''The Taking of Pelham One Two Three'' is a 1998 American

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

film directed by

Félix Enríquez Alcalá Félix Enríquez Alcalá (sometimes credited as Felix Alcala) (born March 7, 1951 in Bakersfield, California) is an Argentinean-American film and television director. Career Alcalá's first major breakthrough came in 1991 when he was hired by ...

and starring

Edward James Olmos Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in ''Miami Vice'' (1984–1989), ''American Me'' (1992) (which he also dir ...

. It is a television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Morton Freedgood (writing under the pseudonym John Godey), and is a remake of the 1974 film adaptation. It was followed by a 2009 remake.

Premise

Edward James Olmos plays Detective Anthony Piscotti, a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

police officer. He is trying to crack the hijacking of a

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...

train where the antagonists are holding the passengers for ransom.

Cast

as Detective Anthony Piscotti *

Vincent D'Onofrio Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. His roles include Private Leonar ...

as Mr. Blue *

Richard Schiff Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an American actor and director. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on ''The West Wing'', a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Schiff made his directorial debut with ''The West Wing'', directing ...

as Mr. Green *

Donnie Wahlberg Donald Edmond Wahlberg Jr. (born August 17, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, record producer, and film producer. He is a founding member of the boy band New Kids on the Block. Outside music, he has had roles in the ''Saw' ...

as Mr. Grey * Tara Rosling as Mr. Brown * Lisa Vidal as Barbara 'Babs' Cardoza *

Kenneth Welsh Kenneth Welsh, (March 30, 1942 – May 5, 2022) was a Canadian film and television actor. He was best known as the multi-faceted villain Windom Earle in ''Twin Peaks'', for his roles in the films '' The Day After Tomorrow'', ''Adoration'', '' S ...

as Caz Hollowitz *

Lorraine Bracco Lorraine Bracco (born October 2, 1954) is an American actress. Known for her distinct husky voice and Brooklyn accent, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, four Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards ...

as Detective Ray * Ben Cook as Older Boy On Subway * Bobby Boriello as Younger Boy On Subway * Bobby O'Neill as Homeboy On Subway (as Black Katt) *

Ingrid Veninger Ingrid Veninger (born August 21, 1968) is a Canadian actress, writer, director, producer, and film professor at York University. Veninger began her career in show business as a child actor in commercials and on television; as a teen, she was fea ...

as Graduate Student On Subway * Alisa Wiegers as Office Worker Shaky"* Peter Boretski as Old Man On Subway * Stuart Clow as Jogger * Michael A. Miranda as Denny Alcala * Sandi Ross as Mrs. Jenkins *

Louis Del Grande Louis Del Grande (born March 23, 1943) is a Canadian-American television writer and actor. He is best known for starring in the Canadian mystery/comedy series '' Seeing Things''. Early life Del Grande was born and raised in Union City, New Jersey ...

as Frank Stonehouse *

Gary Reineke Gary Reineke (born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian actor. Early life Reineke was born in Scarborough, Ontario on May 27, 1945. Career Reineke has appeared in more than eighty films since 1974, and was a Genie Award nominee for Best Supporting Act ...

as Deputy Mayor * Richard Fitzpatrick as Borough Commander * Roy Lewis as Officer Artis Washington *

Philip Akin Philip Akin (born April 18, 1950) is a Canadian actor. Akin has had roles in major American films such as '' The Sum of All Fears'', '' S.W.A.T.'', and '' Get Rich or Die Tryin. He has also done much voice work, including voicing the characte ...

as ESU Lieutenant *

Judah Katz Judah Katz (born June 23, 1960) is a Canadian actor born in Montreal, Quebec. He has worked in Toronto and Los Angeles for more than 30 years, appearing in both TV series and films. Winning an ACTRA award (now called a Gemini Award) for his ve ...

as TV Reporter * Catherine Blythe as Video Camerawoman

Production details

The film is a remake, with

in the

Walter Matthau Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), '' King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a ...

role and

replacing Robert Shaw as the lead hijacker. Although not particularly well received by critics or viewers, this version was reportedly more faithful to the book, specifically in the rigging of the hijacked train for the getaway. The film was shot in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

's TTC subway system, mainly using the system's

Bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

St. Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...

and

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

stations, and two of a class of older cars being retired by the TTC. The two cars were shipped by road to the scrapyard the day after filming ended, still disguised as New York cars. The Toronto subway cars used for filming cannot operate singly, so a two-car set was used. A phony cab was built on the other end of H-1 car 5482 to simulate single car operation. The single car supposedly detached from the front of the train can be seen on several occasions to be part of a train of at least two cars. The most obvious cases are when rounding curves: once when first moving forward after being detached, and later when Anthony has just figured out the hijackers' plan.

Differences from the novel

Since the film was produced much later than the original, there are also additions to the film that did not exist in the original. For example, one of the characters sets up an IBM ThinkPad laptop computer, connected wirelessly to a

motion detector A motion detector is an electrical device that utilizes a sensor to detect nearby motion. Such a device is often integrated as a component of a system that automatically performs a task or alerts a user of motion in an area. They form a vital c ...

that he places on the track. Later in the film, another character views the screen to see an approaching person, whom he confronts in the tunnel. The ransom demand in the remake was $5 million as opposed to $1 million in the original film and the novel.

Home media

In 2012, TGG Direct released the film on DVD in full frame in a two-pack that also included ''

Runaway Train A runaway train is a type of railroad incident in which unattended rolling stock is accidentally allowed to roll onto the main line, a moving train loses enough braking power to be unable to stop in safety, or a train operates at unsafe speeds d ...

'' (1985).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The 1998 television films 1998 films 1998 action thriller films 1998 crime drama films 1998 crime thriller films 1990s American films 1990s English-language films 1990s police films ABC network original films American action thriller films American crime drama films American crime thriller films American police detective films American thriller television films Crime film remakes Crime television films Films about extortion Films about hijackings Films about hostage takings Films about the New York City Police Department Films based on adaptations Films based on American crime novels Films based on works by Morton Freedgood Films directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá Films scored by Stewart Copeland Films set on the New York City Subway Films shot in Toronto Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Remakes of American films Television films based on books Television remakes of films Thriller film remakes