The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. Even if it’s paid, how could they get away?
- Director: Joseph Sargent
- Genre:Crime / Drama / Thriller
- Runtime:100 minutes
Cast
Walter Matthau : Lt. Zachary Garber
Robert Shaw : Blue
Martin Balsam : Green
Hector Elizondo : Grey
Earl Hindman : Brown
In New York City, four men—each wearing similar trenchcoats, thick-rimmed eyeglasses, hats and wide fake moustaches, and each carrying a briefcase—board at different station stops on the Pelham 123 subway train run of the 6 Lexington Avenue Local service, bound from the Pelham Bay Park station in the Bronx to Manhattan. Each briefcase contains a submachine gun and the men hijack the train, calling one another Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Grey and Mr. Brown. They soon secure a small, easily supervisable group of hostages, whom they isolate in one car of the train. Eventually they disconnect this car from the rest of the train.
In the meantime, Lieutenant Zachary Garber (played by Walter Matthau), a cynical and curmudgeonly yet light-hearted New York City Transit Authority policeman begins his day by leading four visiting directors from the Tokyo subway system on a tour of the subway command-center. The train stopped between the 28th Street and 23rd Street stations is noted as an impediment to other subway traffic but the transit authority realizes only when Garber’s routine is interrupted by Blue’s radio announcement to the command center that a complex crime is in progress.
Blue (Robert Shaw), the leader of the hijackers—distinguished by his calm English accent and cold, calculated demeanor—tells Garber they are demanding a ransom of a million dollars be delivered to them to prevent their killing a passenger per minute, starting when one hour has passed. Garber, the sarcastic Lieutenant Rico Patrone (Jerry Stiller) and fellow transit workers cooperate while trying to guess how the criminals intend to escape the subway tunnel and get away.
The film audience learn that Blue was a ruthless British mercenary and that Green (Martin Balsam) is a New York native with an especially good understanding of the train controls (suggesting he is possibly a former transit worker) who is visibly upset when Blue makes it clear that they will indeed begin killing hostages if the money doesn’t arrive on time. Green seems to have caught a cold overnight and his repeated sniffling and sneezing is heard through the radio by Garber. Grey, the most impulsive of the group, is constantly reprimanded by Blue. Brown is the quietest.
An angry boss at the Transit Authority seems unable to comprehend the risks, boldly walks down the subway tunnel to the hijacked train car and is shot dead by the hotheaded Grey. Garber learns that one of the hostages is an out-of-uniform, off-duty police officer and the transit police discuss the likelihood he is armed and the possibility of his providing assistance (but they also speculate that the cop could be a woman). Read more
