Scott’s stylisms fuel ‘Pelham 123’

I’m a fan of movies made in the ’70s. For one thing, that’s when I began studying film as art. For another, many of the films made during the ’70s are well worth taking the effort to study.

So I went to watch “The Taking of Pelham 123” this morning with interest. It’s directed by Tony Scott, stars Denzel Washington and John Travolta and, being released during the summer, is guaranteed to be a popcorn-munching action flick.

It’s also a remake of Joseph Sargent’s “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three,” a riveting drama from 1974 that stars Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw.

Sargent is a filmmaker who has focused mostly on television, winning four Emmy Awards. His direction of the 1987 film “Jaws: The Revenge” got him nominated for Worst Director for the Golden Raspberry Awards .

Still, “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” is a great heist film. Based (as is Scott’s remake) on John Godey’s best-selling novel, the film studies the hijacking of a New York Transit System subway car and the relationship that develops over the phone between a transit official (Matthau) and the head hijacker (Shaw).

“It’s been a while since we’ve had a movie that really catches the mood of New York and New Yorkers,” wrote Nora Sayre for the New York Times. The Chicago Reader’s Dave Kehr called it a “superior exercise in urban paranoia.”

Scott’s film, though, is something … well, different. Just as Sargent’s film, gritty and realistic, is a sign of its time, so is Scott’s. The opening minute give you a perfect idea of what’s to come: quick cuts, overexposed film frames, cameras that are more mobile than chain-smoking gerbils, close-ups that make Travolta and Washington’s pores look bigger than moonscape meteor hits.

Where is Michael Bay when you need him?

Working from a script by Brian Helgeland (“Mystic River,” “L.A. Confidential”), Scott has a slightly different story to tell. The differences, though, are more about theme and tone than anything else. Scott is more pointed toward the Big Climax, the obligatory sign of today’s cinema, while Sargent followed what Peter Stone (“Father Goose”) gave him, which is a script far more about relationships – and one that boasts an ending that is clever and offbeat if seemingly anticlimactic.

Not that Scott’s film avoids relationships. But it centers mostly on the jawing that Travolta’s character, Ryder, does with Garber (Washington). It’s another sign of today, when movies generally focus on stars instead of concentrating the overall story.

Yes, the film does have one rivetingly emotional moment, when Garber saves a young boy’s life by confessing to a crime. Yet the 1974 version is far better at developing relationship between all the major characters.

So here’s the thing: If you don’t mind Scott’s trendy stylisms (and they don’t cause you to feel motion sickness), you’re likely going to enjoy “The Taking on Pelham 123.” It has a fittingly modern feel, and Travolta and Washington are fun to watch.

If you want to experience bit of film history, though, to see when more care was taken with the overall story – even one that is pure genre – I’d suggest you find a DVD copy of the 1974 film to watch.

Or go ahead and see both. You might have fun and learn something at the same time.

Below: The trailer for Tony Scott’s “The Taking of Pelham 123.”