The Taking of Pelham One Two Three | 1974 | Final | US One Sheet

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (also known as The Taking of Pelham 123) is a 1974 film directed by Joseph Sargent. It was produced by Edgar J. Scherick and the screenplay was written by Peter Stone. The screenplay is an adaptation of the 1973 novel The Taking of Pelham One Two Three by by Morton Freedgood under the pen name John Godey. It stars Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam and Hector Elizondo.

The storyline is based on the novel and centres on four seemingly-unrelated men board subway train Pelham 1:23 at successive stations. Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Grey and Mr. Brown are heavily armed and overpower the motorman and novice conductor to take control of the train. Between stations they separate the front car from the remainder of the train, setting passengers in the back cars and the motorman free.

They demand $1 million ransom within exactly one hour for the remaining eighteen hostages, including the conductor. If their demands are not met in time or their directions are not followed precisely, they will begin to shoot hostages dead, one every minute the money is late. Wisecracking Lt. Zach Garber of the transit police ends up being the primary communicator between the hijackers and the authorities, which includes transit operations, his own police force, the NYPD, and the unpopular and currently flu ridden mayor who will make the ultimate decision of whether to pay the ransom. Unknown to Garber, what may be working on their side is the disparate nature of the four hijackers, including methodical and unbending Blue, trigger happy Grey, and also under the weather Green, who may pass out before the caper has concluded.

What Garber does know is that there is a plain clothes NYPD officer among the eighteen hostages. What Garber has to try and figure out is how the four hijackers can possibly get away, as they are in a tunnel and have to remain with the train since it has a dead-man mechanism which requires a motorman at the controls at all times.

It features one of the best and most inventive thriller scores of the 1970s and was nominated in 1976 for Best Film Music at the BAFTAS. Also at the BAFTAs, Martin Balsam was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Harold Longman a.k.a. Mr. Green.

The film received critical acclaim with several critics calling it one of 1974’s finest films. It was also a box office success achieving $18.7m in overall takings based on an estimated $5m budget.

In 1998, the film was remade as a television film with the same title, 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, though it revised the setting with new technologies. Another remake set in a post 9/11 New York City directed by Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta, was released in 2009 to mixed reviews.

Share this...

We don't have adverts, random pop-ups or nagging messages to subscribe to our newsletter anywhere on Poster Collector and we intend to keep it that way. All we ask is you share the with a follow/like on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest.

If you liked the website, found it useful and would like to help with its continued ad-free development, you can make a donation via PayPal. Small or large, it doesn’t matter, every little helps!

We thank you for your continued support.