The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
by Tony Scott
List Price:
Our Price: $2.67
You Save: $17.27 (87%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.60 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, Luis Guzmán, Robert Vataj, Victor GojcajDirector: Tony Scott
Brand: Son
Producer: Anson Downes
Producer: Barry H. Waldman
Producer: Don Ferrarone
Producer: Jason Blumenthal
Producer: John Wildermuth
Writer: Brian Helgeland
Writer: John Godey
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.40:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-11-03
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
DVD Review: the ghost of Walter Mathau walks this weak remake like Hamlet
Summary: 3 Stars
ok, so I got to admit it; I love the 1974 original with the inimitable Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, with Hector Elizondo in the Latino role The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. Yes, I hate myself for loving it, and I am coming out about it. It is a masterpiece of comedy and suspense, a guilty pleasure.
But, you know, the mighty Denzel Washington (of the unusual, for him, Training Day (Snap Case), the marvelous and unmissable Malcolm X [Blu-ray], the intelligent Antwone Fisher (Widescreen Edition), the early The Mighty Quinn, all high quality performances) here makes a mighty fine stand-in for Mr. Matthau. Where this falls down is killing the comedy and upping the disaster drama. A few too many car chases and too much gunfire.
I mean, some of the plot devices here are a bit too questionable. Would a top notch cop sniper truly lay down in a NEW YORK subway line, (in A NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY LINE!!! OMG! already) without first having stuffed his pants legs well inside his boots, and tied that down tightly? I mean these guys live with the pants legs INSIDE their boots, and sleep with their pants legs tied tightly INSIDE their boots. All of a sudden they got pants legs loosely OUTSIDE their boots? Huh? You with me on this? No spoiler here, but come one . . . Just to move things along? I mean, just asking for trouble, ok?
and would the New York subway system really send someone with no actual coursework or licensing as a civil engineer, but only a few years running a train, out to assess train systems in Canada and Japan, and not in the USA? Would the Japanese really need to BRIBE that guy with a rather slim bribe?
Sorry, but I just ain't buying it. If you do, hey, I got a bridge for sale, you know? A little too much suspension of disbelief going on here. Give me a break. Respect my intelligence, ok? No one else does . . .
And Travolta struggling to be convincing OVER THE TOP? Johnny raging, just can't do it . . .
And when he SHOULD have been raging, the script again, just ain't there. I mean after the sniping, and he goes back to shoot the kid, and of course kills the black man instead, he should have had some lines to set us up, and does not.
Blame it on the script.
And whenever a nameless Black man shows up in a movie and gets a few lines and face time, you just KNOW he is going to get killed. I mean, giving the main role to Denzel was already a risk . . .
But this real black man is the finest actor in the film aside from Denzel. He gets the job done, anonymously, with just a look. He should have won the Oscar for this performance, He does a truly effective, understated performance, with just a look, at the widow across the train from him, just one look, and he delivers the goods. I am serious here. He does a truly masterful job, with just one silent look, telling the whole story of all of their lives, with one look, doing far more acting than Travolta with ALL of his furious carpet chewing. Give this black man a prize. He is real here as no other actor is, but Denzel and his wife. And James Gandolfini. Papa Soprano as Mayor of New York City. Brilliant!
I must admit, I do go for the way Denzel's supervisor undercuts him every chance, including sending him home. This, too, is REAL.
but like, with us getting established that travolta has one internet browser window watching the real time stock returns like some day trader, and got a few other windows open, why doesn't he IMMEDIATELY know there is a vdeocam in the car?
HUH?!
So there is a whole lot to love in this film, but the script is weak where it should be refined, and the car chase stuff, and the bullets flying, and Travolta . . .
Not enough to scare off the looming and marvelous ghost of Matthau.
Three stars.
Sorry, Denzel, despite your magnificent work here and everywhere.
You make this not totally bad.
Description of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
No description available for this title.Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: R
Street Date: 11/03/09
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
Language: ENGLISH
Foreign Film: noSubtitles: no
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve
John Godey's 1973 novel The Taking of Pelham One Two Three boasts a suspense situation so surefire that even the directorial bad habits of Tony Scott can't ruin this latest movie version. Four armed men seize a New York City subway train, isolate one car, and threaten to start killing passengers if a ransom isn't paid within the hour. The ransom was a million dollars in the book and also in Joseph Sargent's solid 1974 movie, in which Robert Shaw played the mercenary leading the hostage takers and Walter Matthau was the growling transit cop trying to outsmart him. In 2009, the title has gone digital--The Taking of Pelham 123--and inflation has jumped the asking price to $10 million. Where Shaw's menace was steely, John Travolta opts for manic, and shamelessly has a blast in the master villain role. His adversary, cagily underplayed by Denzel Washington, has been upgraded in civil-service rank but also demoted on suspicion of taking a bribe. This colors the dynamics of the dialogue between Washington at his control-center console and Travolta on the motorman's microphone aboard the stalled train.
So far, so reasonably good. But the director's trademark tactics keep getting between, well, everything. From the get-go, the visuals are subjected to pointless and irritating stutter effects, speeding-up/slowing-down, gratuitous camera movement, and the interposition of dirt- or light-smeared panes of glass between the camera and people we'd appreciate a clear look at. The 1974 movie settled for one police car being wrecked as the ransom is rushed uptown; Scott requires multiple collisions, each the occasion for police cruisers taking Lethal Weapon-style flight. The hostages in the earlier film were wittily individuated, a multicultural group portrait of the city at that mid-'70s moment; the ones on Scott's train--and also Travolta's fellow perpetrators, including that wonderful character actor Luis Guzmán--barely register. On the upside, John Turturro and James Gandolfini shine as two guys who (like the actors themselves) are very good at their jobs?respectively playing a hostage negotiator and His Honor, the mayor. The screenplay by Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) strives intelligently, if formulaically, to add new dimensions to the main characters and to offer its own gloss on the current economic meltdown. --Richard T. Jameson
Stills from The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Click for larger image)
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Man on FireFox; Release date: 2004-09-14; DVD
Best price: $4.86
Price in other shops:
The SiegeRelease date: 1999-04-20; DVD
Best price: $4.78
Price in other shops:
Deja VuBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2007-04-24; Published: 2007-04-01; DVD
Best price: $6.09
Price in other shops:
Out of TimeWASHINGTON,DENZEL; Release date: 2004-01-06; DVD
Best price: $3.87
Price in other shops:
From Paris with LoveLions Gate; Release date: 2010-06-08; DVD
Best price: $4.59
Price in other shops:
Courage Under FireTCFHE; Release date: 2000-12-26; DVD
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
John Q. (Infinifilm Edition)NEW Line Home Video; Release date: 2002-07-16; DVD
Best price: $2.98
Price in other shops:
Inside Man (Widescreen Edition)NBC Universal; Release date: 2006-08-08; DVD
Best price: $2.85
Price in other shops:
The Taking of Pelham One Two ThreeMATTHAU,WALTER; Release date: 2000-02-29; DVD
Best price: $4.03
Price in other shops:
UnstoppableFOX; Release date: 2011-02-15; DVD
Best price: $11.68
Price in other shops: