Review of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) by Van R — 01 Jun 2009
Four men with machine guns and audacity board a New York subway train and hijack it, take 16 passengers hostage, and demand a cool million dollars from the city of New York. Robert Shaw of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE leads this quartet of terrorists, including Martin Balsam of THE ANDERSON TAPES, and Hector Elizondo of PRETTY WOMAN.
Walter Matthau plays the long suffering New York Transient Authority cop who bargains for time with Shaw as the city scrambles to assemble the million. Joseph Sargent of WHITE LIGHTNING and THE FORBIN PROJECT directed with tense but never pretentious thriller with efficiency.
The hero and the villain occupy cubicles in the subway train and the command headquarters while the passengers sit around and look uncomfortable. Doris Roberts of THE KIND OF QUEENS plays the wife of the NYC mayor.
Quentin Tarantino might have been inspired by THE TAKING OF THE PELHAM ONE TWO THREE because all the hijackers have names that are colors. The biggest change from the John Gody bestseller is the Transient Authority cop is an African-American in the novel.
Otherwise, Peter Stone remains largely faithful to the novel. Prepare yourself for a lot of profanity. This is an R-rated thriller but there really is not that much blood. Altogether, this cat & mouse thriller will keep you interested, even if it is a little out of date.
This review of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) was written by Van R on 01 Jun 2009.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three has generally received very positive reviews.
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