Either you love Sam Fuller's work or wonder what the fuss is about. I'm in the latter group. But I do like his PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET. Richard Widmark, at his low-rent best, is a petty pickpocket who inadvertently steals a strip of microfilm intended for communist spies. His beautiful but tough mark, played by Jean Peters (playing against type) is carrying for her sleazy boyfriend. Forced by him to retrieve the film, Peters locates Widmark through stool pigeon Thelma Ritter, which leads to a series of double-crosses. But soon, Widmark and Peters are gaga for each other, which softens his edges a bit and switches her loyalties. In one swell scene, the cops tries to get Widmark to give up information by appealing to his sense of patriotic duty. His sneering reply is, "Are you wavin' the flag at me?" Widmark delivers the line in a tone that virtually defines the word "snark" 40 years before its first reference anywhere else. That scene and many others make PICKUP STREET wonderfully watchable and, according to many critics, among the best noir films of the ‘50s. (Tivia note: Shot in just 20 days, PICKUP is about espionage, but the French version was retitled LE PORT DE LA DROGUE, and all dialog referring to the spying was replaced by that about drug dealing.)
PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (1953)
Either you love Sam Fuller's work or wonder what the fuss is about. I'm in the latter group. But I do like his PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET. Richard Widmark, at his low-rent best, is a petty pickpocket who inadvertently steals a strip of microfilm intended for communist spies. His beautiful but tough mark, played by Jean Peters (playing against type) is carrying for her sleazy boyfriend. Forced by him to retrieve the film, Peters locates Widmark through stool pigeon Thelma Ritter, which leads to a series of double-crosses. But soon, Widmark and Peters are gaga for each other, which softens his edges a bit and switches her loyalties. In one swell scene, the cops tries to get Widmark to give up information by appealing to his sense of patriotic duty. His sneering reply is, "Are you wavin' the flag at me?" Widmark delivers the line in a tone that virtually defines the word "snark" 40 years before its first reference anywhere else. That scene and many others make PICKUP STREET wonderfully watchable and, according to many critics, among the best noir films of the ‘50s. (Tivia note: Shot in just 20 days, PICKUP is about espionage, but the French version was retitled LE PORT DE LA DROGUE, and all dialog referring to the spying was replaced by that about drug dealing.)
