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Pickup on South Street poster

movie Pickup on South Street

Released: May 27, 1953
Runtime: 1 hour 20 minutes
Thriller Crime

In New York City, an insolent pickpocket, Skip McCoy, inadvertently sets off a chain of events when he targets ex-prostitute Candy and steals her wallet. Unaware that she has been making deliveries of highly classified information to the communists, Candy, who has been trailed by FBI agents for months in hopes of nabbing the spy ringleader, is sent by her ex-boyfriend, Joey, to find Skip and retrieve the valuable microfilm he now holds.

Discussed in these episodes

  • Lions, Towers & Shields cover art
    Lions, Towers & Shields February 27, 2022 Pickup on South Street
    45 Donna Reed Can Burn in Hell

    Please enjoy a heaping helping of film noir with a side of anti-Communism. Sam Fuller’s 1953 “Pickup on South Street” is well-directed, and especially well-acted by Thelma Ritter, Richard Widmark and character actor Murvyn Vye - but you can call him Tiger. There’s a crackerjack score, and a reasonably suspenseful plot, too, and the cinematography is inventive and compelling.