5 stars for the movie, 2 for the DVD
Added 11/18/2009
Great little movie. Poor DVD.
The story: New York subway car Pelham 123 is hijacked by four identically dressed and armed men lead by Mr. Blue (Robert Shaw). They hold seventeen hostages on the car and demand one million dollars within an hour or they will begin executing hostages. Lt. Garber (Walter Matthau) is the transit cop on duty who must handle the situation.
Though the idea of hijacking a subway is unique, it's still a rather basic hook. The excellence lies in the execution. The story takes all kinds of interesting little turns. The movie drops you in right as the hijacking begins. No background about the planning or characters yet. As the movie progresses we are still only given hints and short glimpses into the characters' backgrounds. Why would anyone hijack a subway? It's underground, with limited exits. If these hijackers are so smart, how do they plan on getting away? This is the great mystery that we ponder with Garber.
The characters are full of subtly textured details. Mr. Blue has a British accent and mentions a military background. Mr. Green (Martin Balsam) is conflicted and uncomfortable about the whole affair, and I wondered what his recruitment looked like. Mr. Grey appears to be a misanthropic loose cannon, and when Mr. Blue confesses (early on in the caper, I might add) to Mr. Green that he distrusts Grey, I was led again to wonder at the recruitment process, especially given Mr. Blue's penchant for strict planning and control. Mr. Brown (Earl Hindman) is mostly a mystery, but he has a stutter and possibly a professional history with Mr. Green.
On the other side of the law we have Lt. Garber, who is introduced to us giving four Japanese visitors a boring tour of central transit control. Matthau plays Garber in his good old subdued Matthau way. I believed he genuinely cared about the situation and the passengers' lives, but he keeps his emotions pretty low-key (save for one scene where he finally explodes at an irate transit controller played by Dick O'Neill). I thought it was a good performance which played to Matthau's strengths and fit both his character and the tone of the movie. Two humorous scenes really highlighted the core of his character for me, but describing them would spoil a lot. They occur towards the end and involve Matthau's interactions with two of the hijackers separately.
The large and colorful supporting cast is also quite fun. I won't name them all, but some highlights include a younger Jerry Stiller as Lt. Rico Patrone and Doris Roberts as the mayor's wife.
The direction (by Joseph Sargent) and pacing are very well done, and it was refreshing to see such a story told without the sort of pounding musical cues, forced emotional conflicts and obvious story/character details that I'm expecting from the Tony Scott remake. The direction lets the viewer decide their reaction to the characters and story rather than being obviously manipulative. Movies are all about manipulation, of course, but Sargent keeps his choices subtle. The script allows some natural humor, but doesn't shy away from a few bits of dark violence that enforce the movie's intention to be a serious crime flick rather than light-hearted caper. Mr. Blue's last scene is particularly memorable and shocking.
While I'm sure I'm the millionth person to discover this, I noticed that Tarantino took some inspiration from Pelham for Reservoir Dogs. In both films, the villains are codenamed for colors and all dress identically for the crime. I loved the costumes worn by the hijackers in Pelham. Each wears a drab coat, a mustache, glasses, and a hat. Combined with the nasty looking machine guns, the ensemble makes for quite a memorable image. (Speaking of the guns, they were S&W M76s, the same kind that Ledger carried as The Joker in The Dark Knight. Just a note for the gun nerds like me out there.)
I heartily recommend a rental. This DVD is, unfortunately, non-anamorphic, so if you have a widescreen TV, be prepared for either a tiny picture or some fiddling and a slightly stretched picture. I had hoped that, with the release of the remake, we'd see a Blu-Ray release of the original like we did with The Day the Earth Stood Still. I'd even accept a new anamorphic DVD! Sadly, it looks like MGM has decided to continue punishing us with this cruddy old DVD for a great and little-seen movie.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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not anamorphic
Added 11/16/2009
Although the package is dated 2009, the disc appears to be a recycling of an out-of-date widescreen edition. If you ever wondered what anamorphic means, this is an excellent negative example. Being non-anamorphic, the widescreen image is compressed into a full-screen box. If you have a zoom function, and a projector, you can scale it up to a decent size, but with compensatory loss of definition. It seems shameful to print up a new package label without the small upgrade that would make this a decent DVD, but these old MGM films are now in the hands of Fox, so what do expect.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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The Original does not blow away the remake....
Added 11/5/2009
In fact after looking back, the original, with the exception of Robert Shaw, who was an excellent bad-guy -
the movie was really slow and boring. I am 59 year old and I was around for the original, and it is not a
classic, and if you call it a classic then please define what makes it a "Classic"! You can ask a half-dozen
people right not and the majority of them would not have even heard of the original Taking of Pelham 123.
The re-make of pelham 123 will blow the original out of the water! John Trivolta is the most excellent bad-guy!
You old droopy eyed Walter Matthau lovers, I'm sorry - but the old Pelham 123 is history. Put it on the sheleves
with the rest of your old things, like the WEIGHT your were when you first saw it.
1 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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good movie to recall
Added 9/30/2009
this is the original movie and considering the year of the film, this is a good movie
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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The Original, is best
Added 9/14/2009
I just bought this dvd off amazon, and was glad I did. I saw the re-make in the theater when it came out, and as always, it sparked my interest in the original, that I never knew existed! A great movie, there is enough action, suspense, and mystery to entertain you throughout. The dvd was well formatted and played well. A must have for the collector of great movies like charley varrick, and other classics from the 70's. A real enertaining story.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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5 stars for the movie, 2 for the DVD
Added 11/18/2009
Great little movie. Poor DVD.
The story: New York subway car Pelham 123 is hijacked by four identically dressed and armed men lead by Mr. Blue (Robert Shaw). They hold seventeen hostages on the car and demand one million dollars within an hour or they will begin executing hostages. Lt. Garber (Walter Matthau) is the transit cop on duty who must handle the situation.
Though the idea of hijacking a subway is unique, it's still a rather basic hook. The excellence lies in the execution. The story takes all kinds of interesting little turns. The movie drops you in right as the hijacking begins. No background about the planning or characters yet. As the movie progresses we are still only given hints and short glimpses into the characters' backgrounds. Why would anyone hijack a subway? It's underground, with limited exits. If these hijackers are so smart, how do they plan on getting away? This is the great mystery that we ponder with Garber.
The characters are full of subtly textured details. Mr. Blue has a British accent and mentions a military background. Mr. Green (Martin Balsam) is conflicted and uncomfortable about the whole affair, and I wondered what his recruitment looked like. Mr. Grey appears to be a misanthropic loose cannon, and when Mr. Blue confesses (early on in the caper, I might add) to Mr. Green that he distrusts Grey, I was led again to wonder at the recruitment process, especially given Mr. Blue's penchant for strict planning and control. Mr. Brown (Earl Hindman) is mostly a mystery, but he has a stutter and possibly a professional history with Mr. Green.
On the other side of the law we have Lt. Garber, who is introduced to us giving four Japanese visitors a boring tour of central transit control. Matthau plays Garber in his good old subdued Matthau way. I believed he genuinely cared about the situation and the passengers' lives, but he keeps his emotions pretty low-key (save for one scene where he finally explodes at an irate transit controller played by Dick O'Neill). I thought it was a good performance which played to Matthau's strengths and fit both his character and the tone of the movie. Two humorous scenes really highlighted the core of his character for me, but describing them would spoil a lot. They occur towards the end and involve Matthau's interactions with two of the hijackers separately.
The large and colorful supporting cast is also quite fun. I won't name them all, but some highlights include a younger Jerry Stiller as Lt. Rico Patrone and Doris Roberts as the mayor's wife.
The direction (by Joseph Sargent) and pacing are very well done, and it was refreshing to see such a story told without the sort of pounding musical cues, forced emotional conflicts and obvious story/character details that I'm expecting from the Tony Scott remake. The direction lets the viewer decide their reaction to the characters and story rather than being obviously manipulative. Movies are all about manipulation, of course, but Sargent keeps his choices subtle. The script allows some natural humor, but doesn't shy away from a few bits of dark violence that enforce the movie's intention to be a serious crime flick rather than light-hearted caper. Mr. Blue's last scene is particularly memorable and shocking.
While I'm sure I'm the millionth person to discover this, I noticed that Tarantino took some inspiration from Pelham for Reservoir Dogs. In both films, the villains are codenamed for colors and all dress identically for the crime. I loved the costumes worn by the hijackers in Pelham. Each wears a drab coat, a mustache, glasses, and a hat. Combined with the nasty looking machine guns, the ensemble makes for quite a memorable image. (Speaking of the guns, they were S&W M76s, the same kind that Ledger carried as The Joker in The Dark Knight. Just a note for the gun nerds like me out there.)
I heartily recommend a rental. This DVD is, unfortunately, non-anamorphic, so if you have a widescreen TV, be prepared for either a tiny picture or some fiddling and a slightly stretched picture. I had hoped that, with the release of the remake, we'd see a Blu-Ray release of the original like we did with The Day the Earth Stood Still. I'd even accept a new anamorphic DVD! Sadly, it looks like MGM has decided to continue punishing us with this cruddy old DVD for a great and little-seen movie.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
not anamorphic
Added 11/16/2009
Although the package is dated 2009, the disc appears to be a recycling of an out-of-date widescreen edition. If you ever wondered what anamorphic means, this is an excellent negative example. Being non-anamorphic, the widescreen image is compressed into a full-screen box. If you have a zoom function, and a projector, you can scale it up to a decent size, but with compensatory loss of definition. It seems shameful to print up a new package label without the small upgrade that would make this a decent DVD, but these old MGM films are now in the hands of Fox, so what do expect.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
The Original does not blow away the remake....
Added 11/5/2009
In fact after looking back, the original, with the exception of Robert Shaw, who was an excellent bad-guy -
the movie was really slow and boring. I am 59 year old and I was around for the original, and it is not a
classic, and if you call it a classic then please define what makes it a "Classic"! You can ask a half-dozen
people right not and the majority of them would not have even heard of the original Taking of Pelham 123.
The re-make of pelham 123 will blow the original out of the water! John Trivolta is the most excellent bad-guy!
You old droopy eyed Walter Matthau lovers, I'm sorry - but the old Pelham 123 is history. Put it on the sheleves
with the rest of your old things, like the WEIGHT your were when you first saw it.
1 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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