Rating: 
Summary: Watch the thoid rail
Review: Four men with mustaches hijack a subwaycar under Manhattan and keep the passengers as hostages. They want money and they are dead serious. Above sreetlevel is, tougher than ever, Walter Matthau, trying to solve this problem. While only a tiny part of New York City is touched by this hijacking, things are getting serious underground. The IRT's, the IND's and the BMT's are all down. Once again, the subways of New York are being used as setting for a movie. And that's brilliant because, as they say, a lot of things can happen on the subway....
Rating: 
Summary: A completely different kind of "Subway Crime"
Review: Now, ask yourself, "How do you make a movie about 4 men who hijack a NYC subway car and demand a $1 million ransom, and make it believable?" Well, people, Joseph Sargent makes it work! A cast that also includes Jerry Stiller and Earl Hindman (the neighbor from Home Improvment) makes this an adventurous yet humorous film. You have to see this movie to truely believe it, but afterwards you won't be dissapointed. A must have for fans of urban crime-drama movies.
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Summary: All the other reviewers here are right!
Review: I saw this when it first came out in 1974 (I was 13) in New York City and the audience roared and cheered and laughed from start to finish.But, now the movie plays like an old friend, it's still fast and furious with extremely realistic performances, unbelievable period atmosphere (everyone else is right, New York just doesn't look or work like this anymore) and a great plot. The movie is summed up perfectly at the beginning when Robert Shaw tell the train engineer what he's doing...the look of astonishment from the engineer tells you everything you need to know. Rent it...buy it...convince your friends...the MOST underrated movie of the 70's!
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Summary: RUNAWAY TRAIN
Review: If director Joseph Sargent deserves to stay in the memory of the movie lovers, it's undoubtedly because of THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE. The movie begins with a close shot of Martin Balsam's face and ends with another close shot on Walter Matthau's face. Between these two images, we have endured one of these wild rides that only cinema can offer. With a suffocating rythm, Joseph Sargent describes the perfect kidnapping of a N.-Y. subway train by Robert Shaw and Martin Balsam while Walter - the cop - Matthau tries to think faster than the gangsters. THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE is a terrific action movie any movie buff has to possess. Languages, subtitles and the trailer as bonus features but an under-average video transfer (shame, shame, shame). A DVD for your library.
Rating:
Summary: We don't deserve movies this good....no...we don't...
Review: Walter Matthau had this strange streak where he was making good movies...REALLY GOOD MOVIES like Hopscotch and Charley Varrick and A New Leaf...and then he came to senses and went back to co-starring with Meg Ryan and her ilk. So god bless the man who green-lighted this movie. Perhaps the finest action film of the 1970's, Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 has it all...races against time, gunfights in subway tunnels, guys in big pimp coats, screaming children, sickly mayors and Walter Matthau as a transit cop. Best are the movies where the unlikely are heroic. Jam-packed with great actors (Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Earl Hindman) and character actors galore. Perfectly written. Lovingly filmed. This is the New York you always wanted to visit but are now forced to lament. Filled with ha ha and oh geesh and wow and gasp....you should turn off your computer and run like a emu to get it. If they don't have it, scream until they get it. I cannot properly express in words just how divine an act this film is. It never hits an off key at all...it just soars and soars and does cartwheels in the sky above our heads while we stare up and squint at it, our faces warm with sunlight and happiness.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie but very poor DVD quality
Review: I purchased this DVD simply because I had seen the movie in mid 70's and really enjoyed it at that time. It is still the same movie, and I enjoyed it one more time last night when I watched it again 25 years later. However, I was very disappointed with the picture and sound quality as well as the lack of special features. The introduction of DVD gave new life to many movies made in the past. Unfortunately some vendors just take an old movie and slap it onto DVD, and sell it for a quick few bucks. Helas, there are people like me buying it. This is a great movie, would have turned into a treasure if only the DVD makers took the time to set up a 10 minutes interview with the actors, and add a few more whistes and bells. Since the makers of this DVD did not enhance it, I feel obligated to remove one star from my rating. Sorry.
Rating:
Summary: New York,Before Disney
Review: Brilliant movie.1974 New York is NOT the place that we know now.A crumbling infrastructure,no corporate bailouts or Donald Trump make this period piece believable.This could have happened in pre computer 1974.Robert Shaw is a chilling Mr.Blue.Matthau almost plays is straight.Only nit-pic...DVD transfer while good is MONO sound.What gives.If I had known this,a VHS copy whpuld have been fine.Minor quibble though...Get This!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely top!
Review: Just seen this film on BBC, and am so impressed. Walther Matthau is superb, as are the rest of the cast. It's so atmospheric, and holds the suspense right up until the end.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most overlooked flicks in film history
Review: I first had the soundtrack from David Shire and was very curious about this movie. It was very hard to get it in Germany 2 years ago and I borrowed it from an american video store. At first I was suprised to see Walter Matthau in his maybe best role. This movie got me going 'cause of it's action and suspense. It's a die-hard criminal movie with Robert Shaw as the brutal head of a partly disturbed little gang. There are no boring parts in this movie even MTV could learn something about smarter cuts. This movie is just so amazing that Q. Tarantino was sure to "steal" something from this flick for RESERVOIR DOGS (other stuff from John Woo). The names of the villains are MR. Blue, MR. Orange etc. ! So the thing is clear: THIS MOVIE IS A MUST. IF YOU HAVEN`T SEEN IT YET YOU SURELY MISSED SUM BIG ! BUY OR BE FORGOTTEN...
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Summary: This movie keeps the viewer in suspense throughout.
Review: I am not exaggerating when I say 'The Taking Of Pelham 123' is my favourite film of all time. From the beginning right through to the very end, it is filled with suspense, action, intensity as well as some sheer hilarity. I feel that Walter Matthau acheives his best ever role as Leutenant Garber the transit cop, and well and truly steals the show. There is not a single second of slowness in the movie, and not a single minute that doesn't set your heart racing. Oh, and for anyone who has seen the film, don't you think Matthau's expression at the end of the film is just truly hilarious!
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