52 Pick-Up
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52 Pick-Up
Plot
Wealthy metallurgist Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider) lives to regret his extramarital affair with pretty young Cini (Kelly Preston). A trio of vicious blackmailers (John Glover, Robert Trebor, Clarence Williams III) show Mitchell a videotape of his most recent roll in the sack with Cini. They demand a huge amount of hush money, but Mitchell calls their bluff, going so far as to tell his politicially ambitious wife Barbara (Ann-Margret) about the affair. But the extortionists haven't even gotten started yet. Tying Mitchell to a chair, they force him to watch a tape of Cini being horribly murdered-with the evidence arranged so that Mitchell will be accused of the crime. But Mitchell remains firm in his refusal to pay up, whereupon he mounts a "fight fire with fire" plan all his own. 52 Pick Up was based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, which was previously filmed in 1984 as The Ambassador. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviReview
This early adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel and screenplay has its interesting moments but, like Stick and other 1980s versions of Leonard's work, doesn't quite capture the offbeat humorous tone of later, more successful Leonard stories such as Get Shorty or Jackie Brown. The blame can probably be laid on director John Frankenheimer, who is a master craftsman with action and suspense but is notoriously short on humor; arguably no American filmmaker really knew how to combine humor and murderous mayhem to such delirious effect until Quentin Tarantino did it in 1994's Pulp Fiction. Still, the dialogue is sharp, and Frankenheimer mixes sleaze and suspense well. John Glover, as a gleefully sociopathic extortionist, and Clarence Williams III, as his loony drugged-out cohort, suggest the over-the-top possibilities that Tarantino later brought to life. Watch for Mrs. John Travolta, actress Kelly Preston, in an early role as the doomed girlfriend of businessman Roy Scheider. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., RoviCast
- Roy Scheider - Harry Mitchell
- Ann-Margret - Barbara Mitchell
- Vanity - Doreen
- John Glover - Alan Raimy
- Robert Trebor - Leo Franks
Credit
Russell Christian - Art Director, Ray Summers - Costume Designer, John Frankenheimer - Director, Robert F. Shugrue - Editor, Gary Chang - Composer (Music Score), Philip Harrison - Production Designer, Jost Vacano - Cinematographer, Yoram Globus - Producer, Menahem Golan - Producer, Henry T. Weinstein - Producer, Max Whitehouse - Set Designer, Marshall Brickman - Screenwriter, Elmore Leonard - Screenwriter, John Steppling - Screenwriter, Howard Brandy - Unit Publicist, Elmore Leonard - Book Author| 5150 (2006 Film), 51 Birch Street (2005 Film) | |
| 52nd Street (1937 Film), 53 Winter Days (2006 Film) |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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52 Pick-Up
For the card game, see 52 Pickup.
| 52 Pick-Up | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | John Frankenheimer |
| Produced by | Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan |
| Written by | Elmore Leonard (novel) Elmore Leonard and John Steppling (screenplay) |
| Starring | Roy Scheider Ann-Margret John Glover Vanity Kelly Preston |
| Music by | Gary Chang |
| Cinematography | Jost Vacano and Stephen Ramsey |
| Editing by | Robert F. Shugrue |
| Distributed by | Cannon Group |
| Release date(s) | November 7, 1986 |
| Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $5,186,646[1] |
52 Pick-Up is a 1986 crime thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer. The film stars Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret and is based on Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name.
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Contents
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Plot
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 criminals up the ante by murdering Cini 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 them with a background in accounting, Alan Raimy (John Glover). 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.
Cast
- Roy Scheider as Harry Mitchell
- Ann-Margret as Barbara Mitchell
- Vanity as Doreen
- John Glover as Alan Raimy
- Clarence Williams III as Bobby Shy
- Kelly Preston as Cini
- Robert Trebor as Leo Franks
- Doug McClure as Mark Arveson
Novel vs. film
The film is regarded as reasonably close to Elmore Leonard's original novel, except that it is set in Los Angeles instead of Detroit. Also, in the novel the Harry Mitchell character is having problems with the labor force at his business in addition to the main blackmail/kidnap plot.
Reception
It was characterized in the year of its release by The New York Times film critic Janet Maslin as being "...fast-paced, lurid, exploitative and loaded with malevolent energy. John Frankenheimer, who directed, hasn't done anything this darkly entertaining since 'Black Sunday.'"[2]
References
- ^ http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=52pickup.htm
- ^ New York Times Company (November 7, 1986). Screen: '52 PICK-UP,' A No-Frills Thriller by Janet Maslin. Retrieved on March 25, 2007.
External links
- 52 Pick-Up at the Internet Movie Database
- 52 Pick-Up at Rotten Tomatoes
- 52 Pick-up at The Numbers
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Mentioned in
The Emissary
(1989 Action Film)
Barbara Ferris
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The Ambassador
(1984 Romance Film)
John Glover
(Actor, Drama/Comedy)
Kelly Preston
(Actor, Comedy/Drama)
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