the film 52 pick up simply do not work . see it if you be at all interested in elmore leonard or john frankenheimer and or anyone in the terrific cast and especially john glover who admittedly brilliant . but the book a slow burning and noir thriller with lot of pulp should have translate into an oscar contending film instead of this dud that couldn not figure out whether it should faithfully portray the hard boiled and gritty crime story of the book and or opt for a 1980s schwarzenegger shoot em up spree . shift the scene from the original locale in the book and detroit ( an area where leonard have reside for year and know very well ) and to los angeles make for a substantial problem that leonard try to fix in his script and but ultimately can not . it be and for example and a clever device make mitchell wife a city councilwoman ( she have no job in the book ) and if you think about it represent that the only way you could ever plausibly blackmail someone in a sex craze city like 1980s los angeles for adultery and or any type of potential sex scandal . even then and it more plausible in a more conservative eastern state like michigan to believe that a ) it tiny porno industry be a sleazy and money grubbing hell where three loser could desperately set up a not so stupid upper middle class fellow go through a mid life crisis and and b ) adultery alone might be something you could blackmail someone with and if their upstanding career and old fashioned wife couldn not handle the shock . a consultant ron jeremy will tell you and 1980s los angeles be a colorful and stylish porno mecca and more like the movie boogie night than leonard dark and shadowy world of hijacked tourist bus and grimy apartment and and drug deal in depressed urban squalor . then again and los angeles could be the backdrop of such a tale if one arrange the scenery more carefully there be still plenty of dark cranny and psychopath there . unfortunately and roy scheider harry mitchell come off in the film a a sexy and handsome uebermensch dance through his problem without even work up a sweat . in the book he be fend off a jerk union official while struggle with a business that be fail . he also have a skeleton in the closet during the war involve friendly fire that he be responsible for and but never appear to come to grip with . elmore leonard story usually have a central image involve a bizarre civility between criminal and law abide citizen . here and harry mitchell sit in his office with his blackmailer and alan raimy and turning over his financial book to him and negotiate a more practical ransom and make for such a central image . glover blackmailer play the scene with convincing intelligence and but scheider portray the victim here a a cocky good guy and in charge of the situation a if he be more a rambo with an m 16 than the everyman barely stay afloat a his world crumble around him . 52 pick up end with one of the bad throwaway conclusion ever and consider all the thought that go into the original story and then the film . trap raimy inside mitchell jaguar and blow him up with march band music blast out along with a sadistic monologue by mitchell and play to an audience want the sweet revenge conclusion of a chuck norris movie and not the intelligent balance world of leonard book and where mitchell barely escape in the end and the conflict between good and evil could easily go either way . i leave the theater shake my head and depressed . what a waste of talent .