Pelham 123 - Subway movie remake

You might have seen posters for a subway thriller starring Denzil Washington & John Travolta on the London Underground. It's a remake of the 1970's film which starred Walter Matthau, about a group of gunman who hijack the carriage of a New York subway train & threaten to kill a passenger for every minute the ransom is not delivered.

James Cridland took the picture below & said "I was at a press screening of it a few months ago, and can thoroughly recommend it; New York subway-based action thriller, where the action starts in the first 60 seconds and continues until the end if the film. Never a dull moment."


I remember enjoying the original film, which really played on the claustrophobia of being trapped in the carriage & the tense negotiations taking place in the subway control room. It's interesting how one of the old posters for this focussed much more on the fear & chaos in the carriage than on the stars:


When I was in New York last year, they had a number of posters for the film in Transit Museum there. The illustrated version stood out more to me than the close ups of the actors below:


I noticed some poster sites on the Tube also have short clips of the film built into the advert's hoarding. I wonder how much effort the film company had to go through, persuading CBS outdoor & TfL that these film shorts wouldn't put people off travelling on the Tube? Times have changed from when the poster for Tube horror film Creep was temporarily banned in case it "frightened customers".

The Taking of Pelham 123 will be out nationwide from July 31st, let us know what you think of it.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, July 14, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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