The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Runtime: 104 minutes (not 124 minutes, as listed on the 2009 DVD release of this film)

Directed by: Joseph Sargent

Starring: Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Jerry Stiller

From: United Artists

Here’s a movie you’ll be familiar with… well, at least it’s title, as just last summer there was The Taking of Pelham 123 remake, which I still haven’t seen yet but I’ve heard mixed reviews on. I at least can tell you that this film, the original (based off of a popular novel at the time) is worth seeing.

A quartet of bandits (Shaw, Balsam, Elizondo, and Earl Hindman; yes, he was Mr. Wilson on Home Improvement; they go by the code names of Green, Grey, Blue, and Brown; if that sounds familiar, yes it should; Quentin Tarantino is obviously a big fan of the film) hijack a subway car in New York City, and they gather up hostages and their demands are that they must receive one million dollars in an hour, or else they start killing hostages one per minute. But how will they escape once they do get the money… combating them is a force that includes transit authority cops (Matthau, Stiller) and a cast of characters, mainly cynical.

This is a very tense thriller where no time is wasted and it moves very economically. You may be surprised to hear that usually comic actors like Walter and Jerry are in a “very tense thriller”, but they equate themselves quite well. I mean, Matthau the previous year was in a film called Charley Varrick, and I say that was even better than this movie (Varrick is about a gang of thieves who unknowingly rob a bank that secretly stores cash from the Mob), and he did fine in another dramatic/action role. Here, he and the rest of the cast often cast little quips and barbs at each other. If there’s one thing to carp about, it’s that there are quite a lot of bitching and whining that goes on, especially from one character in particular, but if you can tolerate that (I normally have a low threshold for it, but the rest of this is so good…) then you should enjoy this breezy ride. Like I say, it runs pretty fast through its 104 minute (not 124 minute runtime, as it says on the box for the 2009 DVD release; I rented it from Blockbuster, by the way) runtime and you get to see quality actors at work. The final scene in particular is pretty memorable, especially the last shot. One of these days I’ll probably see the 2009 remake, but who knows when that’ll be, and I’ll probably prefer the original anyhow.

I'll be back Monday night with a new review.