Movie Poster of the Week: "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three"

Adrian Curry

Before Tony Scott sullies the memory of Joseph Sargent's 1974 Gotham crime classic The Taking of Pelham One Two Three with his Denzel-Travolta remake, let us celebrate the original with this knockout British quad (see it large here). The poster for the remake is inevitably of the big head variety (with Travolta and Denzel having a goatee face-off), while the comparatively starless original is all stark graphic energy and dynamic typography slicing through the outer boroughs of the New York subway map.

There are at least three original US posters, all incorporating the same iconic train image but otherwise very different. Some of these will be part of the upcoming Posteritati show Naked City: New York City Movie Posters which opens June 1st on Centre Street, on the very block which, if memory serves, appears in Pelham One Two Three when the cops track the errant train from above ground.

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