The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Directed by: Joseph Sargent

Starring: Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw

I saw The Taking of Pelham One Two Three for not one, not two, but for three reasons. Actually it was only two reasons. One being the recent Tony Scott remake, which I've not seen, nor do I intend on seeing and the other reason being that it co-stars Robert Shaw, whom I love from his performances in both Jaws and in The Sting.

Well, Shaw wasn't his usual brilliant self but this film hardly called for superb acting. In fact, many of the performances were just mediocre at best and that didn't hurt the film at all. Both Shaw and Matthau held their own and carried the film well enough throughout but neither of the two were handed the task of making the movie good.

On that note, the movie lacks any real substance, motivation or intrigue. I suppose there are two kinds of heist films. One I particularly enjoy is Spike Lee's Inside Man and I use this example because of Clive Owen's line stating his motivation for robbing the bank. The back story of the banks owner creates the substance and how Owen plans to escape is the intrigue.

In Pelham, Robert Shaw hijacks a subway train. His motivation for this is the obvious one million dollar ransom he demands and the intrigue is how he plans to escape. What the film lacks is substance. We never learn anything about Shaw's character nor two of his three accomplices. We only learn about Mr. Green (Martin Balsam) who used to work for the subway and was fired for a crime he claims he was innocent of. Had there been more of this surrounding the other hijackers, we'd have substance, more motivation and more intrigue.

The good guys are the obvious good guys and the bad guys are the obvious bad guys. There's no inner conflict for the audience. And as many instances as there are where there is a lack of substance, motivation and intrigue, there are equal amounts of instances where one can see where that could be improved.

Lastly, while this is hardly a critique, I can't not mention the, for lack of a better term, intrigue in the hijackers aliases... those being, Mr. Brown, Mr. Grey, Mr. Green and Mr. Blue. Did Tarantino copy somebody!!!??

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