Runtime: 80 minutes
Directed by: Samuel Fuller
Starring: Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter, Murvyn Vye, Richard Kiley
From: 20th Century Fox
There hardly has been any film noir viewed by me in recent months; selecting a famous effort from Samuel Fuller starring Richard Widmark seemed like a swell idea… and it was.
Widmark was our lead; you may not want to refer to him as a “hero”-after all, in the opening scene we discover he is a pickpocket. What misfortune for him then that the purse he pilfers contains microfilm containing government secrets that (gasp) a Communist spy ring is also after. A number of people are now after Skip McCoy: the alluring Jean Peters-the one who was robbed-the cops, a government agent, and the ex of Peters, who was the one that convinced her to courier that envelope.
It was a very good noir that mixes in spy espionage elements, featuring a nice cast, solid direction, memorable characters, the seedier areas of New York City presented well, along w/ a quality score from Leigh Harline. My favorite character was the stoolie portrayed by Thelma Ritter; she was as hysterical yet serious at the same time, comparable to her character in Rear Window. She was part of the film’s best scene.
As this had the standard noir hallmarks (light + shadow, the locations, the close-ups, the hardboiled dialogue), Pickup on South Street is one of the many efforts that should be viewed by genre fans.
No comments:
Post a Comment