"Pickup On South Street" (1953)

Amid the orgy of crit-writing that’s accompanied Scorsese’s new love it or hate it “waking nightmare” Shutter Island have been numerous references to another mind-bending nuthouse flick from nearly 50 years ago, Samuel Fuller’s lurid 1963 masterpiece Shock Corridor. I’ve long been a fan of SC and Fuller’s follow-up movie, the even stranger and probably better The Naked Kiss, but somehow I’m just now getting around to checking out other highlights of the cigar-chomping legend’s filmography. A few days ago I watched Pickup On South Street, Fuller’s hard-as-nails noir about Communist paranoia from 1953. It’s straighter than SC and TNK, but still boasts Fuller’s characteristic intensity, dazzling camerawork, and unabashed sleaziness.

My favorite part of the movie is probably the famous opening scene, where Richard Widmark (in a standout, truly assholish performance) oh-so-delicately steals Jean Peters wallet on a crowded subway train … and maybe something even more valuable.

As an extra bonus, check out the opening scene from The Naked Kiss, which is one of the great all-time attention grabbers in cinema history.