I first saw this movie in the theater when it came out in the mid-1970s. When I learned that a remake was coming out, I asked myself, “Why? Wasn’t the original good enough?”

Well, last night I watched the 1974 version again and reconfirmed my belief that it certainly is a classic. It was perfectly cast (Robert Shaw, Walter Matthau, Martin Balsam, Lee Wallace), well shot, and tightly edited. But it also struck me that the story of hijacking a NYC subway train and holding hostages for ransom will probably have even greater impact in post-9/11 audiences than it did at the tail end of the Vietnam War era.

It should be interesting to see how the new film portrays New Yorkers. That was one of the best aspects of the original. I’m pretty sure some of the sexism will have been cut, and it’s unlikely we’ll see a transit cop light a cigarette from a gas burner in a suspect’s house. Touches like this make Pelham One Two Three a true period piece. The bar was set high back then. A really great film.