Released in 1974, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is a gritty high concept thriller that seems to have escaped being awarded the plaudits given to other films of the same genre and from the same era such as The French Connection or Dirty Harry.

The film tells of the hijacking of a New York subway train with 17 passengers aboard(the Pelham One Two Three of the title) by four armed criminals, their demand for a ransom and the city leaders’ inept attempts at getting the money to them within the one-hour time limit. With the hijackers threatening to kill one passenger for every minute the one million dollars is late, the clock is ticking.

Unlike Dirty Harry and The French Connection which depend on single charismatic lead actors (Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman respectively), Pelham has an enviable ensemble cast. The hijackers are led by the ever-intimidating Robert Shaw, who the following year would steal the show as the unforgettable Quint in Jaws, as a British former mercenary looking for a big payday. Two of his colleagues in crime are Martin Balsam, a famous face from a myriad of movies including 12 Angry Men and All The President’s Men, as a digruntled fired railwayman, and Hector Elizondo playing a sexually predatory ex-Mafia enforcer of such irredeemable scumbaggery it’s amazing to think he went on to play avuncular patricians in fluff like Pretty Woman and The Princess Diaries.

On the side of the angels, the laconic wisenheimer traffic cop, Lt. Zachary “Z” Garber, out to thwart Shaw and his crew is played by the excellent Walter Matthau. His sidekick Lt. Rico Patrone is played by Jerry Stiller, father of Ben, who went on to play George Constanza’s hilariously unhinged father in Seinfeld. Another cop, Inspector Daniels, is played by Julius Harris who, the year before had played the metal-armed henchman Tee Hee in the only halfway decent Roger Moore Bond film, Live and Let Die.

One thing that’s striking when watching the film is that most of the cast, if not exactly dog-ugly, have the kind of characterful faces that you just don’t see in movies these days. If starting out today, Matthau and Shaw would be Ugly Thug #3 and #4 in Gone in 60 Seconds 3, standing behind bland, sand-blasted pretty boys like Clooney and Pitt.

You can see why such fine actors were attracted to Pelham. The script is sharp, without an ounce of fat but with great moments of dialogue that retain a sly, wry wit.

Mayor: Will you stop bullying everybody, Warren? This is supposed to be a democracy!
Deputy Mayor: Wise up, for chrissake, we’re trying to run a city, not a goddamn democracy! Al, quit farting around - we’ve got to pay!
Mayor: Jessie, Jessie, what do you say?
Mayor’s wife: I know a million dollars sounds like a lot of money. But just think what you’ll get in return.
Mayor: What?
Mayor’s wife: Eighteen sure votes.

The script also toys with notions of racism but shies away from the fascistic undertones of Dirty Harry and the uncomfortable police harrassment of the “Poughkeepsie” scene in The French Connection. Matthau’s Garber is casually racist (of a kind) in two scenes - once with Japanese dignitaries visiting the rail network and once when he expresses surprise at meeting the black Inspector Daniels. On both occasions however it is Garber who is shown to be the fool.

And it gently pokes fun at the counter-culture: Garber mistakes a long-haired male undercover cop for woman and while the hijacked train hurtles down the track, the female hippy hostage “ooooommmmmms” to remain calm. The film also takes time to land a few low blows on authority figures in its portrayal of the whining and effete, beleagured and unpopular city mayor, laid low with flu and at the mercy of his domineering attack dog of a deputy.

The influence the film would have on later movies is apparent from the outset. The hijackers are all referred to by colour, Mr Blue, Green, Grey and Brown, to disguise their identity - an idea cinematic magpie Quentin Tarantino borrows in Reservoir Dogs. The washed-out realism of Pelham is a look they now pay a fortune to achieve in films like The Bourne Identity and Payback (another film that harks back to the hard 70’s thrillers in its sensibilities and soundtrack.)

The multicultural cast of hapless citizens hurtling to their doom in a tin tube turns up again in Speed which also has it’s own subway chase. Pelham’s list of ethnically, sexually and religiously diverse hostages throws its net as hilariously wide as Speed does, the cast list simply reading “The Mother, The Homosexual, The Secretary, The Hooker, The Old Man, The Pimp, The Alcholic, The Spanish Woman…”

As I said at the beginning, the film is high concept: “Colour-coded criminals hijack a subway train and threaten to kill a passenger for every minute the one million dollar ransom is late.” It goes without saying that these days we’re awash with high concept thrillers - the term, frankly, becoming one of abuse - with scant few showing the wit and verve of Pelham.

The villains are bastards with a fiendishly clever plan and no compunction, the hero gets by on his wits not his gun (indeed, Garber is in the subway control room negotiating with the hijacker via radio for most of the film). The hapless city police operate by good luck more than good management.

Throw in a hard-as-coffin-nails Schifrin-esque score by David Shire (put the brass-driven opening title theme on your MP3 player and you’ll feel like a titan the next time you stride out for a pint of milk), a cheeky twist of an ending and a final freeze-frame shot that will have you grinning for days, and you have a tight, perfectly plotted and acted thriller that they really don’t make any more. No doubt a remake is in the pipeline with Ben Affleck in the Matthau role (but now with a broken marriage and a drink problem) and Vinnie Jones in the Shaw one (but now with a caring side that allows him to bond with one of the child hostages). Set in space.

(File under: Movies, Pelham One Two Three)