52 Pick-Up (1986).

Blackmail, Betrayal & Revenge in 52 Pick-Up

Harry Mitchell just found out that his wife is going to be running for L.A. city council. The only problem? Three masked men just showed up to show him a video tape they made featuring him and his mistress, a stripper named Cini. They want $105,000 in order to keep their mouths shut…but Harry doesn’t want to play ball.

52 Pick-Up was the second adaptation of the Elmore Leonard book, the first being two years earlier with the Robert Mitchum-led film The Ambassador. That film really used the premise loosely, changing just about everything - the two films would make a pretty decent double feature, considering there’s almost nothing connecting the two outside of a blackmail plot that goes wrong. This adaptation sticks a bit closer to the book, increasing the villains by one and moving the story from Detroit to Los Angeles.

The 52 Pick-Up Cast.

Roy Scheider plays Harry, the owner of a steel company who sells patents to NASA. He also smashes nude dancers on the side, something he never thought would catch up to him. When three masked men - a porn theater owner, a peep show manager, and the world’s worst hitman - show up with a VHS compilation of his trysts, they give him an offer he can’t refuse - $105,000 a year, and they’ll keep quiet. But Harry does refuse. Unfortunately, this lands Harry in bigger trouble when they kill the dancer using his gun. Now Harry needs to pay up or get even, so he starts working the men against one another in order to thin the herd.

52 Pick-Up boasts a cast of great actors. Roy Scheider is great (as usual) as Harry, a man stretched to his limits, but it’s the supporting cast, specifically the villains who really make the movie. Roger Ebert praised John Glover for his portrayal as Alan Raimy, the ringleader of the group, and I will attest that I thought his performance as the slimy theater owner was terrific. But I also think that because he’s the lead villain, it draws attention away from the real MVP of the trio, Robert Trebor as the peep show manager Leo Franks. He plays the character so pathetically, right down to the side-show comb over, that it’s hard to look away when he’s on screen. There’s a scene late in the film where he’s rationalizing what he might do to get out of the situation at a dive bar that is fantastically acted, so I need to give him props. Clarence Williams III is the last of the bunch, and while he was fine as the wild card of the group, I have to question his ability as a hitman, because the scene where he tries to take Harry out is as clumsy and stupid as it gets, jumping out at Harry like a goddamn magic show with a garrotte when he’s got a gun tucked in his wasteband, only to get bested by the surprised man and his wife, who is contributing nothing outside of waving a flashlight around like a kid at Disneyland who just secured her first lightsaber until she finally finds a hammer in the backyard.

I should mention Ann-Margret plays his wife Barbara. I was never truly convinced that she even really liked Harry, but maybe that was more a product of her station in life and not a sign of a bad actor. The scene in which she is drugged is very effective.

52 Pick-Up & the Sleazy Side of 80s L.A.

In 80’s films I’m always eyefishing the background for delicious decor, and 52 Pick-Up certainly delivered there. Harry’s house is filled with wall to wall whites, featuring white carpet in the bedroom, floral print bedsheets, and a big wooden dollhouse sitting atop the console TV. Over at Alan’s place, it’s quite the contrast. His mattress and box spring sit on the floor under a square filled with different colored lights, while shelving that makes up the headboard houses about a dozen different colored lava lamps. While the film doesn’t truly make use of Los Angeles, we do get nice use of the Henry Ford Bridge and a short glimpse of Dodger stadium, along with some seedier parts of Skid Row.

Is 52 Pick-Up Worth Watching?

As far as crime flicks go, 52 Pick-Up is pretty standard rental fare - just entertaining enough that you don’t regret the two bucks you spent renting it a Blockbuster, but not good enough to remember it a week after you’ve seen it. The performances are great though, and there is plenty of eye candy on screen - I haven’t even mentioned Vanity yet, who plays Doreen, another dancer at the peep joint. She is topless in this about as much as she has clothes on, and it didn’t get much better than 80’s Vanity.

Kino Lorber put 52 Pick-Up out on Blu-ray and then reissued it to correct some picture issues in 2023. The newly released disc features a commentary track from Steve Mitchell and Edwin Samuelson that I need to listen to, along with trailers and TV spots. During sales, this one hits the $11 mark, and I’d say that at that price, it’s worth at least one watch.

52 Pick-Up In Short:

What is 52 Pick-Up (1986) about?
52 Pick-Up is a crime thriller based on Elmore Leonard’s novel, following a businessman blackmailed by a group of criminals who recorded his affair. Rather than pay, he turns the tables on them.

Is 52 Pick-Up based on a book?
Yes, 52 Pick-Up is based on Elmore Leonard’s 1974 novel of the same name. There was also a looser adaptation in 1984 called The Ambassador.

Where can I watch 52 Pick-Up?
52 Pick-Up is available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber and may be available on digital rental platforms.

Is 52 Pick-Up a good movie?
It’s an entertaining neo-noir thriller with standout villain performances. While not a classic, it’s worth watching for fans of 80s crime films.