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Features: DVD, Aspect Ratio 1.33:1, Mono Audio, Black & White
Petty crook Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) has his eyes fixed on the big score. When the cocky three-time convict picks the pocketbook of unsuspecting Candy (Jean Peters), he finds a haul bigger than he could have imagined: a strip of microfilm bearing confidential U.S. secrets. Tailed by manipulative Feds and the unwitting courier's Communist puppeteers, Skip and Candy find themselves in a precarious gambit that pits greed against redemption, Right versus Red, and passion against self preservation. With its dazzling cast and director Samuel Fuller's signature raw energy and hardboiled repartee, Pickup on South Street is a true film noir classic by one of America's most passionate cinematic craftsmen.
Editor's Note
A skid row pickpocket acquires a top-secret microfilm. He stumbles onto a plot to sell military secrets and is now the target in a world of intrigue and espionage.
Plot Summary
This film noir classic plays on America's paranoia about a Communist takeover in the 1950s.| Dwelling in a neon-lit nightscape are: a pickpocket, Skip McCoy; an abused dame, Candy; a seen-it-all stoolie, Moe; Joey, Candy's violent boyfriend and Communist plotter; shifty G-Men; cynical cops; and a whole nest of vipers in fedoras and trenchcoats.| Joey forces Candy to deliver a secret package for him. Then Skip snatches Candy's purse and inadvertently takes a cryptic film that some underground Reds have stolen. A pair of Feds tracking the film's whereabouts witness the pickpocket and close in on him. But Skip first considers cutting a deal with the Communists.| Then he realizes that several parties are interested in the film -- and some are even willing to kill for it!
| Features | Booklet Including Excerpts From Fuller's Award-Winning Autobiography A Third Face, Featuring Martin Scorsese's Introduction And Fuller On Pickup On South Street, Plus A New Essay By Acclaimed Cultural Historian Luc Sante (Low Life, Evidence) | | Subtitles: English | | Optimal Image Quality: RSDL Dual-Layer Edition | | Illustrated Biographical Essay On Fuller By Jeb Brody (Scenario, Print Magazines) | | Stills Gallery Of Photos, Posters, Lobby Cards, And Original Paintings By Noted Artist Russell Christian (The NY Times, The New Yorker) | | Trailers For Pickup On South Street And Other Fuller Features | | New High-Definition Digital Transfer, With Restored Image And Sound | | Exclusive Interview With The Late Samuel Fuller, Made By Renowned Film Critic Richard Schickel | | Excerpts From The Cinema Cinemas Series With Fuller Discussing The Making Of The Film |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Home Vision/Public Media |
| Release Date: 2/17/2004 |
| Running Time: 80 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1953 | | Catalog ID: 1600 | | UPC: 00715515015028 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Video: B&W |
Aspect Ratio | | 4:3 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | USA Today
"...A major film noir classic....Love those Fuller close-ups..." -- 3 1/2 out of 4 stars 04/05/1991 p.3DFilm Comment
"Samuel Fuller's sweaty 1953 noir speedball PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET gets the Criterion treatment and it plays like a poison pen letter from the past." 03/01/2004 p.76 Uncut
"Sam Fuller's explosive pulp classic, a red-menace thriller, pitched near hysteria from start to finish?.Definitive Fuller, definitive noir." 09/01/2004 p.135 |
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