Wealthy metallurgist Harry Mitchell (
Roy Scheider) lives to regret his extramarital affair with pretty young Cini (
Kelly Preston). A trio of vicious blackmailers (
John Glover, Robert Trebor,
Clarence Williams III) show Mitchell a videotape of his most recent roll in the sack with Cini. They demand a huge amount of hush money, but Mitchell calls their bluff, going so far as to tell his politicially ambitious wife Barbara (
Ann-Margret) about the affair. But the extortionists haven't even gotten started yet. Tying Mitchell to a chair, they force him to watch a tape of Cini being horribly murdered-with the evidence arranged so that Mitchell will be accused of the crime. But Mitchell remains firm in his refusal to pay up, whereupon he mounts a "fight fire with fire" plan all his own. 52 Pick Up was based on a novel by
Elmore Leonard, which was previously filmed in 1984 as
The Ambassador. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide