Movie Review: The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

A tense New York thriller, The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three is an unyielding tension-packed hostage drama accentuated by a veteran cast.

Four densely disguised and heavily armed men seize control of a New York subway car with seventeen passengers on board. Using only pseudonyms to address each other, the leader is ex-mercenary Mr. Blue (Robert Shaw), and the rest of the gang consists of former New York transit employee Mr. Green (Martin Balsam), the trigger happy Mr. Grey (Hector Elizondo), and Mr. Brown (Earl Hindman). With the hostage train held between stations, the New York subway system grinds to a halt.

Over the train's radio system, Mr. Blue opens negotiations with Lieutenant. Zachary Garber (Walter Matthau) of the transit police, demanding one million dollars within an hour, otherwise a hostage will be killed every minute. Garber has to convince the unpopular Mayor (Lee Wallace) and his assistant (Tony Roberts) to pay-up, the money has to be collected and counted, and then sped through New York to the 28th Street station, the closest entrance to where the hostage train is stopped. With time running out, Mr. Blue starts to lose patience and the subway tunnels fill-up with police officers and snipers.

Not every aspect of The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three works well. The characters are given either rudimentary backstories or none at all, a missed opportunity for Mr. Blue, Mr. Green and Garber. The Mayor of New York is laboriously introduced then unceremoniously dumped. And the ending in particular is a bit ragged, the hijackers suddenly becoming error prone in a manner inconsistent with all the intricate prior planning that went into the hijacking.

But otherwise, the film is a transcendent example of 1970s crime dramas set in New York. The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three derives monstrous energy from the City. Whether the transit employees, the police officers, the politicians or the hostages, here everyone is rude, loud-mouthed, sometimes vulgar, and quite irritable. Yet they do what they need to do to make things work and get by for another day. Faced with a bizarre hostage crisis, nothing in the response goes according to any plan, but sheer persistence and jagged cooperation keeps Garber one step ahead of a lot of dead hostages.

Walter Matthau provides a timely reminder of his effectiveness in dramatic roles, his unkempt persona perfectly suited to the transit authority setting. Director Joseph Sargent portrays a transit system that works but only because of the dogged determination of the stubborn, sweaty characters that run it, and Matthau's Lieutenant Garber is a perfect fit.

Robert Shaw as Mr. Blue is a formidable main foe. A cold hearted killer with ice in his veins, Blue plans for events several steps ahead of everyone else, and whiles away the time solving crossword puzzles as a million dollar life and death drama unfolds. With his British accent elevating him above the prevailing New York riff-raff, Blue appears in total control of an audacious hostage plot.


David Shire provides a drop-dead brilliant music score, a driving, brass-heavy tune with an infectious riff that goes exactly nowhere but enjoys every groovy juncture. The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three careens down the tracks, a blast of an entertaining ride.

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Movie Review: Annie Hall (1977)

A ground-breaking romantic comedy, Annie Hall set a genre standard that has rarely been matched. Woody Allen and Diane Keaton sparkle as the perfect example of opposites attracting each other, and both deliver career defining performances.

The film is narrated by Allen in the role of Alvy Singer. An insecure Jew born and raised in Brooklyn and now working as a stand-up comic in New York City, Singer recounts his on-again, off-again relationship with girlfriend and aspiring singer Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). Although they share little in common, Singer and Hall find a unique chemistry between regular bouts of sparring and bickering.

Twice divorced and turning forty, Singer is obsessed with issues of life and death, sensitive about being a Jew, condescending towards the views of others, and unapologetically pessimistic. Hall is cheerful, transparent, self effacing, and a demon driver. They argue about education, sex, smoking pot, life in New York, and social engagements, but nevertheless enjoy being together more than being apart, until the relationship appears to reach a dead end.

Allen populates Annie Hall with colourful characters in relatively small but memorable roles, including Tony Roberts as Alvy's only friend, Paul Simon as the main competition vying for Annie's attention, Carol Kane as Alvy's first wife and Shelley Duvall as a one-night stand. They drift in and out of the wobbly orbit being travelled by Alvy and Annie, adding touches of quirky humour.

Annie Hall is filled with daring touches of humour drawn from original film-making techniques, including Allen continuously breaking the fourth wall to address the audience, and a scene where sub-titles are used to convey what Alvy and Annie and really thinking, a totally separate conversation from their actual exchange of dialogue. Alvy and Annie in their present forms frequently drop in on episodes from their past, and one scene is entirely animated.

In another stylistic triumph, Annie Hall evokes the pace of real life thanks to Allen using long takes to allow scenes to develop and breathe, the camera of cinematographer Gordon Willis an unobtrusive and casual observer of unfolding human interaction, editor Ralph Rosenblum prominent due to his lack of activity. Characters stumble over their thoughts and sometimes over each other's words as they would if there were no cameras around, with the humour stemming from recognizable wit rather than cinematic sarcasm.

Annie Hall's influence extended beyond the screen and helped shape the cultural landscape of the mid to late 1970s. Keaton's wardrobe ignited a radical fashion trend and Allen's commentary on life and death framed societal engagement. At the core of the movie are two compellingly irresistible characters: despite their up and down relationship, they would have been most welcome guests at any dinner party.

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