Pretty Good

Disappointment for a huge fan!

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider) attracts three scumbags (John Glover, Robert Trebor, and Clarence Williams III) to blackmail him. Harry ignores their demands. The trio responds with extremely aberrant and abhorrent behavior and malice. What will Harry do when they start to threaten his wife?The villainy between the three antagonists is believable and a visceral thrill. Roy Scheider makes the most out of a bland and passive main character. Cinematography feels naturalistic. Fans of Elmore Leonard novels may be impressed with "52 Pick-Up." Sadly, I am not impressed.Typical of Cannon Films, the story wallows in sleaze and unintelligible character motivations. "52 Pick-Up" is sleazy because every actress is fetishized, beaten (Spoiler: Doreen portrayed by Vanity is suffocated for several nauseating minutes), or raped (Spoiler: The main villain injects heroin into Harry's wife and rapes her offscreen). The problem is that these scenes forget to provide meaning, context, and nuance. I hate the character motivations because the bad guys continuously show Harry that they mean business (they murder Harry's mistress and invade his house nonstop). What does Harry do? He holds a filibuster and berates these sociopathic criminals. Additionally, the film becomes overlong and the direction from John Frankenheimer lacks understanding. "52 Pick-Up" is enjoyable albeit completely disparaging.

52 Pick Up finds Roy Scheider a successful industrialist with a gift that keeps on giving copyright finds himself the victim of a blackmailing trio of John Glover, Clarence Williams, III, and Robert Trebor. They are involved in a porn palace and one of the young models has been seeing Scheider on the side. This all is complicated by the fact that Scheider's wife Ann-Margret is looking toward a political career.Scheider fancies himself a tough guy and blows them off. But these guys blow back mean and nasty even murdering the mistress Vanity and harassing Ann-Margret. They video Vanity's death for Scheider and show they have a neat frame for Scheider to fit in.Vanity by the way gives a frightening performance during said video of a person knowing she's about to die at the hands of lowlifes. And this trio is about as low as you can go. Glover is truly psychotic, Williams is a stone cold killer and Trebor is a feckless idiot.Scheider plays them off against each other, a little vengeance, a little justice mix in nicely. Even in the end with the last one standing you figure out just how he will deal and you look forward with anticipation as to what will come.Ann-Margret's character is clearly based on recent Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro and the foibles of her husband John Zaccaro which publicity about did her no good. Then again I don't think Ferraro had to deal with the trio of baddies that this film offers.52 Pick Up is a nice suspenseful action flick. I'm sure you'll figure out what happens to the last baddie and look forward.

52 Pick-Up is directed by John Frankenheimer and written by Elmore Leonard (adapting from his own novel) and John Steppling. It stars Roy Scheider, Ann-Margret, John Glover, Vanity, Clarence Williams III, Robert Trebor and Kelly Preston. Music is by Gary Chang and cinematography by Jost Vacano and Stephen Ramsey. Successful business entrepreneur Harry Mitchell (Scheider) finds himself the victim of blackmail by three pornographers who have video evidence of his extramarital affair. With his wife about to embark on a new stage of her political career, the last thing Harry needs is a scandal, but when things take a turn for the worse Harry decides to use unorthodox methods to deal with the blackmailers. A nifty neo-noir this, certainly deserving of being better known in neo- noir circles. The presence of Leonard at the writing table ensures that the story doesn't drift too far away from his own source material, though location is moved to L.A. as opposed to the Detroit of the novel. Thematic thrust centres around Mitchell being caught for his indiscretions and what the consequences of his actions means for all around him, quite often with devastating results. Mitchell has to move about a seedy world of pornography, of cheap peekaboo bars, strip joints and snuff movies, he has to get to the level of his blackmailers so as to enact his plans with conviction. The three weasels played by Glover, Williams and Trebor are in turn slimy, menacing and a twitchy neurotic, an off-beat trio suitably framed by Frankenheimer's sleazy and cold world. It may not be prime Frankenheimer but the director knows his noir onions, both in performances garnered from his strong cast and via his visual ticks. Characters are more often than not smoking or drinking liquor, sweating or looking pained as the camera gets up close and personal, the director even finds place for a bit of slatted shadow play in one sequence and menacing angled shards for another. Some contrivances are more annoying than hindrances, it's a bit bloodless for a picture not lacking in action scenes, and although the finale is signposted without due care and attention, it is still sufficiently rewarding. Decadence, sleaze, greed, paranoia and moral decay come crashing together to create a sadly neglected piece of 1980s neo-noir. A yuppie revenger where there are no heroes, just sinners and victims. 7.5/10

This slick and gritty film consistently delivers. It's one of Frankenheimer's best and most underrated films and it's easily the best Elmore Leonard adaptation to date (and if you are scratching your head thinking "but I loved GET SHORTY" you need to be punched in the face). In my opinion, no one captures the "feel" for Leonard's characters better then John Glover in 52 PICK-UP. The relocation of the story from Detroit (novel) to Hollywood (film) elevates the story's sleaze factor to amazing heights. Be a man, have a few beers and watch this movie. For reference purposes my favorite Leonard books are: Swag, Rum Punch, Cat Chaser, City Primeval, and 52 Pick-Up. My favorite Frankenheimer films include SECONDS and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. I also have a real special place in my cold, movie heart for DEAD BANG and BLACK Sunday.