Pickup on South Street 1953

Bosley Crowther, New York Times: Sam Fuller, who wrote it and directed, appears to have been more concerned with firing a barrage of sensations than with telling a story to be believed. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: It isn't his best, but this 1953 feature may be the archetypal Sam Fuller film, a condensation of his themes and techniques with the steam still rising. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: Fuller's pugnacious direction and his gutter-up view of city life romanticize both the criminal code of honor and the jangling paranoia of global plots; his hard-edged long takes depict underworld cruelty with reportorial wonder ... Read more

Time Out: Perhaps finally flawed by its overt political assumptions, but the film remains a desperate kind of masterpiece. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Pickup for the most part falls flat on its face and borders on presumably unintended, comedy. Read more

Charles Taylor, Village Voice: As good as are Widmark, with his proto-Method grin, and Peters, with her tawny, untutored naturalism, this is Thelma Ritter's movie. She transforms what could have been no more than a colorful eccentric to a figure of unshakable dignity. Read more