Released in 1986, 52 Pick-Up is an action/thriller that details blackmail and murder in the wake of an affair. The movie stars Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret, was directed by John Frankenheimer, and is based on Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name. The film's tagline is "His Wife... His Mistress... His Career... A Deadly Trap". It was characterized in the year of its release by New York Times movie critic Janet Maslin as being "...fast-paced, lurid, exploitative and loaded with malevolent energy. John Frankenheimer, who directed, hasn't done anything this darkly entertaining since 'Black Sunday.'"

Roy Scheider plays industrialist Harry Mitchell, a wealthy, married man living in the suburbs of Los Angeles whose wife is running for city council while he is having an affair. Harry is confronted by three blackmailers demanding $105,000 for a videotape of him and his mistress (Kelly Preston). Because of his wife's (Ann-Margaret) political aspirations, he can't go to the police. In agreeing to pay the blackmailers money to keep his affair a secret, Harry opens his financial records to one of the blackmailers, Alan Raimy (John Glover (actor)). Seeing that Mitchell cannot pay the $105,000, Raimy accepts Harry's offer of $52,000. Harry then attempts to turn the blackmailers against one another.