Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16489 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-07-19
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Synopsis
This film noir classic plays on America's paranoia about a Communist takeover in the 1950s. Dwelling in a neon-lit nightscape are: a pickpocket, Skip McCoy; an abused dame, Candy; a seen-it-all stoolie, Moe; Joey, Candy's violent boyfriend and Communist plotter; shifty G-Men; cynical cops; and a whole nest of vipers in fedoras and trenchcoats. Joey forces Candy to deliver a secret package for him. Then Skip snatches Candy's purse and inadvertently takes a cryptic film that some underground Reds have stolen. A pair of Feds tracking the film's whereabouts witness the pickpocket and close in on him. But Skip first considers cutting a deal with the Communists. Then he realises that several parties are interested in the film--and some are even willing to kill for it! Thelma Ritter was nominated for an Oscar for her performance.

Customer Reviews

Thrilling film noir
I decided to get this on impulse buy having read some good reviews on the web. I have to say that I don't regret it in the least. It's a very good film noir, unusually fast paced both for its genre and time. Within the first few minutes you get addicted. A pickpocket (Richard Widmark) accidentally steals a microfilm from a handbag - only the woman was a corrier and was being followed by the police as they wanted to catch the communist receiver. Soon he has everyone after the film: the police, the communists and the femme fatale from who he had steal it from the first place. Richard Widmark (whom I don't like) and Thelma Ritter give wonderful performances. She is as usual the best thing and a complete scene stealer. She got an Oscar nomination for this but lost rather unfairly for Donna Reed. The DVD itself is a barebone release (there are some trailers for other releases, but not the film's) but the copy is very good.

Hard boiled with a touch of humanity.
When Candy (Jean Peters) has her handbag picked by hard boiled pick pocket Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) we are set off on a chase with relentless cop Dan Tiger (Vye) chasing McCoy for the micro film he unwittingly stole, and communist infiltrator Joey (Kylie) forcing Candy to get the film back from McCoy.

Then enter Moe (Thelma Ritter), an elderly police informer worried about getting enough money for a decent funeral, a part wonderfully acted right down to the last minute detail. Ritter got a well deserved Oscar nomination for supporting actress.

The tough hard boiled drama is lead brilliantly by Widmark as the smart alec pick pocket who takes no hostages, with just a hint of fear knowing he has three convictions and the next one means life, but acted with just the right touch of humanity. Jean Peters is also excellent as the flawed but innocent participant in a communist plot.

These are not nice people, but it is just possible to understand them and their predicaments.

A huge plus for the film, a huge minus for the Distributor!
I hate to appear grumpy, but it really does annoy me when Film Distributors are sloppy. There is a huge market in Nostalgia, and, with a growing, ageing, population of "silver surfers", the demand for 1940's and 1950's "classics" is high. Reference material, via the excellent IMDb, is superb, so why are we subjected to textual inaccuracies such as there are in this release?

The quality of Pick-up on South Street is undisputed, a classic film noir, with terrific performances. Why, oh why, then do Optimum Releasing of Newman Street, London spoil it with the following:

a) it is decribed by Optimum as a "gripping 1949 film noir". A cursory check of the IMDb web-site would have revealed that this film was released in 1953 mirroring the anti-communist feeling in the US.
b) this film was made in black and white, however, the Optimum sleeve describes it as being in colour.

These are basic "schoolboy errors" and any decent sub-editor should have picked these up.

Thankfully, with Distributors like Network, we have the other, quality, side of the coin, with classic quality releases, supplemented with "bundled" extras like trailers, audio commentaries and 'pdf's.

"No", I have no links to any organization, merely a desire to see companies "get it right" and continue enjoying good product.