Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret star in the pulpy thriller 52 Pick-Up, based on a book by the legendary novelist Elmore Leonard. Scheider is Harry Mitchell, a successful businessman who is cheating on his longtime wife Barbara (Ann-Margret). He’s blackmailed by a crew of hoods who have him on tape with his mistress Cini (Kelly Preston). Rather than go to the cops and hurt his wife’s burgeoning political career, Mitchell takes matters into his own hands across the violent streets of Los Angeles. John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate, Seconds) helms this dark, twisted neo-noir for Cannon Films.
“Heroes are great, but a movie is only as good as its villain. John Frankenheimer’s 52 Pick-Up provides us with the best, most reprehensible villain of the year and uses his vile charm as the starting point for a surprisingly good film… This is a well-crafted movie by a man who knows how to hook the audience with his story; it’s Frankenheimer’s best work in years” – Roger Ebert
“Fast-paced, lurid, exploitative and loaded with malevolent energy. John Frankenheimer, who directed, hasn’t done anything this darkly entertaining since Black Sunday.” – Janet Maslin, The New York Times
Ariel Schudson discusses 52 Pick-Up on the New Beverly blog.
