Review of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) by Adrian C — 22 Jul 2009

Classic thriller about a group of hijackers who take control of a New York subway train packed full of passengers and demand a ransom from the Transit Police Lieutenant who must act as hostage negotiator.

A very influential film, Pelham has all the right ingredients of a first rate thriller and is generally regarded as an excellent film, sadly I found it a little slow moving and hard to get into. It started off excellently as it wastes no time getting straight into the plot as 4 men board a New York subway and take control of it without the passengers knowing what's going on. Quentin Tarantino is obviously a fan because he ripped off the character names for his film Reservoir Dogs, as the characters are called Mr. Green and Mr. Blue etc. Sadly once the initial take over has been completed and contact is made with Walter Matthau's Lieutenant,the film seems to completely stall and we have to sit through tensionless scenes involving the main hijacker and Matthau talking to each other and Matthau arguing with the subway controller. The film needed a little something extra to happen to hold our intention but it never came. The last half hour is excellent however as the action picks up and the police attempt to take back the carriage but it doesn't quite make up for the previous half hour.

All the actors playing the hijackers are very good but it's hard to take Walter Matthau as a Lieutenant, it's a bad case of miscasting. The direction is good and the film has aged very well even if the soundtrack gets a little grating at times.

Pelham One Two Three is a good film, especially if you like slow burning thrillers, but sadly it's just a little too slow at times to be truly entertaining.