Editorial
Front Page - Friday, June 26, 2009
The Critic's Corner
David Laprad
If you decide to the see “The Taking of Pelham 123,” don’t rent the original before you go. It will take the pleasure out of watching the remake.
The new “Pelham” stars John Travolta as Ryder, the leader of a gang of armed men that highjack a New York City subway train and demand $10 million in cash from the city. If officials don’t deliver the money within the hour, Ryder pledges to execute one passenger for every minute they’re late. Denzel Washington is Walter Garber, the train dispatcher who gets roped into the role of liaison when he takes the first call from Ryder.
Travolta and Washington both deliver decent performances. What’s more, the script gives more substance to the motivations of the gang’s leader. The original stars Robert Shaw as the amoral Mr. Blue, whose only incentive for committing the crime is to satiate his expensive tastes. Brian Helgeland, who penned the new “Pelham,” gave Ryder a more interesting reason for holding the city hostage.
I also like how Ryder pulls a public confession to a shameful crime out of Garber, and in so doing brings the dispatcher down to his level.
But not all of the changes Helgeland made work. In the original “Pelham,” Garber is a lieutenant with the Metropolitan Transit Authority rather than a train dispatcher. Walter Matthau hits all the right notes, bringing humor, composure and wit to the role. As a law enforcement officer, he undertakes the dual roles of negotiator and investigator, which limits the time he has to develop a rapport with Blue.
Helgeland must have thought it would be more interesting for Garber and Ryder to have touchy-feely conversations in which they get to know each other. Question: if you have less than one hour to save over a dozen hostages, are you going to waste time asking the gang’s leader if he’s a good Catholic? The relationship between Garber and Ryder might make the new “Pelham” seem more human, but it doesn’t make it more interesting.
The original “Pelham” was filmed in the 1970’s, when American directors like William Friedken, Francis Ford Coppola and Robert Altman redefined moviemaking by bringing intense realism to every facet of a production. (A great DVD triple bill featuring one ‘70s movie from each of those directors would be “The French Connection,” “The Conversation” and “Nashville.”) As such, the 1974 “Pelham” crackles with the electricity of its time. The characters and dialogue do more than propel the plot; they bring New York City to life.
Without sacrificing the urgency of the crisis, the original “Pelham” takes time to introduce the hostages, the people on both sides of the situation and indeed the whole city. Watching it, you can sense what it was like to be there. I love the unarmed subway supervisor who marches toward the hijacked train, cursing the gunmen and telling them to release the passengers.
Tony Scott, director of the new “Pelham,” didn’t have the patience for such subtleties. Instead, the director of “Top Gun” and “Days of Thunder” uses lots of quick cuts, blurry backgrounds, distracting slow motion and grinding music to produce a less interesting brand of intensity. This might have made for a “cool” trailer, but his film is less satisfying.
Scott also misses important beats in the rhythm of the story. With seven minutes to travel several miles across the city, run down a subway tunnel and deliver the cash before Ryder starts giving his hostages lead implants, Garber hesitates, then agrees to deliver the money and then stands outside a helicopter on his cell phone, arguing with his wife about buying milk. Once again, I get the “human” element, but it kills the momentum of the movie.
Scott never gets it back, either. He tries, but Helgeland went in a different direction for his ending, and it’s not as clever as the original’s. Joseph Sargent, director of the first “Pelham,” didn’t resolve the story until his terrific final shot, which he’d been setting up the entire movie.
Watchful viewers will notice a few nods to the original, including one use of the line “I feel like I’m going to die today” and a few bars of the original theme song in the soundtrack. I’m glad Scott and company paid homage to the classic; I just wish they’d done it in a way that counted.
If you do see Scott’s “Pelham,” you might enjoy it for what it is: a simple piece of mass entertainment. You might even find aspects of it enjoyable. Worse can be said about a lot of movies. But when you exit the theater, the movie in turn will leave you. Compare that with the original “Pelham,” which is still impressing viewers 35 years after its release. Rating: rent it.
E-mail David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.
com.
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