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I walked into the theater just as the end titles were rolling up on the previous show, and the credits for the passengers included such standbys as the Deliver Boy, the WASP, the Old Man, the Hooker, the Older Son, the Spanish Woman, the Pimp, the Hippie, the Homosexual, and the Co-eds (numbered Co-ed One and Co-ed Two). This note of unforced realism extends even to the passengers being held hostage. These aren't machine-made genre characters, but individuals (and, more specifically, New Yorkers with gallows humor, paranoia, warmth and resiliency). Walter Matthau is gruff, shaggy and sardonic as a Transit Authority lieutenant Robert Shaw is clipped and cruel, and the supporting performances are allowed to grow and take on personality. It depends instead on a nice feel for New York City and some fine, detailed performances. But the movie's appeal - which is considerable - doesn't depend on the plan or on the easily foreseeable plot. The gang has a good, sound plan, not too complicated, and they almost get away with it. When “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” first appeared as a novel, I avoided it on the reasonable grounds that (a) there was no plausible way to hijack a subway train, and (b) if there was, it would be so obvious it wouldn't be interesting.
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