Pickup on South Street

“I’m so tired you’d be doing me a big favor if you’d blow my head off,” says aging informant and petty criminal Moe Williams portrayed by the inimitable Thelma Ritter during one of the most moving scenes in all of noir. (Her performance was nominated for an Academy Award). Moe is one of the many desperate characters plotting to survive another day in Samuel Fuller’s Pickup on South Street, which stars Richard Widmark as prolific pickpocket Skip McCoy who steals more than he bargained for from subway passenger Candy (Jean Peters). It seems Candy had been unknowingly transporting government secrets on microfilm for her ex-boyfriend Joey (Richard Kiley), who is actually a communist spy. Candy’s also been under surveillance by government agent Zara (Willis Bouchey) and his associates who hope she’ll lead them to the head of the spy ring. Soon, both the government agents and the foreign agents are hunting for McCoy, each tapping into Moe’s knowledge of the underground to learn his whereabouts (a waterfront shack), but McCoy’s denial of knowledge and involvement just leads to more intimidation. Fuller paces the action flawlessly and extracts maximum tension from all the intrigue, beginning with the brilliantly shot opening subway sequence, while leaving space for pathos, primarily in the friendship between McCoy and Moe, who dreams of saving enough money so she can have a fancy funeral instead of being dumped in a Potter’s field (“I have to go on making a living so that I can die”).