Handling the hostage situation: This is another one of those things where there's a very clear distinction in these movies as to living in a pre- and post-9/11 world. In 74, a lot of people seem to be really blase about the situation. You have passengers asking how much the gang is going to get in ransom, you have one train supervisor killed because he tries to force his way onto the train and doesn't take the gang's threats seriously, you have jokes being made about flying the train to Cuba, and then you have the one head dispatcher constantly throwing a fit over how backed up all the trains are and to just forget about the hostage takers and get back to work because dammit he has a job to do! Then in the 09 version, everyone is taking this situation very seriously, locking everything down and focusing in on the crisis.
Japan: In 74, Matthau leads a group from those in charge of the Tokyo rail system around the dispatch center, and that's how he ends up in there right as the hostage situation begins. In 09, Washington is being investigated for taking a bribe from a Japanese rail car manufacturer.
Several female subway passengers wear low-cut shirts. A young woman seductively pulls down her shirt to expose her bra and bare stomach to her boyfriend who is watching online. A female passenger sneaks a furtive peek as a man pulls down his fly and attempts to urinate out of an open subway car door. The mayor is accused of adultery. Another man jokes that Ryder must have slept with his ex-wife. Ryder fondly recalls taking a voluptuous model on a romantic trip.
Subway dispatcher Walter Garber's (Denzel Washington) day starts mundanely enough, with complaints about non-working switches and workplace pranks. But events take a turn at 2:13 p.m., when he fields a call from Ryder (John Travolta), an ex-con who's hijacked a train and is demanding $10 million for the release of its passengers -- and he threatens to shoot one of them for every minute the loot fails to show. Still reeling from being demoted to the dispatch desk after being accused of taking bribes, Garber senses a chance to redeem his name. But the stakes are high and the odds ugly.
Ryder learns from one of his fellow criminals, and from his laptop, that Garber was previously a manager who was demoted because he was suspected of taking a $35,000 bribe from Japanese interests to recommend that the transit authority buy the subway trains currently in use. Ryder demands that Garber confess to the crime or he will murder another hostage.
The Taking Of Pelham 123 is a lean thriller filled with great performances and taut suspense that is now considered one of the decade's best thrillers. Quentin Tarantino would once cite it as a big influence on Reservoir Dogs, as both feature a gang of thieves using color code names. The movie was later given a slick update by director Tony Scott (Top Gun) in 2009, with John Travolta as Mr. Blue and Denzel Washington taking over Matthau's role. It ended up doing modest business, though it was considered inferior to the 1974 adaptation.
By car: From the south: take I-95 (Bruckner Expressway) North. Get off at Exit 8B (Orchard Beach/City Island). Go pass the war memorial, over the Pelham bridge, and make the first right at the traffic light immediately following the drawbridge (taking the yield sign). This will put you on City Island Road. Continue to the Traffic circle and follow the traffic circle three quarters of the way around, following the signs for Orchard Beach. Continue to the Orchard Beach parking lot. Walk to the boardwalk and turn left. Continue to the Nature Center at Section 2 of the Beach. The distance is about 200 Yards.
From the west: Take Pelham Parkway East all the way to the end, where it turns into Shore Road. Follow the above directions from the drawbridge.
Bashkim kills a plainclothes Transit Police officer who attempts to arrest him. He and Ramos then allow all the passengers not in the front car to be released except for the motorman. Garber reluctantly negotiates with Ryder and develops a rapport, while Ramos and Emri set up internet access in the tunnel. Ryder uses his laptop to watch the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunge nearly one thousand points during the next hour in response to the taking. One of the passenger's laptops also connects to the internet, and the computer's webcam is activated. The webcam allows the people in the control center to monitor the train, which they use to observe Ryder and Ramos. Lieutenant Camonetti of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit enters the RCC to take over negotiations and Garber is ordered to leave the premises. The change infuriates Ryder, who shoots and kills the train's motorman in order to force Camonetti to bring Garber back.
9738318194