Remake of “Pelham 123″
My wife and I went to see “The Taking of Pelham 123″ today. Since I own the original on DVD I was quite interested to check out this new version, especially after having read this review by Randy Kennedy.
Like most of Mr. Scott’s movies, “Pelham 1 2 3,” which is set to open June 12, is a finely calibrated box-office machine with plenty of fireworks and star power. But for anyone who has spent time past a turnstile, one of its chief attractions will also undoubtedly be how devoted it is to the look and feel of the subway and how well it pulls it off. In early reviews since the trailer was released on the Internet, even the most bloodthirsty critics — New York City subway buffs — have had a few nice things to say.
As most fellow geeks that like to laugh and point out blatant inaccuracies on film and TV, I was interested to see for myself how well they would portray the system, especially given how well it was done in the 1974 edition. I was actually quite pleased with it; it seems that the MTA provided a lot of background to make many parts of the story quite plausible. The thing that piqued my interest was the escape scene where they ended up in the Waldorf-Astoria. It turns out that there indeed was a platform at Grand Central for this hotel. This sort of thing was not all that uncommon back then. However, the station where they filmed the escape scene was labeled “Roosevelt” which is nowhere near Manhattan. I’m thinking that it must have been in the abandoned section of the Roosevelt Ave station in Queens.
Another interesting plot is sending the runaway train to Coney Island instead of South Ferry. As Coney Island is outdoors that would make the filming more interesting; but I’m not sure how a 6 could get switched to BMT tracks to take it to Coney Island. At a minimum it would have to be switched to the 4/5 express tracks to send it over to Brooklyn in the first place. I’m thinking that the train would have derailed long before making it in any event. 
The 70′s edition had more interaction between the hijackers and the passengers; there is a lot more character development in that story line. In this edition, it is clearly all about the stars Travolta and Denzel which also works well.
The intro for the 2009 version features the high pitched whine that anyone that’s ever ridden the 6 would be familiar with; I thought that was a nice touch. However, the original has the best opening credits score of any movie! I’ve embedded it below for your listening pleasure.
