Pickup On South Street (tbc)

At the height of the McCarthy witch-hunts, Hollywood churned out a slew of anti-Communist thrillers, most of them trash. Sam Fuller's classic 1953 noir is one of the rare exceptions.

An NYC pickpocket (Richard Widmark) inadvertently gets mixed up with a Commie agent and his patsy girlfriend and ends up going after the agent - - not from any high-flown patriotic motive but because he's fallen for the girl. Widmark's at his insolent, cynical best and he's matched by Thelma Ritter, who elevates her support role as a weary old street-seller into something archetypal. Joe MacDonald's high-contrast photography, meanwhile, captures all the grimy menace of back-alley New York and Fuller's tabloid mix of tenderness and violence has never been more arresting.

DVD Extras:

Trailer only. A Widmark commentary would have been something to treasure...

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