The Pick-Up Artist (1987)

Summary

A compulsive ladies' man falls for one girl and together they help her sad sack father get out of a jam with a mobster.

Director

James Toback

Downey Factor

High. This was his first starring role.

Character

Jack Jericho, a young New Yorker who reconsiders his sexually indiscriminate lifestyle after meeting Molly Ringwald.

Looks

Young, gap-toothed but pretty good.

Performance

Fair. He does the best he can under the circumstances.

Line

Did anyone ever tell you that you have the face of a Botticelli and the body of a Degas?

Sings

Blue Suede Shoes, I'm Just a Lonely Boy.

Love & Sex

He hooks up with Molly Ringwald but you don't really see it.

Dies, Gay or Villain

No, no, no.

Cast

Molly Ringwald, Dennis Hopper, Harvey Keitel

Connection

James Toback's Two Girls and a Guy, Black and White and in The Outsider.

Christine Baranski in Bowfinger.

Harvey Keitel in The Outsider.

RDJ Says

I thought The Pick-Up Artist would give me a chance to have a real career and it didn't turn out that way ... When I was shooting The Pick-Up Artist I was running and jumping and flipping out and [James] Toback would say, "Okay, that was great. Let's try another. Take ninety!" ... The press kept asking me about legal and moral issues. I'm like, "Come on, man, I just hope it does well at the box office." Of course it's a sexually irresponsible film, but if AIDS had happened six months later, maybe the film would have made more than six bucks ... Everyone thought The Pick-Up Artist must have had heavy sex scenes that were cut. Molly and I only kissed once in the movie. Well, actually, we kissed like forty times for the one scene. That was because Warren Beatty was helping Toback. Beatty's really knowledgeable in a lot of areas, especially fucking. Especially kissing and making actors do something forty times ... [James Toback] used a lot of humor to get the best from us. After a take, he might tell me, "You suck," and I could laugh and agree ... We were doing a scene where [Molly Ringwald] is walking away from me and she drops a bottle of [antacid]. I have to pick it up before she can get it and say, "God, is there something wrong with your stomach?" She has ulcers because of all the stuff going on with gambling. There's usually this understood thing between actors that if something has to happen in a scene, we help each other make it happen. But while we were doing it, she dropped the bottle and I went to pick it up. But she picked it up before I did, and the scene was over. What she was saying was, "Listen, if you're really going to be in the moment, you've got to get it before I can." It was just a really ballsy thing to do. It was probably one of the more important lessons I learned, especially because it's so easy to be desensitized and wish to be in the station wagon going home.

Time & Place

Present day (1987), New York and Atlantic City.

Gossip

Warren Beatty was originally involved as a producer, but he was unhappy with how the movie turned out and wouldn't put his name on it.

Availability

Released in theaters 18 September 1987. On DVD in Region 1, 2 and 4.

Foreign Titles

Argentina: El Cazachicas (The Girlhunter)
Brazil: O Rei da Paquera (The Pick-Up King)
Denmark: God til piger (Good to Girls)
Finland: Katujen Casanova (Street Cassanova)
France: Le Dragueur (The Dredger)
Germany: Jack der Aufreisser (Jack the Ripper)
Italy: Ehi... Ci Stai? (Hey... Are You There?)
Poland: Podrywacz Artysta (A Fast-Working Artist)
Sweden: Galen i Randy (Crazy for Randy)
Venezuela: El Cazachicas (The Girlhunter)

Rotten Tomatoes

54% Fresh | 13 Reviews

Critical View

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: That leaves Robert Downey as the film's star, an honor he does nothing to deserve. He is the "Pick-Up artist," a 21-year-old grade-school teacher who tries to pick up everything that is female, attractive and appears in his field of vision. He practices his come-ons in front of a mirror and eventually gets to be almost clever enough to pick up the ugly little sister in a 1940s musical ... The notion that anyone could get anywhere with a Manhattan woman using his dialogue in 1987 is the single funny thing in the movie.

Desson Howe, Washington Post: Anyone want to watch some guy pick up women? Especially a fat-lipped, insincere kid who says "Did anyone ever tell you that you have the body of a Botticelli and the face of a Dégas?" Me neither.

Does It Hold Up

There are a few things with this. One is that today we know Robert Downey Jr as an actor who can almost single-handedly carry an entire "cinematic universe" and this is a much younger, inexperienced version of RDJ who maybe wasn't quite ready to step into a lead role. The other is that this is the first of three movies where he is playing a version (the younger, cuter version) of this mega-creep director. While the later 2 films (Black and White, Two Girls and a Guy) leave a lot of room for you to think this creep is complicated or damaged or even straight-up unlikeable, this movie expects you to accept the womanizing creep as a likeable romantic lead.

2 Reasons to See It

1. It's his first leading role.
2. Serge Handfeld will be real ticked if you don't see it.

Overall

The plot is stupid but Downey and Ringwald bring a charm that makes their characters more likeable than they should be.

If You Liked It

You might also like Two Girls and a Guy (1998), Only You (1994)

Photos

Video