The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) is Joseph Sargent's lean New York thriller you can watch online on iFILM. Four armed men stop a subway car beneath Manhattan and hold its riders hostage for a one-million-dollar ransom.

Their demand comes with a clock: pay within the hour, or a passenger dies every sixty seconds. Robert Shaw plays the ringleader, code-named Mr. Blue, all clipped British calm. On the other end of the radio sits Walter Matthau as Lieutenant Garber, a rumpled transit cop sweating it out in a control room while City Hall haggles over the cash and the streets above grind to a halt.

What carries it is the rhythm: sharp cutting, grimy 1970s New York, and dialogue where even the crooks crack wise. The payoff lands on a single throwaway moment, a sneeze, still studied as a masterclass in ending a caper on one beat. Martin Balsam and Hector Elizondo round out the cast. Stream The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) online on iFILM.