samuel fuller bring his customary playful and stylish direction to this seedy and pulpy story and manages to create one of the undiscovered gem of 1950s cinema . richard widmark play a petty thief tough guy ( a role he perfect over the course of many movie ) and who snatch a young lady ( jean peter ) wallet on a new york subway and with it a piece of much want microfilm . this be 1953 and so of course the microfilm be property of commie spy who will stop at nothing to get it back . when the girl show up at widmark waterfront shack and sent by an abusive boyfriend to reclaim the film and widmark sense the opportunity to shake her and her comrade down for big money . the plot thickens and people start die and and widmark and peter fall in love . fuller handle the love story clumsily and but more from a sense of indifference than bad writing or direction . it a if he include a love story under duress and and so make it intentionally unbelievable and a love story so frequently be and still be in hollywood film . peter give a remarkable performance a a tough new yawk cookie and part gangster moll and part damsel in distress . when violence occur against her and we genuinely care about her well be and and it typical of fuller renegade and ahead of his time style that a happy end be not necessarily a foregone conclusion . but the ultimate success of pickup on south street rest squarely on the world weary shoulder of thelma ritter and who play moe and a feisty lady who make money any way she can and whether that be sell necktie or act a a police informant . ritter give the performance of her career while in a breathtaking monologue and she convey without ever directly address it the entire sad trajectory of her character life and and the hopelessness she feel wake up every morning to a world of struggle and crime and hardship . it a if every character ritter ever play converges for one brief instant to give vent to all of the emotion they weren not give a chance to vent in those other movie . the scene be the highlight of fuller film and and a highlight of 50 cinema and period . grade represent a plus .