The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974 film)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Original film poster by Mort Künstler
Directed by	Joseph Sargent
Produced by	Edgar J. Scherick
Screenplay by	Peter Stone
Based on	The Taking of Pelham One Two Three by John Godey
Starring	Walter Matthau Robert Shaw Martin Balsam Hector Elizondo
Music by	David Shire
Cinematography	Owen Roizman
Edited by	Gerald B. Greenberg Robert Q. Lovett
Production company	Palomar Pictures Palladium Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	October 2, 1974
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5 million
Box office	$18.7 million

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (a.k.a. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3) is a 1974 American thriller film directed by Joseph Sargent, produced by Edgar J. Scherick, and starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam and Héctor Elizondo.Peter Stone adapted the screenplay from the 1973 novel of the same name written by Morton Freedgood under the pen name John Godey.

The movie received critical acclaim, and holds a rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 35 reviews. Several critics called it one of 1974's finest films. While also being a box office success. As in the novel, the film centers on a group of criminals taking the passengers hostage inside a New York City Subway car for ransom. Musically, it features "one of the best and most inventive thriller scores of the 1970s". It was remade in 1998 as a television film and was again remade in 2009 as a theatrical film.

In New York City, four men armed with submachine guns and using code names (Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Brown) and wearing similar disguises, board the Downtown-bound 6 subway train at different station stops. The men take seventeen passengers and the conductor hostage, isolate them in the train's first car and then separate the car from the rest of the train.