Pickup On South Street

The 532nd edition of Have You Ever Seen talks about a noir that not everyone is aware of, but they should be. Pickup On South Street crackles. Richard Widmark plays a pickpocket, but he remains an anti-hero from the start to the finish...even though crime stories are often about redemption after bad behaviour. He's got (an eventually) loyal "dame" in Jean Peters, he's got a shack right on the river and he's got a friend in sweet informer Thelma Ritter. Samuel Fuller's snappy story has a lot of political subtext, which becomes flat-out text because there are Communists all over this thing. Throw in a couple of vivid punch-ups and some obstinate cops trying to recover a microfilm and you've got a pretty great little thriller. So don't be sore. Just indulge in Ryan's one-man podcast about Fuller's Pickup On South Street. Sparkplug Coffee doesn't need to dunk its product into the drink, but they DO give our customers a 20% discount...if those customers will just use our "HYES" promo code. Go to "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". We like to get emails ([email protected]) or to get action on Twitter (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis). You can also find us on YouTube. Our channel is @hyesellis in your browser or go with "Have You Ever Seen" in the search bar on the 'Tube. Feel free to comment, rate, subscribe, write a review, like, share, etc.