The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (film)
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| The Taking of Pelham One Two Three | |
|---|---|
 original fim poster |
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| Directed by | Joseph Sargent |
| Produced by | Edgar J. Scherick |
| Written by | John Godey (novel) Peter Stone |
| Starring | Walter Matthau Jerry Stiller Martin Balsam Robert Shaw |
| Music by | David Shire |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | October 2, 1974 (USA) |
| Running time | 104 min. |
| Language | English Spanish |
| IMDb profile | |
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (also known as The Taking of Pelham 123) is a thriller movie released in 1974. It stars Walter Matthau, Jerry Stiller, Martin Balsam and Robert Shaw; it was directed by Joseph Sargent, produced by Edgar J. Scherick, and was based on the novel of the same title by John Godey. Peter Stone wrote the screenplay, which takes its basics from the novel but is highly different in its approach, embracing a kind of NYC cynicism.
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[edit] Plot
Matthau portrays the cynical and grumpy Lieutenant Zachary Garber, a New York City Transit Authority policeman. His routine is interrupted by an unexpected hijacking of a subway train (on the number 6 line). The police are confused by the hijacking because:
- the subway is a closed system; there is no place to take the train to escape, and
- all subway trains have a "dead-man" feature which requires a live person at the controls at all times (for safety) to keep the train running, thus preventing any would-be hijacker from escaping from an operating train.
The police rush to deliver the ransom of one million dollars in unmarked bills of low denominations in an hour's time, dispatching a squad car for a frantic drive uptown from the financial district, as Lieutenant Rico Patrone (Jerry Stiller) attempts to negotiate by radio from transit police headquarters, distracting the hijackers' attention. Garber has left headquarters to confront them underground if possible. Unknown to the police, the four hijackers (led by British mercenary Bernard Ryder (Robert Shaw) and a disgruntled former motorman Harold Longman (Martin Balsam)) have ingeniously defeated the dead-man's feature. Once they receive their ransom money, they surreptitiously exit, sending the train off at top speed toward the terminal station so the police may be distracted by chasing the runaway locomotive enough for the hijackers to escape. The train was set to reach up to speeds over 70 MPH which would cause it to automatically trip a red light brake as it entered the South Ferry Loop.
[edit] Cast
- Walter Matthau as Lt. Zachary 'Z' Garber
- Robert Shaw as Mr. Blue - Bernard Ryder
- Martin Balsam as Mr. Green - Harold Longman
- Hector Elizondo as Mr. Gray - Joe Welcome
- Earl Hindman as Mr. Brown - George Steever
- James Broderick as Denny Doyle
- Dick O'Neill as Frank Correll
- Jerry Stiller as Lt. Rico Patrone
- Doris Roberts as Mayor's Wife
[edit] Music
The score was composed and conducted by David Shire. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three remains his most popular score, and is considered a brilliant combination of the popular funk idioms of the era and twentieth century musical composition. Shire composed a tone row and placed it against an R&B beat for his main theme. It perfectly captures the bustle and diversity of New York, and is an unofficial theme for the 6 Train (the local Lexington Avenue Line that is depicted in the film). The soundtrack album was the first-ever CD release by Film Score Monthly. The end titles contain a more expansive arrangement of the theme, courtesy of Shire's wife at the time, Talia Shire, who suggested that he close out the score with a more traditional ode to New York.
[edit] Remake
In 1998, the film was remade as a television movie, with Edward James Olmos in the Matthau role and Vincent D'Onofrio replacing Shaw as the senior hijacker. Although not particularly well received by critics or viewers, this version was reportedly more faithful to the book. It was also devoid of the quirky humor that made the original so memorable.
Since the film was produced much later than the original, there are also additions to the movie that did not exist in the original. For example, one of the characters sets up an IBM ThinkPad laptop computer, connected wirelessly to a motion detector that he places on the track. Later in the film another character views the screen to see an approaching person, whom he confronts in the tunnel.
Many fans of the New York City Subway (locally termed railfans) despise the newer version, often calling it "The Taking of Bloor-Danforth One Two Three" after the Toronto subway line it was filmed on.[citation needed]
[edit] Miscellanea
- The movie was the inspiration for Carter USM's song The Taking of Peckham One Two Three.
- The terrorists' system of referring to each other as colors, such as "Mr. Blue", was later used by Quentin Tarantino in his film Reservoir Dogs.
- A reference to the movie appears in the lyric of the Beastie Boys' song "Sure Shot", on the 1994 album Ill Communication: "Everything I do is funky like Lee Dorsey / Well, it's the taking of Pelham, one, two, three / If you want a doodoo rhyme then come see me"
- Portions of the scenes in the tunnel were filmed on the old Court Street line in Brooklyn, which now serves as a track which links to the New York City Transit Museum.
- A reconstruction of a Transit Authority control center was built on a soundstage. It was rendered down to every exact detail as a real one might have.
