Elmore Leonard supplied the novel on which John Frankenheimer based this film, which stars Roy Scheider as affluent businessman Harry Mitchell. A middle-aged Korean War veteran whose metallurgical company has recently landed a hefty government contract, Harry is content with the world. Then, one day, three blackmailers, led by the sleazy Alan Raimy (John Glover), appear with a videotape of Harry making love to his topless-dancer girlfriend, which they threaten to send to his politically aspiring wife, Barbara (Ann-Margret), unless he forks over $110,000. Harry refuses to pay, deciding to solve the problem by telling all to his wife. After his confession, she tells him she suspected as much and even wonders why he bothered telling her. Raimy next moves on to plan B: He shows Harry a video of his girlfriend being murdered with his own gun. Although shaken, Harry still refuses to pay, deciding this time to formulate a plan to provide a much-needed education for his tormentors. An entertaining and amazingly sleazy revenge thriller raised a few notches above the norm by Leonard's patented colorfully terse dialogue and complex characters, 52 PICK-UP features a wildly over-the-top performance by Clarence Williams III that nearly obscures John Glover's brilliantly perverse villain and the solid work of Scheider. Those who may be offended by the film's high female-abuse quotient have been warned.
Theatrical Release: November 7, 1986
Shooting location: Los Angeles.
DVD Features:
Keep Case
Dual Side
Audio:
Mono - English
Subtitles - English, Spanish - Optional
Disc 1/Side A: 52 PICK-UP - Widescreen
Widescreen - 1.85
Disc 1/Side B: 52 PICK-UP - Full Frame
Full Frame - 1.33
Director of Photography
Jost Vacano:
Source Writer
Elmore Leonard: Novelist
Production Designer
Philip Harrison: Production Designer
Review 1:
"...Fast-paced, lurid, exploitative and loaded with malevolent energy....The many and varied forms of wickedness in the story are their own reward..."
Source: New York Times
p.C10 11/07/1986
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