MovieChat Forums > 52 Pick-Up (1986) Discussion > Morality of Schneider walking away unsca...

Morality of Schneider walking away unscathed at the end...

posted 17 years ago by alexisdetroit
11 replies | jump to latest

People die because of his decision to play hardball with the thugs. Being a native born Detroiter like the "52" story writer Elmore Leonard, I would have prefered a more karmic ending for Scheider for all of his nogoodniks doings.
How about he walks alone to retrieve his car after the last bad guys dies. Ann-Margaret waits for him with the $52K in a satchel some distance away. Schneider turns on the ignition only to realize that he forgot that he had booby trapped his own car. Or some such scenario.

[–] HapHazzard 17 years ago

The end is perfect as it is. Schneider's character had no idea the blackmailers would kill his bit on the side - the only people guilty of starting the killing are the blackmailers. The only thing he's guilty of is cheating on his wife, and there are plenty of people doing that - plus he admitted it to his wife and she accepted it and wanted to stay married so in terms of wrongdoing, he's clear. Getting revenge on the blackmailers though was a great ending. One of Schneider's best films and very underrated.

[–] shroomn 16 years ago

You're suggesting he blow himself up because he forgot he booby trapped his own car? HAhahAHA

[–] alexisdetroit 16 years ago

...has been known to happen in war and peace.

[–] shroomn 16 years ago

That sounds like an awful ending. But i do agree, I did wish something would have happened to Schneider at the end for all of his bad karma.

[–] pynkpanther 15 years ago

i kinda dig the hitchcockian bad-guy-gets-away-clean.

[–] gorgsharpy 9 years ago

It's a tale of redemption ... Through murder. He takes the law into his own hands and is now the perfect husband for the wife's political career. Frankenheimer is morbidly funny.

And the point is of course that you are not sure why he tells the wife about the affair. Because of a selfish project to cheat the blackmailers or because those words about truth got to him. It's brilliantly unclear.

"You couldn't be much further from the truth" - several

[–] TheManInOil 15 years ago

His name is Scheider.

And no - what he gets in the end is a hard lesson learned - which is what he deserves. All he did was cheat on his wife, which is bad but doesn't warrant being killed. Instead he both learned the error of his ways and the true value of his fantastic wife.

"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."

[–] jarth-2 12 years ago

Exactly, morons. SCHEIDER, not Schneider.

[–] nutsberryfarm 12 years ago

he lost his classic car. the man suffered enough.

I'm with the Mattress Police. There are no tags on these mattresses.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]