In RESERVOIR DOGS, Quentin Tarantino used a unique way to maintain each criminal’s anonymity. He assigned the no-good characters (like Steve Buscemi and Harvey Keitel) names like Mr. Black, Mr. Pink, Mr. White, etc. At the time, I found this idea to be quite intriguing and in my 25 years of movie-watching, had not seen this done. So I promptly jumped on the bandwagon, and declared Tarentino a genius. But the controversial screenwriter/director has seen even more mainstream, cult, and B movies than me. I did not have the luxury of ever working in a video store, watching movies all day. And if I did, I could have been as big a creative talent as Mr. Tarantino. Getting back to the subject matter, I was quite shocked when I recently viewed THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE (on DVD) for the first time. This is the film that originally used the color-scheme naming conventions. The criminals are named Mr. Brown, Mr. Grey, Mr. Blue, etc.! Reality check: Tarantino did not come up with that idea after all!

The best thing about THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE is the cast. Some great actors and many familiar faces. Walter Matthau stars as Lieutenant Zachary Garber, a New York transit authority investigator. Robert (JAWS) Shaw is Mr. Blue, a highly intelligent (though cold-blooded) mercenary who was a military leader in South Africa. Martin (DEATH WISH 3) Balsam portrays Mr. Green, a discredited subway driver who wants to get back at the transit authority for firing him. Hector (LEVIATHAN) Elizondo plays Mr. Grey, a former mob enforcer with a loose trigger finger and a bad attitude. Tony (AMITYVILE 3-D) Roberts is the Mayor’s assistant. A young Jerry Stiller is featured as a transit authority head honcho. Unfortunately, there are few women in the cast, except for kidnap victims on the subway. Joseph (COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT) Sargent directs from a script based on John Godley’s novel.

As the movie starts, four men in disguises (Mr. Green, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Brown and their leader Mr. Blue) sneak weapons onto the New York subway system. They seize the driver and the attendant, and force them to drive the subway into an abandoned section of the subway tunnel system. Mr. Blue contacts the NY Transit Authority, who has have been tracking the subway train’s unauthorized passage, and tells them that he has a train full of hostages. He threatens to shoot the passengers in one hour if the police do not deliver one million dollars cash to the four hijackers.

Luckily, smooth-talking transit authority chief Lt. Zack Garber, is on duty. He negotiates with the hostage takers to get more time to deliver the money and to save the hostages. The police contact the Mayor (Lee Wallace) to get him to quickly secure the money. The Mayor agrees to produce the money, not because of the lives on the line, but because of the upcoming elections. Meanwhile the entire NY police force is mobilized and the city turns to a state of panic. The police car that is delivering the money to the terrorists gets into an accident, and is late for the pay-off.

Zack Garber must keep his cool and engages in a battle of wits with the sly Mr. Blue. But Mr. Blue has problems of his own. His accomplice, Mr. Grey, is a trigger-happy enforcer who doesn’t like to take orders from anyone. Mr. Grey may jeopardize the entire hostage situation. Finally, the police deliver the money to the villains in the tunnel. They split the million and rig the subway car to drive itself. As the speeding subway car starts careening faster through the tunnels, the four terrorists jump off the subway car. The confused passengers panic as the unattended subway car begins speeding up. The subway will go off the tracks at the end of the tunnel unless Zack Garber and the transit authority can save them!

The film has a novel execution; it takes place in real time. In the opening minutes, the culprits hijack a subway train and hold it for ransom. They want a million dollars in one hour or they will start shooting passengers. The rest of the film the authorities, led by Matthau, jump through hoops to get the money to the crooks in under an hour. The filmmakers waste no time in thrusting you into the middle of the action. This approach successfully creates the tension. Unlike most movies filmed in real time (RABID DOGS, HIGH NOON, NICK OF TIME) there are no lulls because of the script’s rapid pacing. From the moment you hear the driving soundtrack there's not an inch of celluloid wasted, and your attention is riveted throughout.

It is a simple film delivered with intense, gritty, realism. It is filmed in a style similar to THE FRENCH CONNECTION. The naturalistic acting style and the non glamorous visuals paint a picture of realism. THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE is steeped in classic New York flavor: the fashions, the speech, the train culture, the characters, the comebacks, the lampooning of the mayor and so on. And no film produced in New York is complete without colorful New York characters. There is also an undercurrent to the film that suggests that everyone in New York is bad-tempered, corrupt, and uncaring.

The acting is excellent on all fronts. Walter Matthau makes for a surprisingly tough and crafty negotiator/investigator. Matthau uses a combination of arrogant determination and droll humor to negotiate for the hostages lives and to talk to his own peers. Hector Elizondo is believable as Mr. Grey, the loose-cannon gunman of the hijackers. Jerry Stiller is excellent as well as a laconic transit authority security chief. It’s hard not to imagine his hijinks as George’s father on SEINFELD, but the audiences in 1974 had no such qualms.

Robert Shaw steals the show as the manipulative Mr. Blue. Shaw was one of Hollywood’s best kept secrets and it’s sad that he passed away in his prime like he did. I can only compare him to another great character actor in Claude Rains. Both of them were wonderful villains. His steely performance as the cool and collected leader of the hijackers is one of his best and he proves how capable he can be at playing the heavy. The way he looks at his watch, as time is of the essence. The precision with how handles his every move. And that voice! He had a voice that was almost like a hiss from a snake. It was amazing, his talent and dedication to a character. If you’ve seen it already, see it again and watch closely for Shaw's subtly intense performance.

There are also some fine comic moments, which do not interrupt the dire, psychological flow of the film. Matthau uses a semi-snide comic delivery for much of his dialog. The scenes involving the bed-ridden mayor and his aides is hilarious indictment of New York City bureaucracy. The scene where Matthau decks an arrogant train controller is a scream. The final scene of the film between Matthau and Balsam (one of the assailants) is quite riotous and memorable. There is also a lot of colorful language, so you may want to put the kids to bed.

The film has an air of pseudo-believability which none of it's imitators (like SPEED) has ever possessed. There is no girlfriend or wife of the police lieutenant on the train to complicate things; there is no cliche ridden romance invented on the fly; there is no heroic stopping of the train through a death-defying feat by the lead. You just get the sense of how the real-life professionals would try to respond to a crisis like this. The script does not conform to the Hollywood cliché factor, and focuses solely on the events, the action, the suspense, and the humor; and is all the better for it. Definitely one of the best in the genre.

SIGHT

MGM presents THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE in a 2.35.1 widescreen transfer. Though there are many stars in the film, the city of New York can also be considered a star. We are treated to many scenic New York vistas, and most of them look pretty good. Overall, the transfer is good, but not great. Depending upon the lighting, the transfer looks decent in many scenes, adequate in others, and just plain poor in some interior scenes. The interior scenes lack detail and appear soft at times. Dirt, specs, and grain are visible. Granted, this is nearly a 30 year old film, but I’ve seen films this old from other studios that look great, or at least consistent. It looks like a case of MGM reusing their imperfect LD master without cleaning up the source elements. I think MGM is one of the only majors still doing this. When I say still doing this I mean mastering DVD’s from LD transfers. I’m sure if they took the time to at least master the LD source for 16x9, a lot of the problems would be alleviated. That being said, the movie still draws you in and the problems do not detract too much from the entire presentation. Most of the movie looks good. Black level calibration seems a bit off. Because of the gritty nature of the film, the colors are not vibrant. They are purposely muted with browns, greys, and olives being the dominant colors. A lot of the film takes place in dark subway tunnels, and the visuals enable you to see the action in the absence of light. Cinematographer Owen Roizman provides some great visuals that would be better preserved with 16x9 enhancement.

SOUND

The sound is a solid Dolby Digital Mono 2.0. The movie is mainly dialog driven and the mono mix supports this nicely. A Dolby Prologic or DD 5.1 remix would not have enhanced the film that much, (with the exception of some gun shots and the subway trains brakes squeaking). Many mono mixes sometimes sound tinny and flat, but this one has a surprising range including a hint of bass. The soundtrack has no hiss, drop-outs, or distortion. David Shire has produced a amazingly catchy heavy jazz/funk score including a memorable opening theme. The driving score matches the gritty tone of the visuals thus enhancing the film’s flavor. Shire’s compositions sound great on this 2 channel mono mix.

FEATURES

The only extra is the theatrical trailer. The trailer is widescreen 2.35.1, 2 channel mono, and runs 2:33.

CONCLUSION

This movie seems somewhat dated today, but its action is nonetheless vibrant and realistic. This white-knuckle thriller features some of the crispest dialog you'll hear in the movies. The characterizations are vivid and intelligent, and the audience is treated to some real crackerjack performances. THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE has been ripped off, imitated, and remade, (SPEED, MONEY TRAIN, RESERVOIR DOGS) and every one of them only serves to further enhance what an authentic movie this is. MGM’s DVD is not perfect, but it delivers adequate sight and sound to grab the viewer’s full attention through the film’s length. Some extras would have been nice, but hey, this is MGM we are talking about here. And gotta love that score.

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 is available at DVDEmpire

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