Trailer of the Week: The Taking of Pelham 123

Here’s the match-up everyone’s been waiting to see: Travolta vs. Washington

As if New York’s belagured MTA doesn’t already have enough problems with service cuts and fare hikes ($103 for a montly pass??!!), now they have to contend with a beefy, tatted-up John Travolta holding one of their subway cars hostage.  It’s up to a desk-bound transit employee (Denzel Washington, in full-on wimp mode with glasses and a prominent gut) to figure out a way to get the folks off that Bronx-bound train safely.  The second film to be made from the 1973 John Godney novel, The Taking of Pelham 123 is directed by Tony Scott, best known for his flashy visual tricks and limited storytelling ability.  (Seriously, if you can explain the plots of The Last Boy Scout or Domino to me, I’ll give you $5.)  Besides Washington and Travolta, the cast includes such hometown favorites as John Turturro and James Gandolfini.  My fingers are crossed that this ensemble can justify remaking a movie that Hollywood got right the first time.  Seriously, if you haven’t seen the original Pelham yet (which stars Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw) run out and rent it immediately.  Thirty years later it remains one of the best New York-movies ever made, right up there with Dog Day Afternoon and Taxi Driver.