Samuel Fuller's Pickup on South Street, which will be shown in a new 4K restoration at Film Forum from May 29th to June 4th, is a major event on this summer's cinematic calendar that should not be missed. Richard Widmark plays pickpocket Skip McCoy, who becomes mired in espionage when he unwittingly purloins contraband microfilm from the purse of Jean Peters' Candy, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who is trying to escape her past. The film's potent brew of equal parts, film noir sensibilities and Red-baiting, Cold War-era paranoia, never fails to excite and intrigue. Here are five reasons why this film – widely considered to be Fuller's masterpiece – is worthy of your time.
5) The Performances
Pickup on South Street is blessed with standout performances all around. Richard Widmark's sneering, leering portrayal of a criminal lowlife is iconic. Jean Peters plays her role with a frank sexuality that comes across without her uttering a word; note her performance in the opening subway scene, where her expressive eyes and pouting lips speak more vividly than any dialogue possibly could of her instantaneous attraction to Widmark. Richard Kiley, as a communist fellow traveler, perfectly captures the shifting emotions of a man trapped by circumstances beyond his control. Finally, there is Thelma Ritter as the police informer obsessed with her final repose. Watch her amazing display of expertise in the scene where she interrogates a cop about the behavior of a pickpocket he wants to ID. All of these performances share one thing in common: they are portrayals of characters that never sink to the level of caricatures.
4) The Setting
Yes, they mean that South Street! The film's 1950s New York City setting is a treat for residents and an education for all. So much has changed (public restrooms in subway stations?), yet it is still unmistakably the Big Apple. While watching the film, one can sense the sweltering summer heat baking the streets, and the snappy dialogue – rife with the vernacular of police and criminal alike – adds a final layer of color that speaks eloquently of time and place.
3) The Fight Scene
The final brawl between Widmark and Kiley is incredibly modern in its vicious ferocity. The subway station setting is used to great effect, with turnstiles and stairways becoming part of the action. These two guys definitely make us believe that they want to hurt each other, and Widmark, taking out his anger on Kiley for the latter's maltreatment of Peters, is especially savage here. If you are laboring under the misconception that the action scenes in older films cannot go head-to-head with their modern counterparts, the climactic melee will be a revelation.
2) The Direction
While Fuller may have come late to the noir table, his films do not suffer for it. Rather than simply imitating what had been done previously, he fearlessly went his own way, thereby pushing the noir envelope in new and unexpected directions. In Pickup on South Street, he combines the standard crime-based noir milieu with the tropes of the Cold War-era spy film, with thrilling results. Eschewing the more static camerawork of previous entries in the genre by the likes of Fritz Lang and Billy Wilder, Fuller boldly offers tracking and crane shots that give his scenes a degree of spontaneity lacking in the older films. Camera angles and shot scale are similarly calculated for maximum dramatic impact, and they deliver in spades. Like all of Fuller's work, Pickup on South Street can be viewed as a master class in directorial style, or simply enjoyed for the brilliant example of classic cinema that it is.
1) The 4K Restoration
The restoration of Pickup on South Street is a thing of beauty. The black-and-white photography of cinematographer Joseph MacDonald is lovingly showcased, with details like the beads of sweat on Richard Kiley's face rendered with a superlative degree of clarity that begs for a theatrical presentation. One wonders if the film ever looked this good, even on first release. Don't wait for the inevitable Blu-ray – see this film as it was intended to be seen.
Pickup on South Street plays at Film Forum from May 29-June 4. Click here for tickets.
