal to lovers of film noir, Samuel Fuller, Cold War-era drama, and
edgy crime thrillers of yesteryear. Highly recommended.
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