For Love of The Movies

In 1974, Walter Matthau (Grumpy Old Men) and Robert Shaw (JAWS) were the leads in the film adaptation of John Godey’s novel, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. It was a fantastic film. The leads were nothing short of brilliant and today it still stands alone as a classic 70’s action film. Film buffs will immediately notice the influence the film had on Quentin Tarantino’s, Reservoir Dogs in 1992. Yes, almost 20 years before, the criminals in Pelham One Two Three were using colours as names… Blue, Green, Grey and Brown… as did ’The Dogs’ – Mr. White, Mr. Brown, Mr. Pink, etc.

The basic story of the film was about a group of criminals hijacking a busy subway train in order to hold the passengers for ransom. It’s a clever story and one that always begged the question – even if they get paid, how would they get away? Giving it some thought, one almost hesitated to watch the film, because it seemed as though it could get boring. Picture it. A group of armed men, stop a subway car, radio the control room and demand ransom. Where the hell could the action possibly come from and what’s keeping me interested? You needed to see the film to answer that question. The key to the suspense and the glue that kept your eyes on the screen, came solely from the performances and the on-the-money casting of Shaw and Matthau. It has a superb ending – do see it.

In 2009, 35 years later, we have the remake. Brought to the screen by one of the coolest movie director’s ever – Tony Scott. It’s the original film, updated, rebooted, slightly tweaked and on a lethal combination of speed and acid. Then, throw in two of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood; Denzel Washington and John Travolta. It doesn’t get much better than that…

Washington plays Walter Garber (Notice Matthau’s first name and the surname of Matthau’s character in the original. He even wears a tie which matches the colour of Mattau’s outfit from the original!), he’s an everyday Joe  (not a hero), and works for the NYC Subway Station as a train controller. He’s good at what he does but we realise early on that something has happened in his past (I won’t give away what it is, because the opening-of-that-closet-conversation is my favourite scene in the film) that has influenced where he sits in the company. His life is about to be turned upside down, as John Travolta, RYDER (also a one word name, like Blue in the original) and his group of thugs (one of them Luis Guzman, who seems to pop up in just about everything these days) commandeer one of Garber’s trains, which took off from Pelham Station at 1:23pm. Aaah… the title tie in!

John Travolta is simply awesome as Ryder. He’s a complete nut-job with an incredibly likable manner, horrible temper and more dangerously a brilliant plan, of which he will allow nobody to get in the way. At first, it seems like a basic ransom but as the plot pieces fall more into place, we realise he has an ulterior motive. Brilliant.

As Garber realises he’s about to have a very bad day, we are introduced to the Mayor of NYC, played by James Gandolfini, who can play a roll like this with ease and does a superb and believable job, and hostage negotiator, Camonetti, played by the always awesome, John Turturro. I tell you, this guy is incredible. He always gives a flawless and noteworthy performance, even in this smaller supporting roll.

As the various Mayoral, City, Police and negotiating parties get involved, Garber is side-lined due to his utter unimportance in a case of this magnitude. But, Ryder has struck up a ’friendship with him and will now deal with him, and him alone. Garber’s character has a nature and understanding that actually makes him the best man for the job and he slowly becomes a crucial and critical part of keeping Ryder under control and saving the hostages.  The banter and one-on-one’s between Travolta and Washington are the highlight of the film and it’s great to see two actors at the top of their game lashing it out.

Of course, this is a Tony Scott film, and as has become this man’s trademark in the industry, we can expect to see mind-blowing imagery, rapid editing, frenetic back and forth cutting, warped colours and high speed, circling, 360′ camera work.. (Reference : see Domino and Man on Fire). The first 10 minutes of the film alone are enough to make you wonder if the lady behind the food counter slipped LSD into your Slush-Puppy, or laced your popcorn with cocaine. And, then there are the few but spectacular action sequences, which are shot to perfection. One, sees a cop car do about 13 flips off a bridge as it gets plowed into by another vehicle. Even through the devastation, one can almost picture Tony editing the shot to ‘Ode to Joy’. What I love about his change in style is how, graphically, he can describe the different environments, without even trying. The underground subway shots are still, dark, and given the events taking place, very quiet. But, above, the streets are in an insane frenzy of rapid shots, splicing and bright colours whilst we move from the subway control centre to choppers and motor-bikes following police cars trying to deliver the ransom. Ryder’s underground world is one of calm and quiet, whilst he has created utter chaos above. It’s awesome to watch.

Eventually, Ryder wishes to meet Garber, and thank him for helping with executing his plan, albeit against his will. And so the final chase between a nobody and a master-criminal takes place. 

As remakes go, this is undoubtedly one of the best I’ve ever seen. The mix between well established characters, a very clever story and near perfect action scenes makes for an incredibly entertaining 2 hours - which go by very quickly. Never do you sit waiting for the next bit of action to lift your boredom - it’s a constant 120 minute thrill-ride.

This was Tony Scott and Denzel Washington’s 4th collaboration (after Crimson Tide, Man on Fire and DeJa Vu) and they will be returning in 2010 with Unstoppable… which interestingly (and coincidentally) enough, is about  a rail company which frantically works to prevent an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train carrying combustible liquids and poisonous gas from wiping out a city! So Denzel and Tony will be working on the railway again!

I’m going to give this film 8/10 for pure escapism, enjoyment and for the love of hearing John Travolta use the word “M*T**R F**K*R”, creatively every time he opened his mouth. This is one for Blu Ray!