Very nasty but pretty effective, this shows just what can happen when a man takes a step out of line. Scheider is the tough-talking, self-made businessman, enticed into an affair by a nubile blonde as a prelude to blackmail. When he gives the crooks at figurative V sign, they steal his gun and clothing and kill the girl. Scheider, who has already swallowed his pride to tell his wife (Ann-Margret) everything, now has to track down the blackmailers to tell them that, despite a prospering business, he only currently has $52,000 (thus the title) to his name. From here on in, it's a game of bloody cat and mouse played to a violent end. Scheider grits his teeth and convinces throughout, while Glover has a dream of a role in early Richard Widmark style as the photographer who runs the blackmail racket. For those who fancy a minor film noir in late Eighties' fashion - even the photography seems full of blackness and death - this with its believably seedy background of `adult' videos, could fit the bill.

©ipc tx. Film content from TVTimes