22May09
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.
Categories: Movie Poster of the Week
Comments
Paul Klenk
on Fri 22 May at 09:23 AM
What a great post! I particularly like the first US poster. Superb energy and color.
James J Cremin
on Sat 23 May at 04:33 AM
The second one has my vote. I thought Matthau and Shaw were great. No reason to remake this though I like Denzel Washington.