Noirtini Hour: Pickup On South Street

The Story

**Film Noir Meetup: *Pickup on South Street* (1953)** Let’s talk about movies! Join Portland Movie Club member Jenna M. for *Pickup on South Street* (1953), starring Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, and Thelma Ritter. Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) is a pickpocket working the New York subway when he steals a woman's wallet and unknowingly takes something far more valuable than cash: a piece of microfilm containing secret information. Suddenly, Skip finds himself caught between the FBI and a group of Communist spies who desperately want the film back. With double-crosses, blackmail, murder, and romance thrown into the mix, Skip's latest score turns into a much bigger problem than he bargained for. **Here’s how The Portland Movie Club meet-ups work:** Just like a book club, we watch the movie on our own time before we meet. We'll meet at Flying Pie Pizzeria in Montavilla at 4pm on the scheduled date. We'll typically have a sign at our table(s), but at least we'll try to be obvious and identifiable. Grab some food and drinks to support our generous hosts and spend some time socializing and discussing this movie with us. **A Few Notes About the Film:** Samuel Fuller wrote and directed *Pickup on South Street*, bringing his background as a crime reporter into a story that mixes classic film noir with the paranoia of the Cold War. Richard Widmark's Skip McCoy is a classic noir protagonist: cynical, self-interested, distrustful of authority, and perfectly comfortable operating outside the law. He isn't motivated by patriotism or ideology; he's motivated by money and survival. Thelma Ritter plays Moe, a streetwise informant who makes a living selling information on the streets, and her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The film also reflects the very real political tensions of its time: Fuller was reportedly told that the film's Communist villains should be portrayed as more sympathetic, but refused, while the film's famous line ab

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