Bringing back memories of sleeping through political science and classic civ (when I bothered to attend), I returned to Foellinger Auditorium on Tuesday to attend the showing of the original version of The Taking of Pelham, One, Two, Three. Not a huge crowd, and technical aspects were lacking, but those that did attend were treated to the musings of the often hilarious Patton Oswalt, who introduced the film and took questions afterwards. I am sure that even those who were not thrilled by the movie were entertained by Oswalt's energetic and insightful banter which at times verged into standup territory. And Pelham is one of those movies worthy of such a discussion.
A few thoughts about the movie (spoilers)-
1. Why didn't the city just shut off power to the runaway train?
2. Did we really need to see Robert Shaw fry? And this really came out of nowhere-it would have been nice if the movie had explained motivations a little bit better.
3. This is a really lamebrain scheme. The police know exactly where the train stopped. Why wouldn't they station police in that area to make sure no one escaped. Even if the police believed one or more of the criminals were still on the train, that doesn't account for any criminals that might have jumped off the train and fled on foot-with the loot.
4. The score was awful, and I do not really buy the explanation that it was merely reflecting the ugliness of the city.
5. The direction was almost as bad, in terms of awkward editing, clumsy camerawork, and hammy acting from bit players. Maybe that is what separates this movie from Diehard.
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