The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

[3.5
stars] [IMDb Link]

[Amazon Link]
(paid link)

Note: the old version. I'd seen this when it came out back in the 70s. The recent remake with Denzel Washington and John Travolta caused John Nolte to reminisce, and mainly point out that the new version was significantly worse. That was enough of an incentive to queue it up at Netflix.

It's a taut little thriller, kicked off when Robert Shaw and three other guys hijack a subway train in Manhattan. (The "Pelham One Two Three" terminology means that the train originally left Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx at 1:23pm.) They demand a million bucks for their hostages, and their main communications conduit to the outside world goes through everyschlub Walter Matthau, playing transit cop Zach Garber.

It's much different from today's thrillers. The body count remains low. Although there's violence, the screenwriter didn't feel compelled to plug in a scene of gratuitous mayhem every few minutes, lest the audience be bored. Acting is first rate, and there are some funny bits. (On the other hand, there's a lot of f-wordage (etc.), in a way that did feel gratuitous. I think that was an early-70's phenomenon.)

It was kind of fun to see Doris Roberts as a super-cynical wife of New York's mayor, and Jerry Stiller in a supporting cop role.

And the last shot is classic, one of my all-time favorite movie magic moments.


Last Modified 2024-01-31 5:22 AM EDT