Film 32/52: 52 Pick-Up (1986)

Yes, it took our second pass through the alphabet to include John Frankenheimer's 52 Pick-Up in our 52 Pick-Up series. While I had the film on DVD when we started, I had decided that I wanted to upgrade to the Arrow Blu Ray if we were going to watch it on the big screen. So here we are. 

Based on the Elmore Leonard novel, the film stars Roy Scheider as Harry, a man being blackmailed over an affair he had with a young stripper (Kelly Preston). Rather than pay up, he decides to come clean and tell his wife (Ann-Margret). The trio of blackmailers retaliate by showing Harry a video of his mistress being murdered with a gun stolen from his house. Harry then works to identify the three men and sets out to pit them against one another. 

Scheider, who was in his mid-50s when the film was made, comes across as old and tired, which actually works for the character. And while I will always consider 1962-1966 the golden age of her film career, Ann-Margret looks fantastic at 45, and does a really good job in the role of the angry wife ultimately chooses to support her husband in his efforts to confront his attackers. Co-starring in the film are Vanity (also playing another stripper — shocking, I know), Clarence Williams III (The Mod Squad, Twin Peaks) in a great performance unlike anything I've seen him in before, Doug (that Time Forgot!) McClure, and John Glover as the ringleader of the blackmailers. While several reviewers call out Glover's performance as a highlight, I actually found him to be a little too over the top to be a believable, and yet somehow right at home in a Golan/Globus Cannon production. 

Like a lot of mid-80s Cannon product (Delta Force, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), 52 Pick-Up was an entertaining watch on the big screen.


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