Post by Midge on Jan 31, 2010 22:01:57 GMT -6
Richard Widmark had one of his most memorable roles in this hard-boiled noir which screened last Friday night at the Castro Theater. Pickup on South Street (1953) is a thriller with more twists, turns and double-crosses than you can count, and an Oscar-nominated performance by the character actress Thelma Ritter that will break your heart.
Widmark plays Skip McCoy, a recently paroled pickpocket who lives in a fishing shack next to the Hudson River. Instead of going straight, he's back to his old tricks. We first encounter him on the New York subway, where he sidles up to a young blonde woman named Candy (Jean Peters) and expertly filches the contents of her purse. What he doesn't know is that two government agents are tailing Candy and saw the whole thing. It seems that Candy was delivering a strip of microfilm with government secrets for her boyfriend Joey, who's part of a ring of Communist spies. Now that Skip has possession of the microfilm, Candy, the cops and the Commies will stop at nothing to find Skip and get it back.
There's only one person in New York who might be able to help them: Moe, a paid snitch (Ritter). She looks like a poor, harmless, eccentric middle aged lady in a flowered hat, but don't let her looks fool you. She's tough as nails, she's nobody's fool, and she has the goods on everyone in town. She'll tell you what she knows - for a price.
The rest of the story is an elaborate cat and mouse game as Candy, the spies and the federal agents all visit the fishing shack to pressure McCoy. But the wily, tough ex-con knows he's sitting on a gold mine, and he isn't giving up so easily. He wants to make a deal: $25,000 for the film, and he doesn't care who pays him.
Pickup on South Street is top notch entertainment from beginning to end. Director Sam Fuller keeps the pacing taut, and the suspense will have you on the edge of your seat. The climax of the film is a desperate fight in the subway which is expertly staged and filmed. It was so realistic that, at one point, the audience gasped.
Widmark gives a standout performance as McCoy. He's smart, he's cagey and he never misses a trick. He's a tough guy you can't help but like. Jean Peters is a knockout as the hard-boiled dame Candy. She's probably best-known as the former Mrs. Howard Hughes, but it's a shame she didn't do more with her career.
Thelma Ritter was often used as comic relief in movies, but here she has a meatier role and she makes the most of it. Her final scene that will tear your heart out. She lost the Academy Award that year to Donna Reed in From Here to Eternity, when you see Ritter's performance you'll agree she was robbed.
Widmark plays Skip McCoy, a recently paroled pickpocket who lives in a fishing shack next to the Hudson River. Instead of going straight, he's back to his old tricks. We first encounter him on the New York subway, where he sidles up to a young blonde woman named Candy (Jean Peters) and expertly filches the contents of her purse. What he doesn't know is that two government agents are tailing Candy and saw the whole thing. It seems that Candy was delivering a strip of microfilm with government secrets for her boyfriend Joey, who's part of a ring of Communist spies. Now that Skip has possession of the microfilm, Candy, the cops and the Commies will stop at nothing to find Skip and get it back.
There's only one person in New York who might be able to help them: Moe, a paid snitch (Ritter). She looks like a poor, harmless, eccentric middle aged lady in a flowered hat, but don't let her looks fool you. She's tough as nails, she's nobody's fool, and she has the goods on everyone in town. She'll tell you what she knows - for a price.
The rest of the story is an elaborate cat and mouse game as Candy, the spies and the federal agents all visit the fishing shack to pressure McCoy. But the wily, tough ex-con knows he's sitting on a gold mine, and he isn't giving up so easily. He wants to make a deal: $25,000 for the film, and he doesn't care who pays him.
Pickup on South Street is top notch entertainment from beginning to end. Director Sam Fuller keeps the pacing taut, and the suspense will have you on the edge of your seat. The climax of the film is a desperate fight in the subway which is expertly staged and filmed. It was so realistic that, at one point, the audience gasped.
Widmark gives a standout performance as McCoy. He's smart, he's cagey and he never misses a trick. He's a tough guy you can't help but like. Jean Peters is a knockout as the hard-boiled dame Candy. She's probably best-known as the former Mrs. Howard Hughes, but it's a shame she didn't do more with her career.
Thelma Ritter was often used as comic relief in movies, but here she has a meatier role and she makes the most of it. Her final scene that will tear your heart out. She lost the Academy Award that year to Donna Reed in From Here to Eternity, when you see Ritter's performance you'll agree she was robbed.
