The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

It is afternoon in New York City when four men get aboard a subway train, each boarding at a different stop.  Once all are onboard, they highjack the train.  They stop in the middle of a tunnel and create havoc through the entire subway system.  The leader of the group is Mr. Blue (Robert Shaw), and he demands a million dollars in 1 hour.  Lt. Zachary Garber (Walter Matthau) of the Transit Police handles the communication, requesting more time to secure the money.  The mayor, various police officials, and subway personnel are entangled in the crisis.  Mr. Blue denies any extensions and says he will begin shooting hostages, one every minute the money is late.  Of course, everyone is utterly baffled by the plan.  How can they escape from the subway tunnels once the money is paid?  Though most think the criminals are just stupid, Garber sees that they have been very smart so far.  Clearly, they must have a plan.  Can he figure it out before they escape?

Robert Shaw is his usual excellent self.  He is one cool customer, a man not at all stressed by a high stress situation.  Hector Elizondo plays Mr. Grey, a trigger-happy goon with a mafia background.  Martin Balsam is Mr. Green, a former subway employee who knows how to operate the train and understands the procedures of the subway system.  Lastly, Earl Hindman is Mr. Brown.  It is a small part, but it was funny to see the Home Improvement neighbor, Wilson, as a machine-gun toting thug.  Matthau is good, but he doesn't have the hard edge of Shaw.  There were times that he was comedic.  One of the other transit officers was played by Jerry Stiller, who plays this straight.  I'm so used to him as George Costanza's father that I didn't recognize him for a while.  Doris Roberts has a brief scene-stealing appearance as the mayor's wife and the person who really made the decision to pay the ransom.

Fast-paced and entertaining.  Good popcorn fun.

Young Winston (1972)

The story opens with Winston Churchill (Simon Ward) in India during a punitive raid against the Mohmand.  Though attached as a war correspondent, he is shown participating in battle.  From here, the movie jumps to his youth, showing the 7 year-old Winston on his way to Harrow, a prestigious school for boys.  He proves to be a disappointment to his father, Lord Randolph Churchill (Robert Shaw).  In fact, his scholarly talents are questionable to the point that a career in law or politics seems unlikely.  Randolph suggests a career in the military.  Though Winston attends Sandhurst and becomes a cavalry officer, his father is again disappointed that he failed to qualify for the infantry.  Much of the first half of the movie concerns Lord Randolph's political rise and fall.  He had risked all on a threatened resignation to get his way.  The gambit failed and his resignation was accepted.  Sadly, his father died before Winston had any notable accomplishment to make his father proud.  After India, Winston served in Sudan where he participated in the last cavalry charge by British troops.  He sought election to parliament on his return but lost.  Back to his old job of war correspondent, this time in South Africa during the Boer War.  This time, he was captured by the Boers and held as a prisoner of war.  However, he escaped, winning great fame in the process and finally securing a seat in parliament.  No sooner did he arrive in parliament than he took up the very topic that had led to his father's political fall; he called for a cut in the military budget.

The movie is packed with stars, many of whom get only a scene or two.  Anne Bancroft has the largest role besides Ward, playing his mother from his youth until his taking up his father's lost cause in parliament.  Ian Holm appears as editor George Buckle, John Mills as General Kitchener, Jane Seymour in the non-speaking role of Pamela Plowden, Edward Woodward as Captain Haldane, and Anthony Hopkins as Lloyd George.  Though I failed to spot him, Nigel Hawthorne (The Madness of King George) appeared as a Boer Sentry.

Directed by Richard Attenborough, the movie is based on an autobiography by Churchill about his youth: My Early Life.  It was interesting to see how much he idolized his father while at the same time admitting that he only had a handful of long conversations with him.  He had a distant, disapproving father who ruined his career on what the adult Winston recognized as a suicidal ploy.  He also likely died from syphilis.  I was reminded of how Barack Obama had a hero complex for his father, despite having been abandoned as a toddler and only meeting him a few times.  Much of his rise can be attributed to his mother's various contacts in British society.  Of note, she was an America.  Gee, that reminds me of Downton Abbey, where Lady Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern) is American.  Was it a common practice for English lords to marry American heiresses?

It is a very different picture of Churchill, seeing him as a lithe young officer and man of action rather than a portly, bald man with a cigar and a glass of alcohol.  His desperation to make something of himself before he is 25 is funny, especially for a man who lived to 90.  That both he and his father sought to limit military spending is surprising.  The disarmament notion goes back farther than I realized.

Both entertaining and educational.  Recommended.

The Deep (1977)

David (Nick Nolte) and Gail (Jacqueline Bisset) are scuba diving off the coast of Bermuda.  During their dive, they discover a pair of interesting items.  One appears to be an old coin from 1714.  The other is an ampule, a small bottle with a brownish gold liquid.  Back on shore, the man who collects their empty tanks takes an interest in the ampule.  That evening at dinner, Henri Cloche (Louis Gossett Jr.) sits at their table and offers to buy the ampule.  David brushes him off, claiming to have no such thing.  A foray to the local library gives little idea of what the coin might be, but they do learn of local treasure hunter, Romer Treece (Robert Shaw).  Treece explains that the coin is actually a medallion and might be worth enough to pay their vacation expenses if they don't drink too much.  He pockets the ampule while they aren't paying attention.  David and Gail are kidnapped by Cloche's goons.  Cloche wants the ampule, but quickly deduces that Treece has it.

Based on a novel by Peter Benchley, this is a sunken treasure story with elements of a thriller and a dash of Jaws (his previous novel) added.  A swarm of sharks make an appearance, but it is the moray eel that serves as the monster of the deep.  The movie isn't quite sure what it wants to be.  There is a lot of scuba diving that includes digging for treasure, avoiding sharks or the eel, and fighting Bermudan goons.  To add some horror, there is the inclusion of voodoo on the part of Cloche and his goons.  Despite several serious crimes and events that surely would have drawn the police, no police ever arrive.  Apparently, Bermuda has no police.  David's quest for sunken treasure blinds him to the danger involved.  Gail's inexplicable love for David makes her overlook the obvious danger that she is in.  Hard to accept.  A big draw for the movie at the time of release was Jacqueline Bisset in a wet t-shirt throughout the opening dive.

Despite often being preposterous, it is an entertaining watch.  Director Peter Yates often makes entertaining films that are watchable, but not great.  Among his other films are Krull (1983), Year of the Comet (1992), The Hot Rock (1972), and Bullitt (1968).