friday classic movie blogging

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. (1974). Directed by Joseph Sargent. Written by Peter Stone. Based on the novel by John Godey. Starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Earl Hindman, James Broderick, Dick O'Neil, Lee Wallace, Tom Pedi, Beatrice Winde, Jerry Stiller.


"Crazy wisdom is, of course, the opposite of conventional wisdom," writes Tom Robbins. The conventional wisdom says that casting Walter Matthau, Dick O'Neil, and Jerry Stiller as the heroic leads and Robert Shaw and Martin Balsam as the bad guys in your hostage-n'-heist thriller where almost nothing ever happens equals snoresville. But that's conventional wisdom talking, and since Pelham is nothing but crazy wise, it all adds up to one of the smartest and coolest movies to sprout from the fertile ground of 1970s cinema.