{"id":3802,"date":"2024-09-03T21:35:53","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T21:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=3802"},"modified":"2024-10-13T18:26:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T22:26:14","slug":"the-taking-of-pelham-one-two-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/09\/03\/the-taking-of-pelham-one-two-three\/","title":{"rendered":"The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Taking of Pelham One Two Three <\/strong>(1974)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United Artists\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 124 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Joseph Sargent\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Peter Stone\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: David Shire\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Owen Roizman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 4, 1974 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Earl Hindman, James Broderick, Jerry Stiller, Dick O\u2019Neill, Lee Wallace, Tom Pedi, Beatrice Winde, Tony Roberts, Rudy Bond, Kenneth McMillan, Doris Roberts, Nathan George, Julius Harris, Cynthia Belgrave, Anna Berger, Gary Bolling, Carol Cole, Alex Colon, Joe Fields, Mari Gorman, Michael Gorrin, Thomas La Fleur, Maria Landa, Louise Larabee, George Lee Miles, Carolyn Nelson, Eric O\u2019Hanian, Lucy Saroyan, William Snickowski, Barry Snyder.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0New York in the 70s; there\u2019s no place like it on film. It\u2019s the only place you can see it now. The seedy, crime-ridden hellhole it once was is now a largely gentrified metropolis where Starbucks and Disney Stores have replaced the adult book shops and grindhouse theaters. Look no further than Times Square, once home to a plethora of pushers, perverts, pimps and prostitutes. Now you can take a selfie with Elmo or a Marvel superhero (for a small fee, of course). Is this what they call socioeconomic progress?<\/p>\n

\u00a0One thing New Yorkers feared above all was the subway. Sure, millions of commuters packed the graffiti-covered cars each day knowing full well they did so at their own risk. By all accounts, it was a mobile insane asylum. Many dangers existed underground, but who would ever expect a hijacking? That\u2019s the premise of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three<\/strong>, a wonderfully gritty crime thriller about four armed men taking control of the titular subway. It might interest you to know that it\u2019s one of the movies Quentin Tarantino borrowed from for his debut film Reservoir Dogs. Read on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s a typical day on the NYC transit system…. until it\u2019s not. Four criminals take over a subway car with 17 passengers and one conductor on it. They go by aliases: \u201cMr. Blue\u201d (Shaw, The Sting), \u201cMr. Green\u201d (Balsam, Death Wish 3), \u201cMr. Grey\u201d (Elizondo, Pretty Woman) and \u201cMr. Brown\u201d (Hindman, Tim Allen\u2019s neighbor Wilson on Home Improvement). Now you know where QT got the idea. They want $1 million in exchange for the hostages. Mr. Blue gives the authorities one hour to deliver the money or else he\u2019ll kill one hostage for every minute it\u2019s late. Playing the role of negotiator is Lt. Zachary Garber (Matthau, The Laughing Policeman), a gruff, cynical transit cop who just wants to keep the passenger body count to a minimum.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The robbers aren\u2019t your average street scum. Blue is a former British military officer turned mercenary. Green is a former motorman who got fired for drug-related reasons. Grey got kicked out of the Mafia for being too violent. Brown is a stone cold killer. These are dangerous people which ratchets up the tension considerably, especially when combined with the time factor. Minutes tick away as the city mayor (Wallace, The Hot Rock) debates whether he should pay the ransom or not. While he consults with his closest advisors, Garber tries to negotiate with Blue for more time to no avail.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I first saw The Taking of Pelham One Two Three <\/strong>in December \u201996. I don\u2019t recall where I first heard of it (it might have been my dad), but I knew it would be something worth watching. I rented it from one of the local video stores with high hopes. I didn\u2019t yet know about the Tarantino connection, but it had a great cast and a cool plot. I know that doesn\u2019t always guarantee a great movie; like books, you can\u2019t judge a film by its VHS cover. In this case however, the film delivered. I enjoyed it immensely. It was interesting seeing Matthau in a non-comedic role. I was used to seeing him in funny movies like The Odd Couple, The Bad News Bears, The Couch Trip and Grumpy Old Men. I never saw him in an action-oriented film until I saw The Taking of Pelham One Two Three<\/strong>. He gives a solid performance as the hero of the piece. He\u2019s not a Dirty Harry kind of cop. He\u2019s more of a world-weary type who knows how to talk a good game. Shaw, on the other hand, exudes quiet danger as the head bad guy. He doesn\u2019t need to raise his voice and act all bat-crap crazy. You know by his calm demeanor that he\u2019s probably the most dangerous one of the foursome.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One of the things I like best about The Taking of Pelham One Two Three<\/strong> is how it develops its supporting characters and allows them their own personalities. It\u2019s only fitting Balsam\u2019s character is developed as he\u2019s the wronged guy with a grudge. He can drive the train, but he knows other things too. You could call him the inside man. Elizondo\u2019s character, a violent whack job, gets ample development while we learn nothing about the fourth accomplice. He doesn\u2019t require any. He\u2019s the wild card. He could snap at any moment. Along the same lines, we get a varied assortment of passengers, one of whom is an undercover cop. There\u2019s also a hooker, a couple of coeds, an old man, a Hispanic woman who doesn\u2019t speak English, a passed-out drunk, a pimp and a mother with two young sons. In this respect, it\u2019s like a disaster movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Taking of Pelham One Two Three<\/strong> is directed by the late Joseph Sargent whose feature-film directing career came to a halt with the horrible 1987 sequel Jaws: The Revenge (\u201cThis time it\u2019s personal\u201d). He made other movies- e.g. White Lightning, MacArthur, Coast to Coast and Nightmares- but The Taking of Pelham One Two Three<\/strong> is his best work. It\u2019s gritty, tense and steeped in as much realism allowed by the premise. You get a sense of the inner workings of the transit system with scenes of guys yelling, swearing and rushing around angrily in the control room. Outside and on the platforms, police are trying to maintain a semblance of order as New Yorkers shout and complain. There\u2019s this one thrilling scene of a police car trying to get the money to the bad guys before time runs out only to be stopped by a crash. Since there was no CGI in 1974, it was done with real stunt people and looks really cool.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There are a lot of great actors in smaller roles in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three<\/strong>. Look for James Broderick (Family), Jerry Stiller (Seinfeld), Dick O\u2019Neill (Wolfen), Tony Roberts (Serpico), Kenneth McMillan (The Pope of Greenwich Village), Julius Harris (Live and Let Die) and Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond). The score by David Shire is jazzy and totally groovy. The cinematography by Owen Roizman shows New York and the subway system circa \u201974 in all its grimy, gritty glory minus the graffiti as the NYC Transit Authority wouldn\u2019t allow the makers to show any as it would make them look bad. Yeah, like they needed any help with that.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Taking of Pelham One Two Three <\/strong>even has a sense of humor with some of the remarks made while the situation unfolds and an unforgettable final shot. This is one of my favorite crime thrillers of the 70s. Hell, I would even say it\u2019s one of the best movies of the 70s. It\u2019s right up there with The French Connection and The Seven-Ups. I never get tired of watching it. It\u2019s pure 70s greatness!\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United Artists\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 124 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Joseph Sargent\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Peter Stone\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: David Shire\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Owen Roizman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 4, 1974 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Earl Hindman, James Broderick, Jerry Stiller, Dick O\u2019Neill, Lee Wallace, Tom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-these-are-some-classic-flicks","category-kick-ass-actioners"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/The-Taking-of-Pelham-One-Tw.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3802"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5592,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3802\/revisions\/5592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}