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The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

Screening: Monday 28 August, 6:30pm

Taking of Pelham One Two Three poster

USA
1974

Director: Jospeh Sargent
Production co: Palomar Pictures, Palladium Productions
Producers: Gabriel Katzka, Edgar J. Scherick
Screenplay: Peter Stone. Based on the novel by John Godey
Cinematography: Owen Roizman
Editors: Gerald Greenberg, Robert Q. Lovett
Sound: Sanford Rackow, Martk Kaub, John Fitzstephens
Music: David Shire

Lieutenant Garber: Walter Matthau
Mr Blue: Robert Shaw
Mr Green: Martin Balsam
Mr Grey: Hector Elizondo
Mr Brown: Earl Hindman
Denny Doyle: James Broderick
Corell: Dick O'Neill
Mayor: Lee Wallace
Lieutenant Patrone: Jerry Stiller

104 mins

35mm (2.35:1)

R13 cert
ADMISSION STRICTLY MEMBERS ONLY

This film, about a group of hijackers who take charge of a New York subway car and hold its 18 passengers for a $1 million ransom, is swift, sure and merciless, like a ride on the D train in the dead of night. The alternation of danger and comedy give the film a staccato flair that is still admired. The skilful shifting of points of view in Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs owes a debt to the earlier picture’s brisk and businesslike terror; in addition, the subway kidnappers of Pelham adopt the names of colors – they identify themselves to the authorities as Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Grey and Mr. Brown – a note that may sound vaguely familiar to Tarantino observers. Matthau gets laughs out of lines that sound almost as if they weren't intended to be funny, simply by exercising patience in a genre not known for it – and in a movie built to run like an express train. – Elvis Mitchell, New York Times

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