Why is this film interesting? Not because it's a tough, no nonsense realistic thriller full of great and not overdone action with a completely predictable ending; that's beside the point. Even the most realistic thriller was quite predictable by the early '70s and most have not aged well. And it's to counteract that 'recognition' of something you've seen a hundred times before and sell people the same mediocre product again and again that all we get nowadays are movies with more and more special FX and less attention to holes in plots (which don't make much of a difference in the box-office bottom line anyway). But no special FX extravaganza can come near a film that has geniunly interesting and real characters. "Pelham 1,2,3" is interesting because of the characters, what an Oscar winner like "The French Connection" doesn't have enough of. It is interesting not only because of the fantastic performance of Robert Shaw (only matched by Rutger Hauer's in "NightHawks"), but the many authentic New York characters scattered throughout the movie: not so much Walter Mathau (who's great in his role) but more his hot-headed jerk of a partner or the other hothead who gets shot on the tracks or the police captain played by that Jimmy Cagney-meets-dough-boy Irish guy who later portrayed Barney in "The Pope of Greenwich Village." The city of New York (and the people in it) becomes the main character in the film and keeps it rocking into a more poetic zone. Also, if anyone out there is interested in 'Subway related' films, they should definitely check out "The Incident" starring Martin Sheen and Tony Musante, a great film that's so realistic it's hard to believe it was shot on a soundstage!
Review of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
