Most critics respond warmly to Pickup on South Street, praising its economical crime storytelling and Fuller’s forceful direction. The praise clusters around vivid underworld detail, expressive close-ups and editing that sustains tension. Thelma Ritter’s performance draws particular admiration, while the combative chemistry between Richard Widmark and Jean Peters gives the criminal intrigue an unexpectedly cheerful edge. Several reviews also find moral complexity in the film’s sympathy for people whose motives are far from respectable.
The spread is wide, though reservations are concentrated rather than shared across the reviews. The political material divides opinion: some critics find a probing treatment of hysteria beneath the spy plot, while Variety finds the theme thin and the effect unintentionally comic. Even that negative assessment makes exceptions for Ritter and the photography. The favourable reviews differ chiefly in emphasis, finding either propulsive entertainment or a tougher, more poignant account of criminal loyalties.