John Frankenheimer’s 52 Pick-Up is one of the better of the willfully decadent American thrillers from the 1980s that are preoccupied with drugs, guns, strippers, prostitutes, money, and the men who kill each other attempting to obtain them. Though this film isn’t generally mentioned in discussions of the adaptations of Elmore Leonard’s work, the crime master’s imprint is felt on the scenes that routinely threaten to elevate 52 Pick-Up from a sleazy, well-paced time-killer to an authentically good movie. Leonard’s sense of humor is under-emphasized, but his satirical notion of crime as a business beholden to the same petty political trivialities as more “legitimate” enterprises is explicitly accounted for.
When self-made industrialist Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider) is blackmailed by a couple of vicious hoods, he remains unflappable while amusingly entering into negotiations with them over the terms of his exploitation. Though this is never fully acknowledged in Frankenheimer’s film,...
When self-made industrialist Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider) is blackmailed by a couple of vicious hoods, he remains unflappable while amusingly entering into negotiations with them over the terms of his exploitation. Though this is never fully acknowledged in Frankenheimer’s film,...
- 8/1/2023
- by Chuck Bowen
- Slant Magazine
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