52 Pick-Up [Blu-ray]

Director: John Frankenheimer John Frankenheimer

Overview

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.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/18/2023
UPC:	0738329263416
Original Release:	1986
Rating:	R
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Language:	English
Time:	1:50:00
Sales rank:	12,318

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Roy Scheider	Harry Mitchell
Ann-Margret	Barbara Mitchell
Vanity	Doreen
John Glover	Alan Raimy
Robert Trebor	Leo Franks
Lonny Chapman	Jim O'Boyle
Kelly Preston	Cini
Clarence Williams III	Bobby Shy
Doug McClure	Averson
Alex Henteloff	Dan Lowenthal
Louis DiGiaimo	Actor
Amber Lynn	Party Goer
Tom Byron	Party Goer
Sharon Mitchell	Party Goer
Shirley Thompson	Party Goer
Christopher Cory	Factory Worker
Robin Bronfman	Injured Driver
Debra Berger	O'Boyle's Wife
Blackie Dammett	Drug Dealer
Barbara Ferris	Lisa
John Francis	Policeman
Conroy Gedeon	James Boyer
Bill Gratton	Ed Salvon
Lenora Logan	Lady in Hall
Anthony Palmer	Tom
Arlin Miller	Celebrity Voice Impersonation
Ron Jeremy	Party Goer
Frank Sivero	Vendor

Technical Credits

Elmore Leonard

John Steppling

John Frankenheimer	Director
Elmore Leonard	Screenwriter
John Steppling	Screenwriter
Yoram Globus	Producer
Menahem Golan	Producer
Henry T. Weinstein	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

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.

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