There were attempts to portray life in 1970s New York City through nostalgic make-over, but general perception of that era remains the one depicting economic woes, pollution, collapsing infrastructure, decaying city services, increasing racial tensions, drugs, prostitution and, last but not least, rampant crime. This might be found in 1970s Hollywood’s willingness to actually exploit that sad reality which resulted of myriad of films representing New York’s urban jungle and some of them proved to be really good. One of such examples is The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, 1974 film directed by Joseph Sargent which enjoys reputation of an action thriller classic.
The plot, based on the eponymous novel by Morton Freedgood (published under pen name “David Godey”), is set in New York City Subway, the largest rapid transit system in the world which, just like the rest of the city above, has its share of problems with the crime. Many of those crimes will, however, look petty when four mysterious individuals enter one of the trains and, using submachine guns, take control of a passenger cars with 18 people becoming hostages. The hijackers’ leader, soft-spoken but menacing British national calling himself “Mr. Blue” (played by Robert Shaw) contacts the authorities and makes a rather simple demand – they have exactly one hour to deliver one million US$ or the hostages will be executed. Lieutenant Zachary “Zack” Garber (played by Walther Matthau) of New York City Transit Police is trying to meet hijackers’ demands, while at same time trying to discover what their ultimate plan is and who they actually might be. Hijackers’ good knowledge of the way trains operate indicate that at least one of them is likely a former Subway employee.
Original novel, written in time when spectacular passenger aircraft hijackings filled newspaper headlines, was product of author’s extensive research on New York Subway and included so many details that the screenwriter Peter Stone actually had to remove some of them from the film in order to prevent enterprising criminals from trying to repeat the plot in real life. Thankfully, enough of the realism was kept in the film and The Taking Pelham One Two Three can aspire to the title of most accurate depiction of 1970s New York. The passenger car, where large part of the plot takes place, serves as microcosm of urban diversity, with passenger belonging to different races, ethnicities, genders and sexual orientation, yet all feeling simmering tensions even before having to worry about heavily-armed terrorists who would take them as hostages. The sad state of New York affairs can be also seen in underpaid and frustrated city employees and officials who use every opportunity to vent their frustration through foul language, yelling at their colleagues, often with explicitly racist and sexist overtones. Stone’s script shows that problem can be found not only underground, but at the very top, in the scenes when mayor (played by Lew Wallace, character actor with uncanny resemblance to New York’s future mayor Ed Koch) and his associates debate whether to simply let terrorists kill hostages in order to save the tax payers one million dollars.
This dark vision is in many ways made tolerable for the audience with the clever use of gallows humour, as well for Stone’s great skill in making memorable characters even out of people that appear in this film very briefly. Film is well-served by diverse and more than competent cast. Walter Matthau, actor best known for supporting or comedy roles, is not only very effective and believable as middle-aged unglamorous protagonist who might not have charismatic looks, but actually can gets things done. Robert Shaw is very effective in somewhat one-dimensional role of cold and menacing villain, while veteran character actor Martin Balsam gives a lot of flavour and even evokes some sympathies from the audience as one of the hijackers. Director Joseph Sargent, best known for his prolific television work, handless action very well and keeps plot unfolding quickly, right to its simple but ironic end. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three also benefited from effective soundtrack by David Shire, which resembled the neurotic tensions of 1970s New York. This film was successful at the box-office and had good reviews, but its reputation of a genre classic was somewhat suppressed due to large number of Hollywood great films made in that period. It took Quentin Tarantino and his homage in Reservoir Dogs for this film to be rediscovered and properly assessed by cinephiles, which can’t be said for predictably uninspired and disappointing 2009 remake directed by Tony Scott.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
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