The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

Directed by Joseph Sargent, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three follows a gang of criminals, led by Robert Shaw’s ruthless Mr. Blue, as they hijack a New York City subway train and hold its riders hostage for ransom – with the movie also detailing the efforts of several official figures, including Walter Matthau’s Zachary Garber, to resolve the situation peacefully. It’s a relatively familiar setup that’s employed to compelling and increasingly spellbinding effect by Sargent, as the filmmaker, working from Peter Stone’s clever, streamlined script, delivers a briskly-paced thriller that boasts often astonishingly note-perfect performances from its stacked cast – with Shaw and Matthau’s flawless work here matched by an eclectic roster of such periphery players as Héctor Elizondo, Martin Balsam, and Jerry Stiller. The entertaining atmosphere is due in no small part, ultimately, to Sargent’s stellar handling of the material (ie the director balances the two competing narratives exceedingly well), and it’s clear, too, that The Taking of Pelham One Two Three benefits from a smattering of edge-of-your-seat, impressively tense sequences and stretches (eg a white-knuckle ticking-clock interlude involving the last-minute delivery of the ransom money). By the time the impeccable final shot rolls around, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three has undoubtedly (and thoroughly) confirmed its place as a masterful endeavor that’s just as potent now as it must surely have been in 1974.

**** out of ****