Baseball Toaster Bronx Banter
Help
The Greatest Corn Beef on Rye NYC Movie Ever
2008-07-03 08:26
by Alex Belth

 

I love almost everything about this movie.  It's such a ton of fun.  One of the subway hostages in the movie was played by a woman whose daughter was my babysiter when I was mad young.  Also, years later, when I worked in the movie business, I got to know the wife of the sound guy.  She is a wonderful New Yorker, with stories for days and the accent and attitude to match.  She grew up in Little Italy, and her husband recorded wild sound for most of the movie's audio.  In the final scene, when the subway screeches into a downtown station, the sound effects came from sliding the shower rings in their bathroom. 

Comments
2008-07-03 08:45:21
1.   Josh Wilker
All hail Matthau. Simply naming the title of the movie provides an explosive line in probably my favorite Beastie Boys song.
2008-07-03 09:09:57
2.   Alex Belth
Well, I'm that kid in the corner...
2008-07-03 09:11:47
3.   RIYank
By an odd coincidence, David Pinto also has a subway reference in a current entry.

baseballmusings.com/archives/027629.php

The main point of the entry is to link to this

http://tinyurl.com/4ktwjq

Boston Herald article in which Brian Cashman is made to look prophetic.

2008-07-03 09:14:49
4.   dianagramr
0

GREAT story Alex.

That movie was unfortunately remade a few years ago with lesser actors, and scenes filmed in faux New York (aka Vancouver)!

2008-07-03 09:21:49
5.   Alex Belth
Yeah, what I like about the movie is that it is high on the comedy and the great bit part NYC character actors and low on the body count.
2008-07-03 09:31:45
6.   willdthrill
I remember first seeing this movie in the early eighties on another old NYC institution, the channel 5 Sunday afternoon movie. Even though I was only 11, I was riveted by the movie without really understanding why, since the movies in that time slot were usually really crappy seventies movies or old kung fu movies from Hong King. The ending is still great. Best not to hijack a NYC subway when you've got a cold.
2008-07-03 09:32:54
7.   dianagramr
6

Yes ... the ending is a classic.

2008-07-03 09:39:00
8.   dianagramr
Argh .... its being remade ... again .... and this time Travolta is in it! :-(

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taking_of_Pelham_1_2_3_(2009_film)

2008-07-03 09:47:33
9.   Dimelo
Is there a moratorium at the BxBanter on the ARod news? That's all I've been talking about today at work. It was interesting hearing these two women on the train say, "Lenny Kravitz is so ugly, too" and "Well, I don't think Alex is THAT good looking either".

And I said to self, "Cynthia ain't no prize either", I was actually more disappointed with Kravitz for picking her. He can do better...

I think all that's left is that ARod is also messing around with Amy Winehouse, that would be so great but that would also fall right in line with the dude looking types he seems to attract and like.

I guess I'm the only one who finds this all fascinating, at least at the BxBanter. Long live page six!!!

If they do head for divorce, I think the first few things that will start to come out will be something about him loathing Jeter, second will probably have something to do with roids or some swingers club he visits. Geez...even Peter Cook's personal and intimate relationship with his computah are coming out. ARod is going to lose more than money here, at least me thinks...

2008-07-03 09:57:16
10.   Alex Belth
Emma mentioned it in her wrap up this morning. There was A Rod Drama talk on that thread. I wanted to steer clear of it today myself, which doesn't mean I won't post about it in the future. I know Cliff isn't into that stuff. Only thing I know is that A Rod hit the crap out of the ball last summer in the aftermath of that stripper sensation, so I can only hope the more drama that is in his personal life, the more pain he inflicts on the opposition!
2008-07-03 10:05:24
11.   Dimelo
10 I agree, he seems to like this kind of drama. If he hits the crap out of the ball and I get a lot of juicy stuff to crack up at in the morning, then I guess we ALL win. :-)

BTW, lest no anyone think I'm judging here....I'm DEFINITELY not one to judge.

2008-07-03 10:16:58
12.   cult of basebaal
i love that movie. just rented from netflix early this year to watch it again. all hail Robert Shaw!

8 of course it is ... and it will SUCK. hollywood is dumber than 10 lasordas. you don't remake the good movies. you remake the movies that had good ideas that didn't quite work or that went off the track somewhere. you look at them with hindsight and you fix the shit that didn't click. instead they take an iconic movie that is perfect as it is (for what it was), hire about 10 screenwriters to punch it up until it's as bland and inoffensive as everything else and grab some hotshot music video director with more ersatz syle than sense to piss all over everything else. oh, yeah and they cast john fucking travolta. like i said, dumber than 10 lasordas.

2008-07-03 10:18:38
13.   Marty
This and The Seven-ups are my two favorite New York movies.
2008-07-03 10:25:50
14.   cult of basebaal
12 i guess denzel washington is okay casting, but it instantly changes everything about the character.

tony scott is the shea hillenbrand (early career) of directors. on first glance the production seems good, then you look closer and realize he sucks. or maybe he's the marcus giles of directors toiling in mediocrity next to a more famous (and better) brother ...

gah!

2008-07-03 10:29:50
15.   weeping for brunnhilde
"Pelham 123, Pelham 123, come in, Pelham!"

Agreed, Alex.

Fabulous and pitch-perfect film.

Captures the apocalypticism of the 1970s, the story's a thrusting romp, the actors all display what character acting can be at its best.

Speaking of which, maybe the only thing wrong with it is that Gene Hackman's not in it.

2008-07-03 10:32:40
16.   weeping for brunnhilde
4 Really???

Oh my God.

There's a special place in hell for people who do gratuitous remakes, and an even specialier place for those who don't have the good sense to recognize that New York cannot be substituted in a movie that is quintessentially about New York.

Hang the bastards.

2008-07-03 10:35:28
17.   weeping for brunnhilde
Btw, another great film (I know, there's so many), speaking of 6 the channel 5 Sunday afternoon movie, was Gloria with Gena Rowlands.

Cassavetes, I think.

2008-07-03 10:39:37
18.   weeping for brunnhilde
10 Listen, Alex, you can atone for your hexing away that game by doing us all a small service: as the Arod drama spirals out of control, figure out a way to get the following message to him, from me: "Alex, remember to wear your headphones!"
2008-07-03 10:50:18
19.   dianagramr
16

Yup .... although I mis-stated the Vancouver part .... it was Toronto.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taking_of_Pelham_One_Two_Three_(1998_film)

2008-07-03 10:52:19
20.   dianagramr
Thanks Alex .... I just added it to my Netflix queue .... I'll probably (re)watch it over this weekend.
2008-07-03 11:22:47
21.   Murray
Pick hit line:

"What the hell did they expect for 35 cents, that they were going to live forever?"

2008-07-03 11:42:23
22.   weeping for brunnhilde
21 YES!

That was perfect.

2008-07-03 12:23:10
23.   jkay
A new version with Denzel will be out on 2009.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1111422/

2008-07-03 16:31:41
24.   Matt B
Truly great, wigged-out score by David Shire, too. I have a copy of it somewhere. Once I put it on during a poker game with friends and every hand seemed incredibly tense and exciting.

One of the hijackers was played by Earl Hindman, who was a longtime New York stage actor best known (or partially known) to the world as Tim Allen's foil/guru Wilson on Home Improvement.

Comment status: comments have been closed. Baseball Toaster is now out of business.