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Poster for Pickup on South Street

Pickup on South Street

How the law took a chance on a B-girl … and won!

1953 · 1h 20m · APPROVED Crime, Thriller
Directed by Samuel Fuller

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Overview

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.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
90%
Tomatometer
Rotten

Pickup for the most part falls flat on its face and borders on presumably unintended, comedy.

Variety Staff, Variety
Rotten

Sam Fuller, who wrote it and directed, appears to have been more concerned with firing a barrage of sensations than with telling a story to be believed.

Bosley Crowther, New York Times
Fresh

It isn't his best, but this 1953 feature may be the archetypal Sam Fuller film, a condensation of his themes and techniques with the steam still rising.

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Fresh

Perhaps finally flawed by its overt political assumptions, but the film remains a desperate kind of masterpiece.

Time Out

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