52 Pick-Up

Seems out of place in time where the main emphasis in American films were on action and horror. 52 Pick Up(1986) is a film that's more suited to the middle years of the film noir genre during the mid 1940s. Many old and modern themes are put together to create a gripping and well acted thriller. Its roots are deep in Film Noir traditions and notions.

The main villain is one of the most memorable heavies in thrillers of the last twenty years. What makes the film so compelling are the realistic behavior of the villains who are into to something that's way over their heads. The main villain, Alan Raimy is a cool talking but vicious blackmailer and murderer who goes into a war a nerves with nemesis, Harry Mitchell. He is truly a frightening villain unlike in many crime thriller who's can explode at anytime or any second.

52 Pick Up(1986) is based on a novel by Elmore Leonard whose work has been adapted into the big screen or television. In the 1980s most of the Elmore Leonard based features were noirish, serious, and violent films..I.E., 52 Pick Up(1986), Stick(1985), Glitz(1987), and Cat Chaser(1989). 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). 52 Pick Up(1952) is one of my favorite films based on the crime novels of Elmore Leonard.

The snuff murder sequence involving the murder of Cini played by Kelly Preston is chilling presented. Similiar to the scenes of snuff that the main character sees in 8MM(1998). A disturbing moment as disturbing as the Family massacre and torture home video of Henry:Portrait of a Serial Killer(1986) from that same year. Realisticly directed with emotional impact by director, John Frankenheimer.

Filled with a good or excellent plot twist at every turn of the story. The Plot twists in 52 Pick Up(1986) unlike in Reindeer Games(2000) are more believable and well toned. Its the kind of plot twists shown in 52 Pick Up(1986) that shows Elmore Leonard's strengths as a writer and a master of surprising plot twists. My favorite plot twist ocurrs at the end of the motion picture.

Many of the actors of this motion picture give tight convincing performances that supplements the brilliantly crafted direction of John Frankenheimer. Roy Scheider gives his character of Harry Mitchell a combination of human vererability and mental toughness. Ann Margret pulls some surprises as the dissappointed but understanding wife, Barbara Mitchell. John Glover puts on a charismatic performance as the ruthless but suave Alain Raimy.

Carried by mood and attitude for the whole duration of the motion picture. Strong mood is what makes or breaks a Film Noir or crime thriller. 52 Pick Up(1986) has enough mood to last two films. The mood in here is so tense to the point of glass breaking and walls shaking.

There are no heroes in the world of 52 Pick Up, only Criminals and survivals. Harry Mitchell is the ultimate anti hero that is part of Film Noir lore. He is akin to many anti heroes played by Robert Mitchuim, Kirk Douglus, and other tough guys of the Film Noir period. The toughest of tough guys portrayed by Roy Scheider in his long career.

Clarence Williams 3 plays a character which he would do a varation of in the horrible Reindeer Games(2000). He was much better in 52 Pick Up(1986) than he is in Reindeer Games(2000). The blackmail aspect of 52 Pick Up(1986) appears in Reindeer Games with pathetic results. Directed with gritt and intensity by the talented but inconsistent John Frankenheimer.

Kelly Preston brings to her role a sense of naivity and tragedy all in one package. The final moments are nail biting in the tradition of nail biting crime thrillers. Overlooked film that is the type of film rarely made today in Hollywood in our PC world. 52 Pick Up(1986) shows that a crime thriller is more than action set pieces and flashy actors.

I've only read one of Leonard's crime novels and it didn't impress me much with its style. The guy writes as if he's producing a technical manual with people instead of parts. But the plot was interesting and dense, as it is in this movie.

Roy Scheider never turns in a bad performance, and here his face is beginning to look comely and battered with time. He's also from Orange, New Jersey, which is a good place to start from. Scheider is Harry, a morally flawed businessman with a mechanical bent. Ann-Margaret is breathtakingly good looking, and her performance is exceptional. The same could be said of Vanity, but her part is rather small. The villains are all superb. John Glover is a delight to watch on screen -- and to listen to -- with that slimy smile and midlands Maryland accent that descends into working-class vulgar when the situation calls for it. He's the kind of villain who would enjoy pulling hooks out of fish. He and Scheider played well off one another in "The Last Embrace." Clarence Williams is a sort of doggedly cunning and brutal muscleman, done quietly but effectively.

There's something oddly amusing about Williams' villainy. After Scheider and Ann-Margaret have clobbered him following a botched murder attempt (a little hard to believe), he sits in a chair having his picture taken while Scheider implants in his mind a few seeds of doubt about the probity of his partners in crime. An expression of dumb comprehension creeps slowly over his face and his eyes squint over his bleeding nose.

Robert Trebor (terrific name, by the way, a palindrome) gives a nearly perfect imitation of a guy who is a sweating, shaking, desperately twitching nervous wreck, but still with his eye pinned on profit and, mostly, survival. What a trio of villains.

The plot is, as I say, dense, but not difficult to follow. The story is in a style that Northrop Frye called low mimetic: Scheider is no hero, and in fact no better than the rest of us. That's what makes his outwitting of the trio so interesting. Frankenheimer's direction is fine, no flashy shots or dazzling fireworks. The story pulls a viewer along on its own terms. Not a masterpiece, but a cleverly done genre piece, it's worth seeing. Can't imagine why people flock to schlock while a movie like this goes by mostly unnoticed.

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

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. Roy Scheider's head-strong performance is creditability good and Ann-Margret favourably so. Where they play a married couple Harry and Barbara Mitchell, as their work commitments seems to come first in their decaying 22 years old marriage. What comes to blows is that Harry is having an affair and soon finds himself being blackmailed for it. 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). Each adding their own distinguishable traits and clashing personalities that would go on to become their eventual downfalls, which Scheider's character perfectly sets out to achieve. As they soon turn on each other and watch as the tables are constantly turn in who's actually in control of the situation. Leonard's dedicated material is highly engrossing in its impulsive layout (no one is truly spared from its cruel and sleazy tone), and Frankenheimer's tough-as-nails direction is brisk, leering and intensely full-blooded in its conviction to the premise. Some set-pieces truly stand-out mixing morbidly uncomfortable humour with blaring violence.

Rounding off the cast you have a young Kelly Preston who's believably naïve and Vanity is palatable as one of the strippers working in the seedy LA backdrop. Also popping in are porn stars Ron Jeremy and Amber Lynn. Jost Vacano's burnish cinematography is on the spot, the editing is tidely spliced and Gary Chang's electrifying score packs a consuming rhythm.

Simply put this has got to be one of the best harrowing thrillers of the 80s (probably Cannon's most commendable production in its typical staples), that even harks back to the searing roughness of the benchmark 70s hard-boiled fodder.

Leonard's source material was used two years earlier in director J. Lee Thompson's middle east political thriller 'The Ambassador'.

I must have passed this movie in my local video store a dozen times without picking it off the shelf, thinking from the packaging, the era the movie was released in, and the presence of Ann-Margret and Tiffany, that it was just another generic "action" movie like an 80s Stallone, or 'Action Jackson'. Luckily a savvy movie buff recommended '52 Pick-Up' to me, for which I will be forever indebted. 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. (hits forehead! "WHY didn't I already KNOW this?!").

Apart from the aesthetic LOOK of this movie, and a cheesy score, it in no way resembles your standard 80s action fare. It is a lot grittier, morally ambiguous and less predictable than that, and closer to the best 70s crime movies.

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.

Trebor is perfect as the slimy, nervous "weak link" Leo. Williams III stunning as the amoral bad ass killer Bobby. And John Glover is simply perfect as their double-crossing, deliciously evil leader Raimy. '52 Pick-Up' is brutal and rivetting viewing that shines out as a beacon of 70s cool from an ocean of 80s dumb thrillers. Don't miss this one whatever you do!!