Walter Matthau

Robert Shaw

Martin Balsam

Héctor Elizondo

Earl Hindman

James Broderick

Dick O'Neill

Lee Wallace

Tom Pedi

Beatrice Winde

Jerry Stiller

Nathan George

Rudy Bond

Kenneth McMillan

Doris Roberts

Julius Harris

Cynthia Belgrave

Anna Berger

Gary Bolling

Carol Cole

Alex Colon

Joe Fields

Mari Gorman

Michael Gorrin

Thomas La Fleur

Maria Landa

Louise Larabee

George Lee Miles

Carolyn Nelson

Eric O'Hanian

Lucy Saroyan

William Snickowski

Barry Snyder

Walter Jones

Jerry Holland

Robert Weil

Penny Krompier

Christopher Murney

Timothy Meyers

Ruth Attaway

Thomas Barbour

Marvin Silbersher

Neil Brooks Cunningham

Sal Viscuso

Tony Fasce

Burtt Harris

Gene Gross

Walter Lott

Conrad Yama

Sho Onodera

Tura Nakamura

Toru Nagai

Rowena Rollins

Joseph Attles

Willis Pinkett

Michelle Matthow

Isabella Hoopes

Bill Cobbs

Jim Pelham

Joe Seneca

Gino Gennaro

Carmine Foresta

Tony Roberts

Peter Stone

John Godey

Edgar J. Scherick

David Shire

Joseph Sargent

Gabriel Katzka

Dick Mingalone

Stephen F. Kesten

Irving Buchman

Pat Suraci

Maurice Schell

Herbert F. Mulligan

Anna Hill Johnstone

Gene Rudolf

Alixe Gordin

Bruno Robotti

Marc Laub

Robert Q. Lovett

Jack Fitzstephens

Nancy Hopton

Gerald B. Greenberg

Josh Weiner

Joie Chitwood Jr.

Owen Roizman

Sanford Rackow

Michael Haley

Joseph M. Caracciolo

Bill Barber

Chris Newman

Daniel Dod

Stanley Bochner

Tim Chitwood

Peter R. Scoppa

Erma E. Levin

Carey Loftin

Gary Muller

Tom Priestley Jr.

Tim Heck

Harry Madsen

Rick Seaman

George Newman

Sal Scoppa Jr.

Al Gramaglia

David Ray

Vic Ramos

Paul Nuckles

Cynthia Scheider

Crime

Thriller

Action

Comedy

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

Palomar Pictures International

Palladium Productions

United States of America

CinemaSerf

Robert Shaw is great in this tensely presented heist thriller with a difference. Allied with Martin Balsam's "Green", Hector Elizondo as "Grey" and Earl Hindman's "Brown" they meticulously hijack a subway train and hold the city to ransom for $1 million. It falls to grizzled transit cop "Garber" (Walter Matthau) to try and second-guess their plans before they start killing one passenger per minute! What adds suspence to this mystery is their potential escape route? Stuck in well mapped and monitored tunnels fifty food beneath street level, how are they planning on getting their loot to Cuba? Joesph Sargent gets loads from an established cast of players here who develop the sense of peril and excitement well - especially the master of less-is-more that is Robert Shaw. It's good to see Matthau demonstrate he's not just about whacky comedy and as the plot reaches it's duplicitous, nerve-wracking denouement with even some space for a delicious irony at the end. The photography captures well the dark and claustrophobically dingy subterranean environment as well as the increasingly frenetic command centre where "Garber" is being wound up by track manager "Correll" (Dick O'Neill) whilst facing increasingly pressure from the hapless mayor (Lee Wallace). Pay them or have your electorate slaughtered? What would you do...?