Petty crook Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) has his eyes fixed on the big score. When the cocky three-time convict picks the pocketbook of unsuspecting Candy (Jean Peters), he finds a more spectacular haul than he could have imagined: a strip of microfilm bearing confidential U.S. information. Tailed by manipulative Feds and the unwitting courier’s Communist puppeteers, Skip and Candy find themselves in a precarious gambit that pits greed against redemption, right against Red, and passion against self-preservation. With its dazzling cast and writer-director Samuel Fuller’s signature hard-boiled repartee and raw energy, Pickup on South Street is a true film noir classic by one of America’s most passionate cinematic craftspeople.
SPECIAL FEATURES
On the Blu-ray: New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
On the DVD: High-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound
New interview with critic Imogen Sara Smith, author of In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City (Blu-ray only)
Interview from 1989 with director Samuel Fuller, conducted by film critic Richard Schickel
Cinéma cinémas: Fuller, a 1982 French television program in which the director discusses the making of the film
On-screen biographical essay on Fuller, poster filmography, and publicity stills (DVD only)
Trailers
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: Essays by author and critic Luc Sante and filmmaker Martin Scorsese, and, for the Blu-ray edition, a chapter from Fuller’s posthumously published 2002 autobiography, A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking
