I recently discovered that a remake of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) is in post-production.
My gut reaction: “What are they doing that for?”
Copying an earlier version of a film has become a dreary tradition.
In Hollywood, ersatz adulation equates to creative flaccidity when assessing the relative merits of film remakes.
The only remake that comes to mind as significantly better than the original version was The Maltese Falcon (1941).Warner Brothers shot blanks with The Maltese Falcon (1931) and Satan Met a Lady (1936). Cinematic adaptations of Hammett’s classic detective yarn proved to be notably unsuccessful until John Huston decided to film the book and got it right.
As a general rule, most remakes represent a ham-handed attempt to cash in on a prior, successful project. The recently released reconstruct of The Day the Earth Stood Still represents the grotesque nadir of this obtuse corporatism.
Although The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) – yes, the title is a bit different – casts some estimable actors including Denzel Washington, John Travolta, James Gandolfini, it will be tough sledding to equal the timing and quality of the original picture.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) made an indelible impact on me when I first saw it during its initial release. How many movies can you quickly recall that are suspenseful and funny at the same time.
Martin Freedgood’s novel (written under his John Godey nom de plume) was seamlessly adapted by Oscar-winning screenwriter Peter Stone whose resume includes the underrated Mirage (1965), Arabesque (1967) and Charade (1963). Stone’s screenplays were steeped in clever repartee and Pelham is no exception.
Although the breakneck saga of four heavily armed men commandeering a N.Y.C. subway car and threatening to shoot hostages unless their demand for $1 million is met within an hour is authentically gripping, it is the characterizations of the entire cast, led by Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw and Martin Balsam, that gives the movie a smart-aleck edge that is pure New York.
As Lieutenant Zachary Garber, Walter Matthau is front and center, pitting his considerable wits against Robert Shaw playing the gang leader, a former Brit mercenary whose employment in Africa recently dried up. Matthau possessed a singular brand of dexterity playing sarcastic wiseacres caught in deadly serious situations. He was a genuine craftsman who ended up being typed casted into a bunch of meringue comedic turns.
I would willingly trade any number of Matthau’s lightweight fare like Plaza Suite, Buddy Buddy and Grumpy Old Men for another Pelham or Charley Varrick. The latter film, one of the best movies of the early 1970’s, was inexplicably loathed by Matthau, according to director Don Siegel.
With the exception of Shaw, most of the cast is straight-up Gotham. The unassuming Martin Balsam – always perfect – a youthfully deadly Hector Elizondo, Dick O’Neill as an insufferably obnoxious train expeditor – I recall spontaneous applause when Matthau finally throttles him – the ubiquitous Jerry Stiller, Kenneth McMillan, who died way too young and one of my favorite character actors, Tom Pedi, as a blowhard Transit supervisor who meets a tragic end.
I confess to having a soft spot for Pedi after watching him on 1960’s New York television as a washer repairman hawking Dash laundry detergent. Pedi was a distinguished stage actor who earned kudos for his work in the original Broadway runs of Death of a Salesman and The Iceman Cometh; he repeated his role as Rocky the bartender in the 1973 cinematic version. He was memorable in The Naked City (1948) and as Dan Duryea’s thigh-slapping crony – “Dat’s the ticket!”- in Criss Cross (1948). No one brought purer Brooklynese to the screen.
Joseph Sargent is well known for his distinguished directorial career in television drama; nine Emmy Award nominations and four wins. He demonstrates his big screen acumen in Pelham by skillfully intercutting between the actions on the subway car, back to Matthau, and then to a craven, ill Mayor (Lee Wallace: a dead ringer for the actual Mayor Koch) who pulls the bed sheets over his head at Gracie Mansion and wishes the whole mess would go away. In the meantime, the N.Y.P.D. surrounds the subway car and scrambles to deliver the boodle while trying to figure out how the gang is going to make a subterranean getaway.
Sargent was born and raised across the Hudson River in Jersey City. I have to believe that the shared cultural geography between director and cast really helped make this movie go. Even though there are a lot of “New Yawk” histrionics, no one in the cast, not even Matthau, is allowed to overwhelm the story which races to an exciting conclusion with a twist of wicked humor at the finale.
Helping matters considerably is the ominous musical score by David Shire. Never did a score track better match the subject matter. Check out the credits if you don’t believe me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXrEptVgUnc&feature=related
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is akin to a dark sentimental journey. We sojourn back to a simpler time before the dead weight of 9/11, suicide bombings and senseless violence diminished the most outrageous criminal mayhem to a blip in the 24 hour news cycle. Back in 1974, even the most depraved criminals were simply looking for a clean score, a low body count and a fast getaway. Our heroes had feet of clay and were mostly working class smart-asses… but they always got the job done. Hard to understand why someone thought they should try to recreate a film that so perfectly captured the dual aromas of a city and an era.
