The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (also known as The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3) is a 1974 American action thriller film directed by Joseph Sargent, produced by Gabriel Katzka and Edgar J. Scherick, and starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, and Héctor Elizondo. Peter Stone adapted the screenplay from the 1973 novel of the same name written by Morton Freedgood under the pen name John Godey.

Plot
In the city of New York, the 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. The four 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.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It's very faithful to the 1973 novel of the same name, and it stays the spirit of the novel from 1973.
 * 2) Great acting, for Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, and Héctor Elizondo.
 * 3) The movie has lots of thrills, such as a scene where the criminals made the train gains speed, making the passengers started to get very terrified to death right before they stopped at the red light.
 * 4) Joseph Sargent (The same director who directed mh:awfulmovies:Jaws: The Revenge), did an amazing job directing the film.
 * 5) Cool soundtrack that was performed by David Shire, with a used 12-tone composition method to create unusual, somewhat dissonant melodic elements.
 * 6) It has suspenseful moments, such as stopping the subway train at the point with the two gangsters started to threaten to kill anybody on the train if they don't bring their 1 million dollars to the subway train.
 * 7) Nice cinematography.
 * 8) It is one of the darkest action-thriller train films of all time.
 * 9) In addition, the criminals do terrify a lot of people, and even the kids, whenever there is a shooting occurs, and even killing the conductor in the middle of the movie's action.
 * 10) Likable criminals, such as the four gangsters, and even the police officers as well.
 * 11) The ending, at the ending scene, Garber closes the apartment door behind him, Longman sneezes and Garber reflexively says "Gesundheit", as he had over the radio. Garber re-opens the door and gives Longman a caustic stare, possibly that he stole a lot of money.
 * 12) It's 2009 remake was decent.

Critical response
The film was acclaimed by critics, and audience alike, It holds a 100% "Fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 38 reviews, with a weighted average of 8.15/10. The site's consensus reads: "Breezy, thrilling, and quite funny, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three sees Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw pitted against each other in the effortlessly high form" Metacritic scores a film a 68/100 "generally favorable reviews" and an 8.1/10 user score rating on the same site, while IMDB holds a film a 7.7/10 rating. Several critics called it one of 1974's finest films of all time.

Box Office
The film grossed over $16,550,000 at the box office, making a box office success.

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