Roy Scheider stars as a successful (and married) businessman -if only in appearance- whose mistress (played by a young Kelly Preston) belongs to the porn industry. She also, most unfortunately for everyone involved, sort of "belongs" to a slimey individual, officially a photographer but prone to indulge in all sorts of illegal activities - the villain, masterfully played by John Glover.
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When the mastermind villain gets word that "his girl" is fooling around with a married and presumably rich guy, he immediately plans to blackmail the man - get his cut of the deal, so to speak... he cold-bloodily murders the mistress and has his blackmailed prey sit in the bloody chair where he did her in to show him the deed - which he filmed!
Convinced he is dealing with hardened criminals, Scheider convinces the villain he can only gather so much cash - 52 thousand, not a penny more, to buy his silence so his wife (played by a still sultry Ann-Margret) will never know of any of this. Before the "52 pick-up" can occur though, the villain will arrange for some home invasion (performed by his ultra-violent partner in crime, played by Clarence Williams III). Scheider's character will begin to turn them against each other then - but his wife will get kidnapped and raped before the violent resolution of this sordid tale.
The review of this Movie prepared by Luminous Luciano
Alan Raimy (Glover) is perhaps the slimiest, most disgusting movie villain ever. With his porn shop partners Bobby Shy (Williams) and Leo (Robert Trebor), they videotape their gruesome murder of Cini (Preston), the stripper with whom successful engineer/inventor Harry Mitchell (Scheider) has been cheating.
In a chilling scene, Raimy “narrates” the murder video with Harry forced to watch from the very chair where Cini died. As part of Raimy's overall nastiness, he derisively calls Harry “sport” during all this.
Harry finesses Raimy's name from a prostitute (Vanity) who asks, “if you take an umbrella, what kind of day is it?” For her betrayal, Bobby nearly suffocates her with a teddy bear. Confronting Raimy and insisting he review his business ledgers, Harry convincingly offers $52,000 as all he can liquidate. While half a loaf will do, Harry methodically plants doubts among the confounded killers who begin to turn on each other.
The creepy Raimy even rapes Harry's wife (Ann-Margaret) but at least comforts her as she pukes, “that can happen; don't let it spoil your high.” With the “52 pickup” arranged, Harry has one final surprise for Raimy which demonstrates his advanced engineering skills.
The review of this Movie prepared by Angry Jim Magin
