At film's beginning we see a NY subway so crowded that the neurosis of claustrophobia oppresses us. Folks keep piling on, but no one disembarks. A pickpocket (we soon learn is Skip McCoy = Richard Widmark), a three-time loser, skillfully removes a woman's wallet from her purse. The pickpocket is seen by FBI agent Zara (Willis B. Bouchery), but McCoy nevertheless gets away. It seems that the woman, Candy (Jean Peters), was being tailed by Zara all along. Her wallet contains a valuable microfilm (describing a chemical formula) wanted by the Communists. Candy was passing it on to her sleazy boyfriend Joey (Richard Kiley), a Communist sympathizer. Candy does not know final destination of the microfilm. McCoy knows nothing about the microfilm; he just wants to make a quick buck.
Zara consults with Captain Dan Tiger (Murvyn Vye), who in turn relies on Moe Williams (Thelma Ritter), a street peddler who sells ties. Moe is a police paid informer who has a price for keeping keeps tabs on underworld figures in the neighborhood. She lives in a shabby tenement, but is saving enough cash for a fancy funeral. She tells Capt. Tiger, "I've got almost enough to buy both the stone and the plot." With new information the lawmen go to McCoy's bare-bones waterfront shack without electricity (but note how he stores stuff) on the East River. One of cops is Detective Winoki, played by Milburn Stone, later to star as Doc Adams in the very long-running and successful TV series, "Gunsmoke." The cops demand the microfilm. As Skip balks, he is summarily taken down to the precinct. Tiger tells McCoy, "If you refuse to co-operate, you will be just as guilty as the traitors who gave Stalin the A-bomb!" McCoy boldly retorts, "Are you waving the flag at me?" Candy eventually helps the authorities, and even Moe hinders the bad Commies. Likewise, McCoy changes his tune, but for a reason different than that of the feds. There is a climax involving a terrific fist fight between two antagonists on the subway tracks.
Richard Widmark as the cocky hood is good as always. The line of the movie is delivered by Thelma Ritter, in a marvelous performance as Moe. "If I was to be buried in Potter's Field, it'd just about kill me." Ritter lost out to Donna Reed ("From Here to Eternity") for the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. Joe MacDonald shoots this one in tight close-up, especially the wallet snatch. Watch how Lightning Louie (Vic Perry) gobbles his noodles from the bowl close to his mouth and how he fetches Candy's $20 bills. The contiguous shot effect (often without extraneous dialog) brings out the tension sustained by each character: note the furrows, the sweat, and the quivering lips. See how well MacDonald captures the overcrowded subway, the shots of New York City, Moe's tenement, the bait shop along the waterfront. Cigar-smoking director Sam Fuller has at least three films elected to the American National Film Registry, "Shock Corridor," "The Big Red One" (the nickname for the 1st infantry division where he served in World War II) and "VE + 1." The latter is a short about the liberation of Falkenau concentration camp.
Zara consults with Captain Dan Tiger (Murvyn Vye), who in turn relies on Moe Williams (Thelma Ritter), a street peddler who sells ties. Moe is a police paid informer who has a price for keeping keeps tabs on underworld figures in the neighborhood. She lives in a shabby tenement, but is saving enough cash for a fancy funeral. She tells Capt. Tiger, "I've got almost enough to buy both the stone and the plot." With new information the lawmen go to McCoy's bare-bones waterfront shack without electricity (but note how he stores stuff) on the East River. One of cops is Detective Winoki, played by Milburn Stone, later to star as Doc Adams in the very long-running and successful TV series, "Gunsmoke." The cops demand the microfilm. As Skip balks, he is summarily taken down to the precinct. Tiger tells McCoy, "If you refuse to co-operate, you will be just as guilty as the traitors who gave Stalin the A-bomb!" McCoy boldly retorts, "Are you waving the flag at me?" Candy eventually helps the authorities, and even Moe hinders the bad Commies. Likewise, McCoy changes his tune, but for a reason different than that of the feds. There is a climax involving a terrific fist fight between two antagonists on the subway tracks.
Richard Widmark as the cocky hood is good as always. The line of the movie is delivered by Thelma Ritter, in a marvelous performance as Moe. "If I was to be buried in Potter's Field, it'd just about kill me." Ritter lost out to Donna Reed ("From Here to Eternity") for the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. Joe MacDonald shoots this one in tight close-up, especially the wallet snatch. Watch how Lightning Louie (Vic Perry) gobbles his noodles from the bowl close to his mouth and how he fetches Candy's $20 bills. The contiguous shot effect (often without extraneous dialog) brings out the tension sustained by each character: note the furrows, the sweat, and the quivering lips. See how well MacDonald captures the overcrowded subway, the shots of New York City, Moe's tenement, the bait shop along the waterfront. Cigar-smoking director Sam Fuller has at least three films elected to the American National Film Registry, "Shock Corridor," "The Big Red One" (the nickname for the 1st infantry division where he served in World War II) and "VE + 1." The latter is a short about the liberation of Falkenau concentration camp.