SSG: Spy/Spec-Ops Group discussion

Might just be the #1 action film of all time.

I'm increasingly fond of it as time goes on. It's better than French Connection; it's better than Bullitt.

I've never seen it done justice. Pound for pound, I can't name any single action film which eclipses it. This is a bold line in the sand I'm drawing. But, seriously--what is its equal?

There's no heroes. There's no muscles. It's shot with everyday people just like you and me. It's filmed on location.

And at the end of the film, you want to leap out of your seat.

A quintessential film of New York City.

And ...it's ACCURATE. It remains true-to -life, right down to this very day.

Colossal. The movie's full main theme, played end-to-end by aspiring music students in the Jazz dept at SRU (Slipper Rock University) in Pennsylvania.

It is heard nowhere else played exactly in this manner here, even in the film itself nor in the soundtrack CD.

https://youtu.be/NJHoHz4IrWE

Pelham's soundtrack composer was married to Talia Shire, which made him son-in-law of Francs Coppola

Shire, thus crafted the music for 'The Conversation' (one of the most sought-after soundtracks ever)

This is just a reminiscing-type thread, beg pardon. Working crazy hours lately and no time to relax; but treated myself to watching a few scenes of this flick late last night and marveled again at how well-done it is.

Maybe it's not chock-full of action; maybe it ought not be called an 'action film' at all. More like thriller, or suspense.

Actually a flick I think is probably the perfect action film is "Where Eagles Dare". But that's a flick which somehow doesn't inspire any love.

Big Apple Update

Crime has spiked this year on the NYC transit system. Forty per cent increase.

Forty per cent!

Gotham is reaping the bitter harvest of "laid-back" legal reforms. Trains and buses are where strangers jostle most; and is always an early-warning index for trends.

https://tinyurl.com/2dkp6pdx

https://tinyurl.com/2p8ezym8

In tandem with eased restrictions on weapons, (more guns on the streets) there is a new laxity in sentencing called, 'Bail Reform'. No bail for misdemeanors and other non-violent acts.

In the past, being held on bail for minor incidents often served to check the momentum of someone building up steam for a major crime. 'Broken Window -style policing. No longer so. Troublemakers can be released the very next day.

There's other changes too, which insist that, "criminal history cannot disenfranchise job candidates seeking municipal employment". So, a 'crook' can become a 'cop'.

In general, they want to add more cops and more cameras. Useless! SCOTUS has committed a royal screw-up here.

Even the draconian stormtroopers of NYPD are helpless when street-scum are released without bail under 24 hours.

Cameras don't do jack because they're not a real-time preventive mechanism. They're only good for 'investigations' afterward.

And as the articles above describe, you can't hardly see a PD uniform even if he's in the same train car with you, much less on the platform outside when the train is in station.

Another thing: most PD officers you ever see these days, supposedly 'on duty', are slouching up against a post playing with their phones. For that matter, every commuter is also head-down in their phone --easy meat for maldoers. Alertness is the first defense!

My wife and I loved Pelham when we first saw it in the theaters. The ending--a sneeze and Matthau's look--was priceless.

I still rank it as my #1 favorite action film of all time.

There's other action films with more action but I don't know any which contain more everyday, down-to-earth realism.

Feliks wrote: "I still rank it as my #1 favorite action film of all time.

There's other action films with more action but I don't know any which contain more everyday, down-to-earth realism."

I agree 100% with your observations of Pelham 123. It is realistic because there are no death defying stunts and a strong screenplay. Definitely an under-rated movie with a great cast (Shaw, Matthau, Stiller, Balsam, Elizondo). Probably more of a thriller than an action-adventure in my opinion. The opening theme immediately sets the tone for the movie and there are terrific comedic scenes with Stiller, Nathan Jones as a transit officer watching the train in the tunnels and the two NYPD policemen tasked with the hopeless job of transporting the money across New York before the deadline.

Yeah right on man

Agreed, might better be called a thriller or suspense-thriller. But this is the same kind of point I raised when I posted re: CIA movies.

Can I name a more quintessential example of its kind from the era? One more exciting? Not sure I could.

Maybe only John Frankenheimer's incredible 'Black Sunday'. or Norman Jewison's 'Rollerball'.

Even then, Arab terrorists or futuristic athletes are just not as real as the NYC subway system and the poor commuters in it.

When that NYPD vehicle flips in Union Square ...I donno. Minor action scene but for me, heart-in-throat stuff.

I been in Union Square countless times and I know how nuts it would be to try to keep it clear it of all traffic. Under any conditions, it is utterly impossible to get from the Federal Reserve to Grand Central in two minutes.