Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The

Director:  Joseph Sargent
Year Released:  1974
Rating:  2.5

Armed men (led by Robert Shaw) take over the Pelham train and hold the prisoners hostage for a million dollars; Walter Matthau and Jerry Stiller try to negotiate with them. The dialogue is spotty, and for being a crisis, everyone seems relatively calm and free to crack jokes except for Shaw, whose performance makes up for a lot. The ending is a gigantic letdown, considering what we know about the characters – would a mercenary give up quite so easily? Can a sneeze give you away?

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