IMDb RATING
5.3/10
1.2K
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In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. Even if it's paid, how could they get away?In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. Even if it's paid, how could they get away?In New York, armed men hijack a subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. Even if it's paid, how could they get away?
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- 1 win & 1 nomination total
Robert Young
- Homeboy on Subway
- (as Black Katt)
Michael A. Miranda
- Denny Alcala
- (as Silvio Oliviero)
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A cold murderous high jacker with three associates, takes a train and holds it and its passengers hostage, killing one at a time to obtain a large ransom. Based on an earlier film of the same title, which I have not viewed, this TV version suffers a little from modest budgets and a less than sterling cast. Vincent d'Onofrios, as the senior high jacker, a quirky rather wooden actor at best, fleetingly looking like a young Orson Welles, does what he can to provide sinister menace to his role, while Edward James Olmos is not a very impressive substitute for the formidable Walter Matthau. However it is fair to comment this is a reasonable thriller for TV, and the grainy dark underground railway sequences are quite suspenseful. Makes me keen to see the original film.
What a tedious load of drivel this is. It tries for "suspense", instead it achieves "stilted" and "boring". Almost as if the director was saying "OK, guys, freeze for five more seconds" in almost every scene.
Walter Matthau was great in the original. I saw him as a serious actor, in the original of this one and in "Kill Charlie Varrick" long before today's kids saw him as a "Grumpy Old Man" actor. And he really makes the original movie shine. But I suspect that even he, had he been somehow edited into THIS load of rubbish, could not have saved it.
Walter Matthau was great in the original. I saw him as a serious actor, in the original of this one and in "Kill Charlie Varrick" long before today's kids saw him as a "Grumpy Old Man" actor. And he really makes the original movie shine. But I suspect that even he, had he been somehow edited into THIS load of rubbish, could not have saved it.
One of my all time favorite movies was this movie back in the theatrical version in 1974. This TV version was awful. It was a perfect example of a movie that did not need to be remade. I could not wait for it to end as I was bored silly. There was absolutely no chemistry between the characters. I hope this movie gets "shelved" forever.
I don't know why Hollywood feels the need to re-do classic movies. Can they not come up with original storylines anymore? This tv movie was lacking in so many areas. The actors had no chemistry, the dialog was banal, and the action seemed contrived. Don't waste your time on this one. Rent or better yet, buy the original starring Walter Matthau.
I've been a super-fan of the original 1974 flick for a very long time. (I grew up in NYC; in fact, I walked through Astor Place where the accident delays delivery of the money, every day on my way to school.) So I was skeptical of a remake - a Canadian remake, set in safe, comfortable Toronto rather than in rough, chaotic NYC! - and when I first saw it, I didn't like it.
But now, almost a quarter of a century later, I'm finding it much more palatable. James Gandolfini does really excellent job playing the Mayor obviously modeled on Rudy Giuliani; every shot of him is fun to see. (One wonders: did he (Gandolfini) really hate his job, or was he just pretending, in order to build up his image in some weird way?)
Don't overlook another very notable member of the cast: Ingrid Veninger, whom fans of the Sci-Fi Channel's amazingly cheesy late-80s fantasy-horror TV-series "Friday the 13th: the series" (which has nothing at all to do with the slasher movies) will remember as "Helen Mackie", the awkward high-school girl who enchants boys with a magical compact and leads them to their deaths. Now, ten years older, she plays a graduate student on the subway.
Just to see these two performances is worth the price of admission. The late-1990s blaring-metal music is also cool, an interesting update from the tough 1970s street-beat from the original.
Certainlly worth seeing once, at least.
But now, almost a quarter of a century later, I'm finding it much more palatable. James Gandolfini does really excellent job playing the Mayor obviously modeled on Rudy Giuliani; every shot of him is fun to see. (One wonders: did he (Gandolfini) really hate his job, or was he just pretending, in order to build up his image in some weird way?)
Don't overlook another very notable member of the cast: Ingrid Veninger, whom fans of the Sci-Fi Channel's amazingly cheesy late-80s fantasy-horror TV-series "Friday the 13th: the series" (which has nothing at all to do with the slasher movies) will remember as "Helen Mackie", the awkward high-school girl who enchants boys with a magical compact and leads them to their deaths. Now, ten years older, she plays a graduate student on the subway.
Just to see these two performances is worth the price of admission. The late-1990s blaring-metal music is also cool, an interesting update from the tough 1970s street-beat from the original.
Certainlly worth seeing once, at least.
Did you know
- TriviaWith respect to the description in the novel of how the controller is rigged for the getaway, this version is more faithful than the original film.
- GoofsOn several occasions the detached car is a different model (Toronto class H-6) from what it is most of the time (class H-1). One obvious difference is the H-6's black rectangles around the upper headlights. The first instance of this goof is when the police tactical unit arrives in the tunnel. Also, just after the signals are set to red, the car number can be seen to be 5718.
- Quotes
Deputy Mayor: Is it reasonable and prudent to suppose you can hijack a train, get $5 Million in cash and walk out through a subway tunnel in the middle of Manhattan at 4 in the afternoon while the whole world watches it on TV?
- ConnectionsRemake of Les Pirates du métro (1974)
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- The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
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