Gesundheit!

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent, 1974)

Always found films more educational than the what was taught to me at school. John Sargent's cult classic crime thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), managed to teach me more about geography, history and sociology via the warm and comforting glow my parent's TV screen rather than any grotty school classroom. The film perfectly encapsulated my favourite era in American cinema, along with what's arguably its most photogenic city — New York City of the 1970s. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three would lovingly depict New Yorkers as direct, opinionated and completely sarcastic. These traits would perfectly compliment the the gritty, run down backdrops of the city at that time. Thus, to an outsider like myself, the urban grime of the Big Apple and its inhabitants, would come across as both extreme and fascinating to a young'un. Therefore, it's even more magical when a film like The Taking of Pelham One Two Three achieves a tensely kinetic crime caper, whilst simultaneously satirising and glorifying the fine city's inhabitants.

Adapted from John Godey's (a pseudonym of the author Morgan Freedgood) 1973 novel, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three revolves around the hijacking of a NYC subway train by four armed men wearing disguises. Using colour themed aliases that Quentin Tarantino would obviously be inspired by in Reservoir Dogs (1992), Mr. Blue (Robert Shaw), Mr. Green (Martin Balsam), Mr. Brown (Earl Hindman) and Mr. Grey (Hector Elizondo), take control of the Pelham 1-2-3 train, including its seventeen passengers and conductor as their hostages. Their demand is a one million dollar ransom within the hour, otherwise a hostage will be executed after every late minute. Thus, the respective authorities have little time to react, resolve and end this alarming situation.

Perhaps the most novel aspect about the film is its unlikely protagonist. We're introduced to New York City Transit Police Lieutenant Zachary Garber (Walter Matthau) sleeping on the job. He's immediately woken up from his slumber and tasked with being the tour guide for a group of Japanese transit envoys. It's not long until he's put through the ringer as the hostage negotiator. The casting in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three might be one of the most perfect selections to represent the grime-ridden and stagnant state of '70s NYC; practically everyone in it looks middle-aged, out of shape, poorly dressed and absolutely miserable, with the craggy Matthau being the pièce de résistance. His world-weary and sullen mug is complimented with one of the most horrendous fashion choices to grace a man, donning an awful chequered shirt and a bright yellow kipper tie beneath a school teacher blazer. And yet, he manages to shine as the negotiator during the hijacking, whilst also liaising with the police authorities and his cynical colleagues, all in a horrendously vomit coloured command centre. For much of the film, Matthau is stationed in one single location, and yet, his performance is so kinetic that it lends incredibly to all the film's fast and tense pacing.

Cutting through this vivid depiction of New York City and its cynical populace is our main antagonist, Robert Shaw's Mr. Blue. Shaw plays the part with his natural English accent, which makes him an obvious standout in the film. Mr. Blue is a complete professional. We learn he comes from a military background and was once a mercenary. A ruthless perfectionist, who has no qualms over shooting any of his hostages. However, there is a human side to this character which provides plenty of depth to him. His rapport with Martin Balsam's Mr. Green is friendly and warm; the complete opposite when dealing with Hector Elizondo's irksome hothead Mr. Grey. His intercom conversations with Garber are what really make the film shine. They're what make tensions even more palpable and occasionally leading to some cathartic jokes which lighten the mood.

Garber's intercom conversations with Mr. Blue will ultimately be the undoing of Balsam's Mr. Green, as he's riddled with a cold and very often sneezing in the background. Garber's "Gesundheit!" being the film's last word when he's eventually banged to rights.

Peter Stone's screenplay is razor sharp in its satire. The ludicrous audacity of a subway train being taken hostage is greeted with complete disbelief from all the authorities. Correll (Dick O'Neill), a transit supervisor and a complete thorn at Garber's side during the hostage negotiations, hilariously exclaims, "Screw the God damn passengers! What the hell did they expect for their lousy thirty-five cents; to live forever?"effectively summing up much of the film's cynical tone. An underrated highlight is the political exchange between the flu-ridden mayor and his deputy whilst they're debating over paying the ransom:

Deputy Mayor Warren LaSalle: You know what they're going to say. The Times is going to support you. The News is going to knock you. The Post will take both sides at the same time. The rich will support you, likewise the blacks, and the Puerto Ricans won't give a shit. So come on, Al, quit stalling!
Mayor: Will you stop bullying everybody, Warren? This is supposed to be a democracy!
Deputy Mayor Warren LaSalle: Wise up, for Christ's sake, we're trying to run a city, not a God damn democracy! Al, quit farting around; we've got to pay! 

The humour isn't just restricted to satire and cynicism, either. One of the hostages, a drunk woman, simply credited as 'The Drunk' completely sleeps throughout her entire ordeal. Mr. Blue declaring she'd be less of a bother while passed out. Amongst the other hostages is an undercover cop dressed as a hippie. His identity is not revealed until a gunfire shoot out whilst the criminals prepare to get away. Garber coming to the injured cop's aid with the hilarious, "We'll have an ambulance here in no time, miss. Everything's gonna be okay!". 

The final major highlight is unreservedly David Shire's bombastic score for The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. If ever a theme perfectly encompassed the urban grittiness of '70s New York City, it's his bone shaking drums and guttural horns which appear throughout as the leitmotif for the film's score. Ironically, the soundtrack was recorded in Los Angeles, I recently discovered in a bonus feature from the film's 4K UHD release. Other noteworthy tracks are the sample worthy Mini-Manhunt and the uptempo Money Montage which both vividly compliment key scenes from the film.

David Shire | Main Title

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three | Soundtrack | 1974 

Yet to see Joseph Sargent's 1983 horror anthology, Nightmares (how many horror flicks out there with that same title?), but The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is objectively better than the other three movies of his that I have seen; namely the sci-fi thriller The Forbin Project (1971), the biopic MacArthur (1977) and the dreadful Jaws: The Revenge (1987). In terms of New York's finest, it's right up there with the likes of Death Wish (1974) and Taxi Driver (1976) with its beautifully ugly aesthetic of a bygone era. More impotantly, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three truly represents NYC's multiethnic melting pot by unifying everyone in their cynicism and nihilism in having to live in such a broken and dilapidated city. As such, it's why the comedy works so perfectly in the midsts of being confined to a crime caper. It's also why a sour-faced Walter Mattheau thrives as the unlikely protagonist, and it's why I find myself rooting for Mr. Green as an underdog getting back at the system.

The film spawned two remakes: one a 1998 TV movie; the other, Tony Scott's 2009 film starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Sargent's original is unquestionably far superior than those films. Furthermore, it's one of cinema's greatest heist movies.