AllMovie

Exploitation king R.L. Frost (The Defilers; Love Camp 7) brought his patented style of mean-spirited nastiness to this smarmy low-budget neo-noir co-scripted with frequent collaborator Wes Bishop. Bishop and Stefan Zema star as gofers for the Mafia who are charged with taking a suitcase of money from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, but stop along the way to help out two "stranded" women who seduce them in order to steal their car and the cash. While the pair's bosses (exploitation producers Bob Cresse and David F. Friedman) argue over where the money went, their addlepated goons track down the girls and torture them with nipple electrodes until they divulge the answer. The Pick-Up is little more than an excuse for various sadistic scenes of violence and the sort of unappealing softcore raunch which was a staple of the "roughie" subgenre. There's some unenthusiastic lesbian groping and Friedman even gets a sex scene, which the heavyset mogul performs with gusto, despite the fact that most viewers will be sorely tempted to avert their eyes. In short, this is the sort of film which cult audiences who cherish the bygone days of pre-hardcore 42nd Street trash will want to search out, while most viewers would be best advised to avoid it at all costs. Frost and Bishop reached new heights (or depths) of hard-edged sleaze a few years later with the reprehensible The Black Gestapo.