Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Ralph Hurtig A gritty dark movie directed by by Sam Fuller leads the viewer through a winding plot after a pickpocket steals and intercepts microfilm containing sensitive information from Candy, played by Jean Peters, destined to be shared by communist spies. The lowlife pickpocket Skip played by Richard Widmark, is an ace at eluding capture by police. Suspense ratchets up as Skip puts himself and Candy in harms way with the communist spies and the cops. With superb acting by Peters, Widmark and Thelma Ritter, this film is an awesome view and should be added to one of your top movies to see.

christopher-underwood Good solid and impressive noir with fabulous central performance from Richard Widmark. Perhaps not surprising because Widmark is always good but the real surprise is Jean Peters. Wish she had done more films, because here she is a revelation in a complicated role as gangster's moll cum prostitute with a heart of gold and then some. She is also believably tough. Big bad boyfriend sends her out with the gun, her only trouble is that she is up against Widmark. The wisest wise guy going. Apparently in Germany and France the communist theme was replaced with drug dealing and for me I reckon that would be a better idea - the 'better dead than red' US flag waving element being the weakest part of the film BUT seeing an excerpt in the extras with big bad Sam Fuller talking about the film, it is clear this was very much to his heart. So, hard for us Brits to ever quite understand the American position here but I guess it resounds even today. Very entertaining film with great location shots and impressive studio sets for the waterfront. Thelma Ritter is also great!

gavin6942 A pickpocket (Richard Widmark) unwittingly lifts a message destined for enemy agents and becomes a target for a Communist spy ring.In August 1952, the script was deemed unacceptable by the Production Code, by reasons of "excessive brutality and sadistic beatings, of both men and women." The committee also expressed disdain for the vicious beating of the character "Candy", on the part of "Joey." Apparently we had slid backwards in the 1950s, as such things would have been fine a decade earlier.The French release of the movie removed any reference to spies and microfilm in the translation. They called the movie "Le Port de la Drogue" (Carrying Drugs). The managers of 20th Century Fox thought that the theme of communist spies was too controversial in a country where the Communist Party was an influential and legitimate part of public life. This is fascinating.The whole concept is clever because it blends film noir and spy thriller. The two do not seem to overlap, but in this world they go together just fine. I prefer noir over spies, and I think that was executed well.

mark.waltz Stealing a girl's wallet can get you into a lot of trouble, especially when it has micro-film the commies want. That's what newly released jail bird Richard Widmark finds out when he's called in for questioning after being fingered by your friendly neighborhood stoolie (Thelma Ritter), a Tugboat Annie/Apple Annie type character who only prays for a clean death and enough money left behind to pay for a proper headstone, not being lymed away in Potter's Field on Ward's Island.Jean Peters is the dame, doing one last favor for her ex, and ironically falls for the man who pick pocketed her but a game with him results in a lot of trouble. While they are excellent in this film, it will be Ritter whom you remember, the best role she ever got and the one most deserving of praise. Five Oscar Nominations, mostly for scene-stealing walk-ons, but this is a true acting challenge (along with her nasty mother in "Bird Man of Alcatraz") that gives her a real character who will break your heart when she's confronted by her destiny. That scene alone was worthy of an Academy Award.Directed by the magnificent Sam Fuller, this is a "street" film where the rawness of the naked city is covered in slime through organized crime, espionage and cheap crooks. Even the cops are a bit shady, one admitting he lost six months of pay for beating up Widmark on previous encounters. Made during the height of the cold war and McCarthy era, this is a film that doesn't take sides except to show that the spy game is an ugly sport.