In New York City, four men wearing similar disguises and carrying concealed weapons board the same downtown 6 train, "Pelham 1-2-3", at different stations.

Using the codenames Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Grey and Mr. Brown, they take 18 people, including the conductor and an undercover police officer, hostage in the front car.

Communicating over the radio with New York City Transit Police lieutenant Zachary Garber, Blue demands that a $1 million ransom be delivered within exactly one hour or he will kill one hostage for every minute it is late.

Garber surmises that one hijacker must be a former motorman because they were able to uncouple the head car and park it farther down the tunnel below 28th Street.

Unexpectedly, Grey shoots and kills transit supervisor Caz Dolowicz, sent from Grand Central, as he approaches the stalled train.

Blue orders Garber to restore power to the subway line, set the signals to green all the way to South Ferry, and clear the police from stations along the route.

The hijackers collect their disguises and weapons for disposal, but Grey refuses to surrender his gun, resulting in a stand-off with Blue, who kills him.

The undercover officer kills Brown and exchanges fire with Blue while Green escapes through an emergency exit onto the street.

Garber, contemplating the train's suspicious last movement, concludes that the hijackers have bypassed the dead-man feature and are no longer on board.

He returns to where the train had stopped, enters the same emergency exit from street level, and confronts Blue as he is about to kill the undercover officer.

Working their way through a list of recently discharged motormen, Garber and Patrone knock on the door of Harold Longman (Green).

[citation needed] Additionally, New York City was edging toward a financial crisis; crime had risen citywide, and the subway was perceived as neither safe nor reliable.

Godey's novel was more detailed about how the hijackers would accomplish their goal and recognized that the caper's success did not rely solely on defeating the "deadman feature" in the motorman's cab.

After eight weeks of negotiations, and through the influence of Mayor John Lindsay, the TA relented but required that the producers take out $20 million in insurance policies, including special "kook coverage" in case the movie inspired a real-life hijacking.

[11] Shaw's biographer John French reported, "There were rats everywhere and every time someone jumped from the train, or tripped over the lines, clouds of black dust rose into the air, making it impossible to shoot until it had settled.

"[2] According to Backstage, the filmmakers were the first to use a "flash" process developed by Movielabs to bring out detail when shooting with low light in the tunnel.

The site's consensus reads: "Breezy, thrilling, and quite funny, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three sees Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw pitted against each other in effortlessly high form.

Variety called it "a good action caper", but "the major liability is Peter Stone's screenplay, which develops little interest in either Matthau or Shaw's gang, nor the innocent hostages", who are "simply stereotyped baggage".

Although the trade paper complained that the Mayor was "played for silly laughs", it called Shaw "superb in another versatile characterization".

"[21] The film was one of several released that year that gave New York a bad image, including Law and Disorder, Death Wish, Serpico and The Super Cops.

Services are diminishing and the morale is such that ordering a cup of coffee in a diner can turn into a request for a fat lip."

But The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, "compared to the general run of New York City films, is practically a tonic, a good-humored, often witty suspense melodrama in which the representatives of law and decency triumph without bending the rules.

"[22] The Boston Globe called it "fast, funny and fairly terrifying" and "a nerve-racking ride", and appreciated the "wry humor" of Stone's script.

It tapped into a darker reality: "A short time ago subways were safe; today some of them are full of the dark rage of asylums.

"[23] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called it "coarse-textured and effective, a cartoon-vivid melodrama and not, it's nice to know, a case study of psychopathic behavior.

The violence is handled with restraint; the dangers are mixed with raucous humor and what stays clear is that the aim is swift entertainment.

He praised the film's "unforced realism" and the supporting characters who elevated what could have been a predictable crime thriller: "We care about the people not the plot mechanics.

"[25] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune also gave the film 3 stars out of 4, describing it as a "solid new thriller laced with equal amounts of tension and comedy".

[citation needed] Although not particularly well received by critics or viewers, this version was reportedly more faithful to the book, although it revised the setting with new technologies.

Another remake, set in post 9/11 New York City, directed by Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta, was released in 2009 to mixed reviews.