52 Pick-Up (1986)

one of my absolute favorites!

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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

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.

Perhaps worth the watch but as usual does the novel no justice. However, the casting of the 6 primary characters was excellent relative to Leonard's depiction of them.

This is the kind of movie where you want to take a shower afterwards. So much degradation, slimy characters, and dirty-looking locations. Scheider does what Scheider always does, Glover does what Glover always does, Williams does what Williams always does. You see a pattern? The musical score must have been performed on a Commodore 64, and cost $1.98 to produce. While the production is competently lensed, whatever production "value" is overwhelmed by the sordid plot and predictable execution. Tiresome, pedantic, and shopworn, this thing is a pass.

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