The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day's work for dispatcher Walter Garber into a face-off with the mastermind behind the crime.

Director:

Tony Scott

Writers:

Brian Helgeland (screenplay), John Godey (novel)

Stars:

Denzel Washington, John Travolta, Luis Guzmán

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Denzel Washington	...	Walter Garber
John Travolta	...	Ryder
Luis Guzmán	...	Phil Ramos
Victor Gojcaj	...	Bashkim
Robert Vataj	...	Emri
John Turturro	...	Camonetti
Michael Rispoli	...	John Johnson
Ramon Rodriguez	...	Delgado
James Gandolfini	...	Mayor
John Benjamin Hickey	...	Deputy Mayor LaSalle
Alex Kaluzhsky	...	George
Gbenga Akinnagbe	...	Wallace
Katherine Sigismund	...	Mom
Jake Richard Siciliano	...	8-Year-Old Boy (as Jake Siciliano)
Jason Butler Harner	...	Mr. Thomas

Storyline

In early afternoon, four armed men hijack a subway train in Manhattan. They stop on a slight incline, decoupling the first car to let the rest of the train coast back. Their leader is Ryder; he connects by phone with Walter Garber, the dispatcher watching that line. Garber is a supervisor temporarily demoted while being investigated for bribery. Ryder demands $10 million within an hour, or he'll start shooting hostages. He'll deal only with Garber. The mayor okays the payoff, the news of the hostage situation sends the stock market tumbling, and it's unclear what Ryder really wants or if Garber is part of the deal. Will hostages, kidnappers, and negotiators live through this?

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Plot Keywords:

train | hostage | subway | hijack | subway train | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and pervasive language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [br] Official site [mx]

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 June 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Taking of Pelham 123

Filming Locations:

Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,784,719 (UK) (31 July 2009)

Gross:

£4,720,832 (UK) (21 August 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Relativity Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

John Travolta chose not to promote the film with the rest of the cast, because he was still reeling from the loss of his son, Jett.

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Goofs

During the hostage situation, the kidnappers have net connection to buy stocks and watch the news about the incident. The girlfriend of George shares the the web camera feed online, so that the news stations can show them. But the kidnappers never see the feed on the channels they are watching. However, whichever station the girlfriend contacted may be keeping the feed as an exclusive, or the hijackers may not have watched that one channel out of the numerous options available.

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Quotes

Ryder: Garber! When you put your socks on this morning, did you ever think...? Turn around, let them frisk you. I was worried about you... I thought maybe you'd get lost but then I remembered you were a motorman, so... these tunnels don't change much, do they?
Walter Garber: Just the people in 'em.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the opening credits, the director's name, Tony Scott, "follows" the train into the tunnel.

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Connections

Referenced in Jeopardy!: Episode #26.100 (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums"
Written by Maynard James Keenan (as Maynard Keenan) and Billy Howerdel
Performed by A Perfect Circle
Courtesy of Virgin Records America
Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

User Reviews

Pelham Offers Quite a Ride!

The new Tony Scott movie gives one helluva ride, but don't sit and analyze the plot for credibility during the closing credits, this is not that kind of movie. Four sleazy thugs, who could be spotted as bad guys by a blind man, hijack a Lexington Avenue subway and take passengers as hostages. A ransom-for-hostages negotiation begins via radio between the driver's compartment on the train and the central control center for the New York City subway system. The premise is hardly new territory, and, for those who have seen the Walter-Matthau-Robert-Shaw version of the John Godey novel, the film is even less original.

However, for audiences that want a night out at the movies with a rousing action flick, "The Taking of Pelham 123" will fill the bill nicely. The editing is often frenetic, and the camera moves even during dialog-heavy scenes. The chases are fast paced, the car crashes are over the top, and the bloody scenes are properly bloody. While all of this is enough for some mindless entertainment, four excellent performances enhance the proceedings and make the film seem better than it is. John Travolta pulls out the stops as Ryder, the head hijacker, and, in his full wacko persona, steals his every scene. As the man on the other end of the phone, bespectacled Denzel Washington, dressed down in everyman frumpy, is quiet and assured, although nothing quite suggests that the character of Walter Garber will or could rise to his climactic actions. James Gandolfini plays the mayor with a sly sense of fun, and John Turturro is a hard-to-gauge hostage negotiator. "Pelham" is a man's movie, and the women are relegated to small, peripheral roles as wives, conductors, and hostages. How refreshing the film might have been if Scott had cast a female in one of the four main roles.

However, whatever the movie's flaws, and there are many, "The Taking of Pelham 123" does what it sets out to do: entertain and engage the audience for two hours. Don't expect more, and you won't be disappointed, and, in a summer movie, "Pelham's" assets are exactly what most of us are looking for anyway.