52 Pick-Up
Tags: neo noir, murder

Plot synopsis:
Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider) is a successful industrialist living in the suburbs of Los Angeles whose wife Barbara (Ann-Margret) is running for city council while he is having an affair. Harry is confronted by three blackmailers demanding $105,000 for a videotape of him and his mistress, Cini (Kelly Preston).
Because of his wife's political aspirations, he can't go to the police. Harry's lawyer advises him that paying the blackmailers won't likely make them go away, so he refuses to pay. The three criminals up the ante by murdering Cini, capturing the killing on videotape and framing Harry for the murder, demanding $105,000 a year for the rest of his life to keep the evidence they have on him under wraps.
Harry opens his financial records to one of the blackmailers, Alan Raimy (John Glover), the ringleader of the group and who also has a background in accounting. Seeing that their mark owes money to the government and cannot afford the $105,000, Raimy agrees to accept Harry's counter offer of $52,000, at least as a first payment. Harry then turns the blackmailers against one another, putting his wife's life in grave danger in the process.
A stripper, Doreen (Vanity), helps Harry, is assaulted by Raimy's accomplice, Bobby Shy (Clarence Williams III), who then kills their third partner, Leo, believing he has betrayed them. Raimy successfully ambushes and kills both Bobby and Doreen, then kidnaps Harry's wife and sedates her with a hypodermic needle. In the final scene, Harry brings the $52,000 ransom and also gives Raimy his sports car, which explodes after Raimy turns the key.

Review: Who could forget the wake-up call he gives Vanity with the giant teddy bear?After dealing with the initial shock of realizing what he's up against, Scheider turns the tables on these creeps and takes control of the situation, that is until Glover goes after his wife!
It's scary to think that the adult film industry probably has more than a few characters like Glover's running around out in L.A. looking for trouble.
"Hey sport, have a nice day!"This film has plenty of shootouts, cool cars, great dialog (like the line in my opening statement), and decent acting.
It stars Roy Scheider, Ann-Margret, John Glover, Vanity, Clarence Williams III, Robert Trebor and Kelly Preston.
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.
Frankenheimer may not be as proud of this film as others but it is an effective thriller full of blackmail, murder, sex, drugs, and real porno actors appear in sleazy parts.
During the 1990s films based on Elmore Leonard's work tended to be more lighter and less sleezy and serious like for example, Get Shorty(1995), Jackie Brown(1997), Touch(1996), Out of Sight(1998), and the made for TV movie Pronto(1998).
Roy Schieder does great job as the leading character and special credit's got to go to John Glover who plays sort of a naughty psychopath.
Closer inspection reveals the team behind this hard boiled thriller to be underrated director John Frankenheimer ('The Manhurian Candidate', 'Seconds') and crime fiction master Elmore Leonard.
Roy Scheider is solid as usual as a blackmailed businessman who decides to fight back, and Ann-Margaret surprises with a strong portrayal of betrayed wife.
But the real stars here, and what makes this movie essential viewing, are the brilliantly realized bad guys - John Glover, Clarence Williams III and Robert Trebor.
Ann-Margret, Roy Scheider, and John Glover are perfectly cast and provide deep character portrayals.
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.
Long sections of the movie revel in every gamy, seamy nuance of this tawdry subculture- cheap voyeurism dressed up as "realism."Finally, we have our protagonists: Harry ("Mitch") Mitchell (a Korean War vet, tough as nails, etc.- so tough he has not one but two nicknames; you can imagine all the other clichés that attach to this character) who we are asked to believe is really a good-hearted, honest businessman who made one mistake, played with by-the-numbers machismo by Roy Scheider, previously so good in "The French Connection," "Jaws," and "All That Jazz." And his wife, who, when Harry finally tells her about the affair (he has to- the blackmailers have upped the ante in a horrible way that implicates him in things far worse than adultery- to say more would be a spoiler), doesn't care about the human cost or potential victims but only about how it may affect her political ambitions.
Maybe they should take another look at classic noir, whether 1946's "The Big Sleep" or 1974's "Chinatown" or 1941's "The Maltese Falcon." All have sleaze and human ignobility galore, but all also have sympathetic protagonists whom we root for in spite of their flaws.The redeeming features of this film are the performances of John Glover, Clarence Williams III, and Robert Trebor as the three blackmailers.
Lean, mean and explosively dangerous sordid thriller (with a noir vibe) by director John Frankenheimer and penned by gritty crime writer Elmore Leonard who's details plaster in an authentic charge.
Instead of giving in to the blackmailer's demands, he sorts out to play their games which lead him and his wife in to uncertain turmoil.But in the end what makes the film are three prominent bad guys; John Glover (charismatically manipulative scumbag), Clarence Williams III (coldly intense) and Robert Trebor (seamlessly twitchy).
I didn't know that Elmore Leonard was the author who's book this story is based off of and that's entertaining since I am a fan of his work and it makes sense since this movie/story fits his line of literary work.When I had first seen the coming attractions for this movie which must of been around 1987 (I was ten) I remember they emphasized the part where "Bobby Shy" came out the closet with a ski mask lunging for the main character.
Anyway by seeing that small tid bit was really small to a much bigger movie, and I had lost interest in seeing it but I was young so what the hell did I know.Years later, I watched this movie again and must say that it's very good and it's a shame that with movies such as this, 'To Live and Die in LA' and 'Carpenters Big Trouble in Little China' shows that even in the 80's, the critics sway public opinion so much that real art isn't appreciated when it's freshly shown.I like this movie because despite the typical story plot, the movie revolves around all the characters.
Based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, 52 Pick Up is a thriller based on blackmail and murder.
The film is directed by John Frankenheimer, who previously made his mark on the thriller genre with the likes of The Manchurian Candidate and Seconds.
52 Pick Up doesn't exactly stand alongside those films as part of Frankenheimer's best work; but this film delivers an entertaining and easy to follow plot, fleshed out with interesting characters and a nicely sleazy atmosphere.
But Harry has decided that he doesn't really want to give $105,000 of his money away to blackmailers, and so instead he tries to pit them against each other in the hope that the group will implode and save him from having to pay out.The plot we have here has a number of different sides to it, but it never feels overly complicated thanks to the way it usually just focuses on one or two points.
The film benefits from a good cast, which is headed by Roy Scheider in the lead role.
The support cast is also good and features John Glover in the most interesting role, as well as the likes of Ann-Margret and Clarence Williams III, as a delightfully sadistic character.
Having just seen this film again recently, I recalled how much I had enjoyed it when originally released.It has all the edge and quality of plot and characters one expects from Elmore Leonard stories.
And the characters, performances are all believable, realistic - with a lot of the chilling aspects required by the plot, but none are gratuitous or exaggerated beyond what would be logically expected.Roy Scheider is more anti-hero than a one-dimensional heroic character, and John Glover is superb as the main villain, and carries-off the tough assignment of being both charming and menacing - sometimes separately, and sometimes simultaneously, a tough assignment for any actor.The remaining cast, including Ann-Margret, Clarence Williams III and Kelly Prestin are excellent, as well.The ending does not disappoint, and the the whole presentation combines the techniques available when made with a total feel like one of the "noir" genre of the 30's and 40's..
What is unique about this picture is the way Roy Scheider turns the tables on his nemesis John Glover and company by outwitting them at their own game.
Vanity/Ann Margret/John Glover fans: SEE THIS MOVIE!.
The only thing irritating was the way the bad guy called our hero "sport" all the time, and his wife "slim." However, that criticism aside, what a great film.
Just watched 1986's little known drama film "52 Pick-Up" which is based on well known author Elmore Leonard's novel the film entertains well with suspense and action a good tale of corruption and greed which sets off a chain of events in a dirty game of blackmail and sex.
Set in Los Angeles a well to do business man Harry Mitchell(Roy Scheider of "Jaws" fame)has it all money, big house an elegant socialite trophy wife(played by the classic Ann Margret).
Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider) is a wealthy specialty manufacturer in L.A. with beautiful wife Barbara (Ann-Margret) running for city council.
Cini and her friend Doreen (Vanity) are porn strippers under the thumb of Alan Raimy (John Glover) and his underlings Bobby Shy (Clarence Williams III) and Leo Franks (Robert Trebor).
If any character is underwritten, it is the protagonist and his wife, who just seem boringly bland and familiar, but that is sort of inevitable in these types of movies where everything hinges our needing to identify with the victim.The film is entertaining as any other genre piece of the era, by far one of the better crime dramas of the Eighties, and easily the best of Cannon's direct-to-video cheapos.
John Frankenheimer directed Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret in "52 Pick-Up", about an industrialist whose affair leads to severe consequences.
Mired as the characters are in a world of sleaze, there's sort of no nice way for the story to progress."52 Pick-Up" continues the string of serious movies in which Ann-Margret started appearing in the '70s ("Carnal Knowledge", "Tommy", "Magic").
There is good sleazy violent noir content in this film, but I feel that to be in the excellent bracket that the casting of Harry could have been done better (no disrespect to the great Roy Scheider).
The film felt short, even with the long running time, and I think could have taken some more fleshing out.But you really can't forget the sleaze, like the deliciously pervy scene of Harry taking photos of Doreen in the nudie parlour..
****SPOILERS**** Ridicules film about blackmail murder and kidnapping that's so unconvincing due to the uneven plot and unbelievably bad acting of the three jerks involved in, or trying to pull off, the "Perfect Crime" that's about as "Perfect" as a baseball player going 0 for 100 at the plate and batting .000.Successful businessman Harry Mitchell, Roy Scheider, is being blackmailed by the three hoods, Alan Leo & Bobby, John Glover Robert Trebor & Clarence Williams III, for cheating on his wife Barbara, Ann-Margaret,who's running for city councilwomen in LA on the Mark Arveson, Doug McClure ticket for DA.
The only problem with that is that we later find out that these three bozo's threw the video tape and in all probability the gun away into the polluted city river.Harry smartly plays the hoods off against each other by making them think that their cheating each other out of the $52,000.00 in blackmail money and has them cancel themselves out, except the top hood Alan who was saved for the movie's flaming ending, in the process.
At the time this movie came out, Roy Scheider already looked an old man - especially seeing him now, starts me wondering what's his age now, anyway.
The lurid descent into the slimy universe inhabited by the villains gives the tale an effective edge; for one thing, ringleader Alan Raimy (John Glover) runs a porno movie theatre.
Porn aficionados will note the appearances of stars like Ron Jeremy, Sharon Mitchell, and Jamie Gillis during the party scene.The film does admittedly go on a little long but it keeps its grip thanks to the acting and Leonards' enjoyably sordid tale.Eight out of 10..
Too in the sleaze department we have some weird happenings, like Glover making his own pornographic movie, filming two female hotties getting in on, before they're rudely interrupted by a not so happy and betrayed Bobby Shy. Each scene works in a tight and constant chain as the next.
I taped 52 Pick-up years ago off TV and was looking at it again and now I must have the DVD, uncut and uncensored.You know the plot synopsis by now, but watch the electric interaction between the characters Mitchell, Raimy, Leo and Bobby.
John Frankenheimer's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 52 Pick-Up provides the right sleazy atmosphere in this compelling thriller.
This is the one where Roy Scheider is blackmailed by the villainous trio of Robert Trebor, Clarance Williams III, and as the ringleader, John Glover.
The title refers to the amount in thousands Scheider is supposed to pay but he has other plans...Directed by John Frankenheimer from a screenplay co-written by Elmore Leonard on whose book it's based on, this was a very absorbing thriller even with the somewhat cheesy '80s score tacked on.
Is it possible that the same director made "Mandchurian candidate","Seconds" and "birdman of Alcatraz"?All that made those works unique,fascinating and timeless classics has disappeared,slowly but inexorably.There were commendable works at the end of the sixties "the gypsy moths " and "I walk the line" (which featured Johnny Cash's famous song).But the seventies were disastrous ,with the eventual exception of "black Sunday" which is at least entertaining."52 pick-up" quickly leaves the political subject -the originality of which is the fact that the politician is the wife-for the broader horizons of the thriller.But the screenplay which was sometimes praised is nothing but the usual menu:crimes (the girl's murder verges on snuff movies),blackmail,baddies (gays?),and  a listless Roy Scheider ;so listless in fact that it's absolutely impossible to believe he 's able to fight against his blackmailers.The pictures are  ugly,Ann-Margret is wasted and her relationship with her husband is hardly sketched.What about choosing 'Mandchurian candidate" instead?.
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.
The villains are an interesting lot (if broadly played) and leads Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret both do commendable work.
Frankenheimer brought together an amazing cast with great performances by Roy Scheider as the hero of the story, Ann-Margret as his wife, John Glover as one of the villains, and Kelly Preston as Scheider's mistress.
Roy Scheider is blackmailed by a trio of degenerates led by John Glover in a tour-de-force psycho role you have to see to believe.
There is a great snuff movie subplot, a horrible but hilarious filmed monologue from Glover, and achingly funny villain turns from Clarence Williams III and Leo Franks (what an actor he is!) Jost Vacano's camera-work is amazing at times, as is Gary Chang's metallic, vibrating score.
Ann Margret turns in a memorable performance, too, so play close attention to her first scene with Glover ("Nice rack!").
Add to this an array of exceptionally well-drawn characters and some really snappy dialogue and the end-result is a top class crime thriller that will probably surpass the expectations of most people who see it.Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider) is a successful businessman whose affair with a much younger dancer turns sour when he goes to her apartment and is held at gunpoint by three masked men who show him a videotape which contains some very graphic evidence of the nature of his relationship with her.
52 Pick-up is a film that successfully combines those wonderful noir elements of seedy neighborhoods, coldblooded killers and a no nonsense script.The story begins with the obviously troubled marriage of Harry and Barbara Mitchell (Roy Scheider and Ann Margret).
Little known Robert Trebor excellently portrays Leo Franks, a whining, pathetic loser who is simply not in the same league as Alan and Bobby.On a visit to his mistress, Harry is intercepted by the trio who show him the film they've made of him and Cini.
It's a gritty no holds bared thriller, with lots of shocking and cool scenes, plus i really liked the characters, and John Glover and Roy Scheider are absolutely fantastic in this.
John Frankenheimer does a very good job here, giving the film a disturbing and gritty feel, keeping it unpredictable at all times, and he kept the film at a great pace!.
John Glover is EXCELLENT as the main villain, he was extremely menacing, funny,unpredictable, and was great in the final scene!, i also loved his dialog.Vanity is gorgeous!, and is fine with what she had to do.
Successful self-made married businessman Harry Mitchell (a superbly steely performance by Roy Scheider) has an adulteress fling with sweet'n'sexy young stripper Cini (the gorgeous Kelly Preston).
Harry's blackmailed by a trio of scummy low-life hoods -- sleazy porno theater manager Raimy (a splendidly slimy John Glover), antsy strip joint owner Leo (well played by Robert Trebor) and crazed pimp Bobby Shy (a frightfully intense Clarence Williams III) -- who have videotaped his affair with Cini.
Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider) attracts three scumbags (John Glover, Robert Trebor, and Clarence Williams III) to blackmail him.
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.
He has to entangle with blackmailers of the slimiest kind who will not stop when he outwits them, taking all of them on a journey of intrigue around the Los Angeles basin where nobody seems to end up being the winner.You certainly won't forget John Glover in this movie, having already played many slimy roles on screen.
52 Pick-Up. Three sleazebags(John Glover, Robert Trebor, and Clarence Williams III) blackmail a wealthy businessman(Roy Scheider) after recording him having an affair with one of their girls.
What ensues is a game of cat and mouse between Harry and Alan(Glover), Leo(Trebor), and Bobby(Williams III) ending as these thrillers often due, in bloodshed.
John Frankenheimer directs a story by Elmore Leonard where we must spend time with some pretty unsavory people and, while we might not condone Harry's own actions, can forgive him of his transgressions because Alan, in particular, is so completely vile and repulsive, that his affair seems minuscule in comparison.
While Ann-Margret's role isn't as noteworthy, the cast, especially Glover and Williams III, is excellent.
Unfortunately, Roy Scheider's Harry Mitchell comes off in the film as a sexy, handsome Uebermensch dancing through his problems without even working up a sweat.