Copycat Arson May Mean Some Re-Editing Of ‘Train’

The death of subway clerk Harry Kaufman on Sunday along with seven similar “copycat” arsons in the New York City area have led to discussions about editing Columbia’s “Money Train.”

Sources close to the film said Monday a possible edit of the film might be under discussion.

In the latest in a series of torchings, a Queens token booth was set on fire Sunday night, according to New York police. It was the eighth such incident since Kaufman’s initial attack.

Kaufman died from severe burns and internal injuries suffered when his token booth in Bedford-Stuyvesant was fire-bombed on Nov. 26.

The assaults seem to copy scenes from the recently released film “Money Train” in which a pyromaniac torches New York subway booths.

Sources close to the film said the

studio is considering “various changes” to the film but nothing so far has solidified, and that director Joseph Ruben remains “saddened” by the tragedy.

Commenting on the death of Kaufman today, Patricia Scott, film commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater, and Broadcasting, said, “It’s a terrible tragedy that this occurrence happened.

“But I do believe that if you follow the facts of the matter, the subway has had several occurrences of this sort of thing in the ‘80s. The fact remains that many movies and other forms of storytelling have conveyed violence and other incidents as a part of their story. That doesn’t give anyone license to act it out in real life.”