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Elmore Leonard supplied the novel on which John Frankenheimer based this film, which stars Roy Scheider as affluent businessman Harry Mitchell. A middle-aged Korean War veteran whose metallurgical company has recently landed a hefty government contract, Harry is content with the world. Then, one day, three blackmailers, led by the sleazy Alan Raimy (John Glover), appear with a videotape of Harry making love to his topless-dancer girlfriend, which they threaten to send to his politically aspiring wife, Barbara (Ann-Margret), unless he forks over $110,000. Harry refuses to pay, deciding to solve the problem by telling all to his wife. After his confession, she tells him she suspected as much and even wonders why he bothered telling her. Raimy next moves on to plan B: He shows Harry a video of his girlfriend being murdered with his own gun. Although shaken, Harry still refuses to pay, deciding this time to formulate a plan to provide a much-needed education for his tormentors. An entertaining and amazingly sleazy revenge thriller raised a few notches above the norm by Leonard's patented colorfully terse dialogue and complex characters, 52 PICK-UP features a wildly over-the-top performance by Clarence Williams III that nearly obscures John Glover's brilliantly perverse villain and the solid work of Scheider. Those who may be offended by the film's high female-abuse quotient have been warned.
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