i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Okay, first the good things. Robert Shaw was good as the main hijacker. Walter Matthau was fairly good as the subway cop who was frustrated by everything (including, I'd guess, the plot). Photography was good. I liked the musical score. Now the bad things. SPOILERS AHEAD. The whole plot boils down to this: bad guys hijack a subway car filled with riders who become hostages, and demand one million dollars or they will murder the hostages. That's it. That's the plot. And it just does not work. I knew from the very beginning that the hostages would never be murdered. I knew from the start that the hijackers would not get away with it -- either they would wind up dead or arrested, or they'd lose the money. That was the entire basis of the "suspense." So for me, there was no suspense. This made the entire remainder of the movie an exercise in futility. I can hear the director and producers saying, "How many different complications can we stick in this movie to keep the audience worried? Let's have the hijackers demand a million dollars in an impossibly short period of time, so that it's obvious it won't be delivered and all the hostages will be killed. Let's have the mayor sick and weak and stupid and unable to make a simple decision, unable to decide to pay the ransom and save the lives of innocent hostages. Let's make the main hijacker (Robert Shaw) really really smart, but so stupid that he makes one impossible demand after another, despite the fact that what he supposedly wants is the million bucks. When the cops finally try to deliver the ransom, let's put every conceivable roadblock in their way, literally, to make it appear that they will never reach the subway on time. Meanwhile, let's inject a lot of absurd "comic relief," like maybe having some Japanese people visit and be treated in a racist manner. When the hijackers finally leave the subway car with their money, let's not end the movie there, let's have the subway car become a runaway car, so now the audience has to worry about whether they will all be killed when the car crashes. Let's not end it there, either -- let's have a shootout at the subway corral, and then the hero (Walter Matthau) can get the drop on the bad guy (Robert Shaw). No, wait, what if the bad guy refuses to give up, and instead electrocutes himself on the notorious third rail? Wow! No, wait, let's not end it yet -- what if one hijacker is still at large, the one who sneezes all the time, and Walter Matthau tracks him down and thinks he's innocent until he sneezes? Bottom line, I can't believe I'm in such a tiny minority here, I can't believe people were entertained by this stuff. One of the most irritating, unbelievable, and annoying "thrillers" I've ever seen.

When watching "Pelham" it's easy to see why it was remade twice: a gripping storyline, intriguing characters, an event that could easily happen forty years ago, or twenty years from now. This 1974 version is so well done, from throwing you immediately into the story, to great actor choices like Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, it's hard not to like – more or less love – this film. It dispenses with unnecessary romantic subplots, and never deviates from the cat and mouse game interwoven from start to finish. Shaw is captivating as the menacing mastermind, and Matthau is surprisingly good as his would-be nemesis. Even the supporting cast from Jerry Stiller to Maltin Balsam (as "Mr. Green" – BIG smiles for all BIG 'Reservoir Dogs' fans out there) to Hector Elizondo are wonderful choices. Sure the clothing is dated as is perhaps some of the Seventies lingo, but it never detracts from the intense story. It really has that 70s movie feel and the external Manhattan scenes are terrific. If there is any negative to be given about this film, the less-than dramatic ending and its subsequent frozen last image could have used an additional Hollywood-styled edge-of-your-seat conclusion. Otherwise, this a movie is well worth the watch.

New York City. Four armed men hijack a subway train and hold the passengers hostage for a million dollars ransom. It's up to crusty veteran transit detective Lt. Zachary Garber (a marvelously cantankerous performance by Walter Matthau) to maintain order while pandemonium erupts all around him.Director Joseph Sargent keeps the gripping story racing along at a breathless swift pace, generates plenty of nerve-wracking tension, and offers a pungent evocation of 1970's New York City in all its brash, loud, rude, and seedy glory. Peter Stone's tightly constructed script provides loads of choice cynical humor and has a refreshing dearth of pretense. Robert Shaw as ruthless ringleader Mr. Blue makes for a great coldblooded and calculating villain; he receives sturdy support from Martin Balsam as the antsy Mr. Green, Hector Elizondo as the volatile Mr. Grey, and Earl Hindman as hulking brute Mr. Brown. Moreover, there are sound contributions from Dick O'Neill as huffy desk train master Frank Correll, Lee Wallace as the whiny flu-stricken mayor, Tom Pedi as irascible railroad boss Caz Dolowicz, Jerry Stiller as the laid-back Lt. Rico Patrone, Kenneth McMillan as a no-nonsense borough commander, Tony Roberts as sensible deputy mayor Warren LaSalle, Julius Harris as the hard-nosed Inspector Daniels, and Nathan George as noble patrolman Jones. Further enhanced by Owen Roizman's crisp widescreen cinematography, given an extra kinetic kick by David Shire's driving'n'dynamic score, and topped off by a priceless last image, this honey rates highly as one of the all-time best and most exciting nail-biters from the gloriously gritty 1970's.

Many years ago, make that many decades ago, I stumbled into the middle of this picture and was intrigued enough to watch it to the end. I never bothered to try catching the entire movie until it showed up on cable the other night. I have to say, this is one of those Seventies action flicks that just grabs you and doesn't let go until the red lights come on. Another picture that did the same for me back then was the original "Assault on Precinct 13" with John Carpenter at the helm. You have to catch that one too.Probably the first thing I noticed in the film were the names of the four subway thugs. I had to wonder if this was the source of Tarantino's inspiration for the criminals in "Reservoir Dogs". In fact, there's a Mr. Blue and a Mr. Brown in both pictures. And as for the mayor of New York City (Lee Wallace), I couldn't help thinking that he might have been selected for his resemblance to Ed Koch, until I realized that Koch wasn't mayor until a few years later. So that was interestingly prophetic.Like everyone else who watches the movie while trying to figure out how the hijackers would get away with it, it never occurs that the simplest solution would be the best - just get off at some point along the way. I thought it was just a bit too coincidental the way Garber (Walter Mattthau) second guessed the bad guys, but there was still enough suspense to keep one invested in the story. With nice dollops of humor thrown in every now and then, the picture still holds up pretty well after forty years, and will make you think twice the next time you board a subway train.