5 Reasons to Watch ‘The Taking of Pelham One Two Three’
Forget the remakes. You can’t beat the original.
By Craig D. Lindsey
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is one of my favorite movies from the ’70s. How much do I love it? I once introduced the 1974 movie at two different screenings, one in Nashville and the other in Raleigh. Directed by the late, great Joseph Sargent (White Lightning), it’s one of the great action films from the Me Decade, with Walter Matthau as a NYC transit cop who reluctantly has to handle the hijacking of a subway train.
But there are so many reasons to watch this film. I happen to have five right here:
1. It’s one of the best ’70s New York movies ever made.
Elvis Mitchell once called the New York of ‘70s movies “a concrete beast that swore and barked.” In my opinion, no other movie captures that more than Pelham. Yes, I know the ‘70s also gave us gritty, Big Apple classics like The French Connection (Connection editor Jerry Greenberg also worked on Pelham) and Dog Day Afternoon, but Pelham just happens to be my favorite. Everything about the movie is so New York: It’s based on a novel by John Godey, the pseudonym of Brooklyn author Morton Freedgood. It has a quintessential New York cast: Jerry Stiller, Dick O’Neill, Kenneth McMillan, Tony Roberts, Doris Roberts. It also hilariously captures the cynicism of that town and that era, as it shows how the city and law-enforcement officials treat this hostage situation like an inconvenience rather than a major deal. As one character says in the movie, “What the hell did they expect for their lousy 35 cents — to live forever?”
2. It’s one of the many movies Tarantino referenced in Reservoir Dogs.
If you always wanted to know why Tarantino gave his ragtag crew of criminals the names of colors in his debut feature, watch Pelham. The crew that hijacks the train (which consists of Jaws captain Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo and a pre-Home Improvement Earl Hindman) is also a ragtag bunch who only know each other by color. If you’re a hardcore Tarantino head, you should know this movie backwards and forwards.
3. It’s still better than the remakes.
Personally, I’d rather watch this Pelham than the not one, but two remakes that followed. The first was a painfully serious, ABC TV movie from 1998, with Edward James Olmos in the Matthau role and Vincent D’Onofrio and Donnie Wahlberg as some of the hostage takers. And, of course, there was the 2009 version directed by the late Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington as the transit cop, John Travolta as the criminal mastermind on the train and James Gandolfini as the mayor who has to keep everything together. Although that version was more faithful to Godey/Freedgood’s novel (the transit-cop character was actually black in the book), that movie still falls short of the original.
4. The soundtrack is sick!
Composer David Shire, who has done scores to great ‘70s films like All the President’s Men, really went funkafied with the movie’s horn-heavy opening theme. It really jazzes the hell outta you, getting you prepared for all the craziness that’s going to go down. The theme is later expanded in the closing credits. (Shire’s ex-wife, actress Talia Shire, suggested he close out the movie with a more traditional ode to New York.) I enjoyed the soundtrack so much, I ended up buying it online.
5. It has one of the best endings.
Of course, I’m not going to give anything away, but let’s just say the movie ends with a reaction shot of Matthau’s face. (I’ve known guys on Twitter who have used it for their avatar.) It’s such a perfect capper to a movie that still remains entertaining after all these years. After all, as critic Michael Sragow once said, it’s “a time capsule spiked with amphetamines.”
Watch ‘The Taking of Pelham One Two Three’ on Tribeca Shortlist now.
Bonus video: Filmmaker Simon Barrett (You’re Next, Blair Witch) shares his love for “the perfect New York film,” 1974’s The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
