Welcome back to my blog. Here’s my recommendation of a movie to check out today and hope you punch your “Ticket to the Movies!” OK, let’s go with an original that has a decent reboot: “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” with Walter Matthau as the good guy; Robert Shaw as the bad guy; and a bunch of “Mister” colors of the hijack gang who do solid work, especially Hector Elizondo as “Mr. Grey” (for some reason the U.K. spelling of “grey” instead of U.S. English of “gray”).
“The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” is the story of hijackers, led by Shaw, who take over a New York City subway train for ransom. A subway train? Really? Yes, and they have quite an intricate plan to get the money and run from what appears to be a contained situation. Yes, “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” makes you follow the plot somewhat closely – it’s not just some action flick with f-bombs (as you’ll find sometimes in the “reboot”).
Matthau plays ““Lt. Zachary Garber” and he’s the transit cop at the center of all the action. Both Matthau and Shaw express their respective characters with aplomb and so make this film much better than would have been possible with any other actors.
“The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” is split between the personalities of the bad guys and the good guys. Jerry Stiller does a solid job as the ally of Matthau, while Shaw finds himself dealing with what will ultimately be a disastrous crew.
I’ll let you find out for yourself how the gang manages to hijack the subway train (the “Pelham” is for Pelham Bay Park station and the numerals are from its time to leave) and extort money from the city. Further, also how Matthau moves from an office directing traffic to being on the street.
So, I say punch your “Ticket to the Movies!” and watch “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.” It is available to rent on a variety of streaming platforms. You will thank me later, if you find and watch “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.”
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