The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

"I can't get it out of my head. I'm gonna die today."

2009 1h 46m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 3,510

CrimeThrillerAction

Synopsis

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Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day's work for dispatcher Walter Garber into a face-off with the mastermind behind the crime.

“I can't get it out of my head. I'm gonna die today.”

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Cast

Denzel Washington
Walter Garber
John Travolta
Ryder
John Turturro
Lt. Camonetti
Luis Guzmán
Phil Ramos
James Gandolfini
Mayor
Michael Rispoli
John Johnson
Gary Basaraba
Jerry Pollard, motorman
Alex Kaluzhsky
George, teen hostage

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Tony Scott
Writers: Brian Helgeland
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$100M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 17 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

215+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Tony Scott, shot by Tobias A. Schliessler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Harry Gregson-Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Chris Lebenzon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Denzel Washington and John Travolta and John Turturro carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Tony Scott directs. Tobias A. Schliessler behind the camera. Harry Gregson-Williams scores. Chris Lebenzon cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1$100M budget — tentpole studio territory.
2Released 17 years ago.
3International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
4215+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Tony Scott, shot by Tobias A. Schliessler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Harry Gregson-Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Chris Lebenzon shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Denzel Washington and John Travolta and John Turturro carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "I can't get it out of my head. I'm gonna die today.".
10IMDB entry: tt1111422 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 9 themes, including "new york city", "hostage", "motorcycle crash", "remake".
12Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Tobias A. Schliessler
Original score: Harry Gregson-Williams
Editing: Chris Lebenzon
Production design: Chris Seagers
Costume design: Renee Ehrlich Kalfus
Makeup / hair: Todd Kleitsch
VFX supervisor: Marc Varisco
Sound: David Giammarco
Stunt coordinator: Chuck Picerni Jr.
Runtime: 106 min · 1h 46m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $100,000,000
Box office: $150,166,126
Return: 150% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)

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What people are saying

JPV8522021-04-12
★ 7/10
Saw this one many years ago, probably when it came out on Blu-ray, and decided to give it another watch at random, and... pretty much lined up with from the first go around. Nothing amazing nor has any great twists, but the performances from Washington and Travolta made the movie worth the time. On the downside, as with many of his later films, Tony Scott's choppy direction was a bit annoying. 3.5/5
r96sk2023-11-15
★ 7/10
Having seen (and truly loved) '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/unstoppable-2010/" rel="nofollow">Unstoppable</a>', it's impossible not to see 'The Taking of Pelham 123' as a rather pale incarnation of that 2010 flick (which also has Tony Scott as director and Denzel Washington as lead!). How strange that those two came together to make two very similar movies so close together. In the end, here, there is enough done to separate them, but early on especially I felt like I was watching the same film almost. For the record, that other release is so vastly better than this... so I'd recommend that more if you want a train-centric production from Scott and Washington. With all that noted, this 2009 film is still a fairly enjoyable 1hr 40mins or so - despite some questionable editing choices. A big reason for my positive rating is the aforementioned Washington, who gives as good a performance as he always tends to give - which is why he is probably my favourite actor, him or Leonardo DiCaprio anyway. John Travolta does well though, even if I kept getting '<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/face-off/" rel="nofollow">Face/Off</a>' vibes throughout. Here, he made me laugh a few times and the guy has some good dialogue/delivery of said dialogue. Even if that latter element is hit-and-miss elsewhere. The rest of the cast are alright-to-meh, nice to see James Gandolfini though. It's, taking everything into account, all worth a watch, I'd say.
CinemaSerf2025-02-22
★ 6/10
It’s not really fair comparing this with the much more sophisticated 1974 version of this story as Tony Scott has taken a fairly broad-brush to that template and pretty much re-characterised the whole story. That’s a story about a gang of well organised criminals who plan a daring hijack of a subway train in New York, USA. Their plan is simple enough. They seize one car and then their leader “Ryder” (John Travolta) demands $10 millions within the hour or the bodies will start mounting up. His contact in the control room is “Garber” (Denzel Washington) and soon wheels are in motion to get the cash. What’s not so clear, though, is just what the agenda of these criminals is. It’s not an excessively large sum of money and we know that “Garber” is under investigation for bribery, so is there something more sinister going on here? What is obvious is that these guys mean business and are not afraid to demonstrate that fact! Tony Scott has managed to convey something of the claustrophobic nature of the tunnels well here and Harry Gregson-Williams’s aggressive score also helps build the tension but for me, Travolta just doesn’t deliver anything on the scale of menace I wanted here. Sure, his character is vile and violent but with the story relying on a degree of ambiguity for much of it’s substance, his unsubtle and charm-free performance is all just too one-dimensional to keep the intrigue sustained. Washington, likewise, just doesn’t impose himself on the story anywhere near enough to give us any real sense of panic and the other supporting efforts are all a bit too underwhelming too, delivering a great deal of wasteful shouty dialogue as this thing rather lumbers along as if it were stuck at the lights, too. It probably didn’t need remaking but it does remind you just how good Robert Shaw was on the less is more front.