Richard Widmark can make a film 'right-on'

I truly love strong film noir material. This genre of film making can enthrall a person. The other night I watched a solid, powerhouse film with one of my favorite tough guy actors, the incomparable Richard Widmark. Yes, Richard Widmark and Lee Marvin are two of my real favorite strong actors cause Lord knows they get the job done, beautifully. This particular film, 'Pickup on South Street' is a finely etched thriller drama that snares the viewer and pulls the person into the story's web in an artful, interesting way. Directed by the vigorous and innovative Samuel Fuller, this tale details the machinations of a pickpocket who not knowingly takes a message from a woman's bag. The message was supposed to be for enemy agents. So then, Widmark's character becomes a guy with a bulls-eye target for the spy ring bunch really hurriedly sets out to get him. There are two other grand performances in this film. The very versatile actress, Jean Peters, is in the role of Candy, a real, hard-luck woman. When I was a young guy I remember how many people talked about the acting skills of Jean Peters. Like many superb actresses she had a wide spectrum of very diverse parts and she always pleased her fans. Another good soul in this film is Richard Kiley in the role of a mean, testy rough guy named Joey. Kiley is a devilish feisty actor. He is so hard-boiled that he looks like he stepped right out of a Raymond Chandler novel. Another clever person in the film is Thelma Ritter in the crafty part of an informant for the law...she plays a woman named Moe Williams and she performs so delightfully. The amazing thing about films put together by the elegant, somewhat brutal film strongman, Samuel Fuller is the fact he has so much zing and yes so much enthralling cinematic artistry in his a bit tumultous work. I feel that sitting through a Samuel Fuller movie is kind of like getting overwhelmed by good writers like Don D. or Philip Roth. Yes the man Samuel Fuller and the skilled film noir artist, Richard Widmark can bring a superior fulfilling film experience to life.