Pickup on South Street

Pickup on South Street offers an intriguing film noir plot about a small time thief stumbling into the world of international espionage by chance. The film takes a particularly raw approach to some of the subject matter through its lead character Skip McCoy and Richard Widmark's performance that refuses to compromise his character. The depiction of his amorality is pretty effective as it only lets up in a way that feels believable through the machinations of the plot. Fuller knows how to direct a sequence and creates the grimy atmosphere of the film's story rather well. Also in its favor is a great supporting performance by Thelma Ritter as basically a professional snitch. Her final scene is amazing both in terms of her performance as well as Fuller's direction of it. There are few problems with the film since the other side characters and the villains are pretty forgettable.
4/5