The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is a 1973 thriller by John Godey, a pseudonym for author Morton Freedgood. It was a hit film in 1974 starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, again in 1998 as a TV movie, and recently in 2009 starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Each version modified the story to suit the times (the recent being in a post 9/11 NYC), but nothing beats the punch of the original.
Told from over 30 different perspectives, including the terrorists, the hostages, the transit controllers, the police, the crowd on the street, the media, the mayor - you name it, all angles are covered - as four men led by ex-Congo soldier of fortune Ryder take a NYC subway train with sixteen passengers hostage. Once they take control from the conductor, they park the cars in the middle of the tunnel, tying up New York transit for the day. They demand a million dollars in specific denominations to be delivered within a few hours. Interference of any kind and every minute over they will kill a hostage. Throughout the day, all sections of law enforcement and security, all transit operators and the city itself becomes involved in frantically meeting the demands as riots erupt in the streets.
I thought the plot was ingenious, especially when the terrorists reveal how they are going to escape a moving subway train as they ran out of track. The ending was different in each film, but the book version was very satisfying. In the book, the experiences of many people make up the story, whereas in the movies, they tightened it into the dynamic between a transit controller and the terrorist leader. Another interesting tidbit was the 1974 movie renamed the four terrorists blue, green, grey and brown - inspiring Quentin Tarantino when he made Reservoir Dogs.
One thing that was hard to get over was the general attitude, probably spot on for 1973 NYC when it was written, where 42nd Street was still filled with porn theatres and prostitutes. It's a pretty nihilistic view of the city crumbling into a grimy cesspool of racial tensions, so be prepared for a general atmosphere of nigger, spic, yid, ginny, whitey, dago, Pole, whore, spade, Commie, motorcycle freak, addicts, weirdos, acidheads, radicals, hippies and teenage runaways - not to mention the cops are Pigs and the Panthers are wanting to overthrow The Man. It's jarring to read characters who are immersed in it, but effective and paints a vivid picture.
It's a "man's book", with chauvinistic attitudes and the outlook of the terrorists that living or dying doesn't matter at all. There are winners and losers in each battle.
Slow at first, but picks up speed as it goes along. Well constructed and engaging.
1973 / Paperback / 373 pages
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