Pushing the Boundaries: The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (1974) 4K Restoration – 50th Anniversary
Director: Joseph Sargent Run Time: 104 min. Rating: R Release Year: 1974
Starring: Earl Hindman, Hector Elizondo, Martin Balsam, Robert Shaw, Walter Matthau
Country: United States
Language: English, Spanish
The 1970s: Pushing the Boundaries
A Film Center retrospective on the most groundbreaking films to come out of the 1970s.
See more Pushing the BoundariesAbout the film:
A gang of armed professionals hijack a New York subway train somewhere outside the Pelham station threaten to kill one hostage per minute unless their demands are met. Forced to stall these unknown assailants until a ransom is delivered or a rescue is made, transit chief Lt. Garber must shrewdly outmaneuver one of the craftiest and cruelest villains in a battle of wits that will either end heroically or tragically.
“The kind of gritty, relentless thriller that could only come from the ’70s.”
—William Thomas, Empire
About the filmmaker:
Joseph Sargent was an American filmmaker from Jersey City, New Jersey. During World War II, Sarget served as a teenage GI volunteer in Western Europe. Upon his return, he began studying as an actor at the Actors’ Studio. Sargent began his career working in television, initially finding work as an actor before gaining directorial experience through episodes of shows like Lassie, Star Trek, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. He directed dozens of TV movies across his more than four decade long career, such as The Karen Carpenter Story (1989), Crime and Punishment (1998), and Sweet Nothing in My Ear (2008). Notably, Sargent also directed the third installment of the Jaws franchise, Jaws: The Revenge (1987). The most celebrated film of his career was The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (1974), which was nominated for two BAFTA Awards in 1976. Throughout the final decade of his life, Sargent worked as the senior filmmaker-in-residence for the directing program at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles and as the first professor of a masters program in film directing at Pepperdine University in Malibu.
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