Pickup on South Street

Pickup on South Street (1953)

Timing: 1:20 (80 min)

7.402/10
259

6.949/10
1244

7.6/10
18000

All about film

Video 1

Photo 6

Actors and characters

Release date

1953-05-27

Country

United States

Production

20th Century Fox

Genre

Thriller, Crime

Budget

$780 000

Revenue

$0

Website

Director

Samuel Fuller

Actors

Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter, Murvyn Vye, Richard Kiley, Willis Bouchey, Parley Baer, Chet Brandenburg, Frank Kumagai, Virginia Carroll
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Jules Schermer

Operator

Joseph MacDonald

Composer

Leigh Harline

Artist

Audition

Editing

Nick DeMaggio
All team (21)

• After a private preview of the film, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover demanded a meeting with 20th Century Fox head Darryl F. Zanuck and the film's director/screenwriter Samuel Fuller. Hoover was outraged by the unpatriotic behavior of the character played by Richard Widmark, even after the character realized he was dealing with communists. Fuller refused to make any changes to the film, and Zanuck supported him. Their refusal ended the era of cooperation between the film company and the FBI.
• Marilyn Monroe attended the rehearsals and screen tests. Director and screenwriter Samuel Fuller liked her in general, but he decided that she was "too sensual" for the role of Candy.
• As mentioned in Samuel Fuller's autobiography (published in 2002), Betty Grable vied for the role of Candy, demanding that a dance scene for her character be included in the film. Fuller categorically refused. Grable eventually agreed to film without the dance number, but by that time, Fuller was already rehearsing the role with Gene Peters, who ultimately played Candy.
• Darryl F. Zanuck introduced director and screenwriter Samuel Fuller, who was under contract with 20th Century Fox at the time, to a script by Dwight Taylor about a female lawyer who defends a criminal (a murderer) and falls in love with him. Fuller generally liked the idea. He asked Zanuck if he could write his own screenplay about a petty criminal and his girlfriend. He even suggested a title for the future film: 'The Pickpocket.' Zanuck felt that 'Pickpocket' sounded too European, so Fuller, a former crime reporter, suggested changing the title to 'The Street with No Name.' Shortly thereafter, Fuller spoke with a New York City police detective, upon whom he based the police captain (played in the film by Merwin Wise) with all his virtues and flaws, including having his salary docked for six months for beating a suspect.
• The film's script was rejected twice for excessive violence displayed by characters of both genders, which contradicted the so-called 'Hays Code' (the ethical code for Hollywood film production that regulated movie content).
• Director and screenwriter Samuel Fuller saw Gene Peters in the studio cafeteria and immediately cast her in the role of Candy.
• When the film was being prepared for release in France, the communists in the script were replaced by drug dealers, just in case.
• The filmmakers had to reshoot the episode in which the characters played by Jean Peters and Richard Kiley search each other at the insistence of censors, who decided that the scene was too explicit and naturalistic.