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John Travolta in The Taking of Pelham 123.

Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics, Vol. 1

DIRECTORS such as Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann and Christopher Nolan are on hand in DVD extras in this deluxe package to testify to the worth of the film noir genre, if you require such expert testimony.

Respectable as those guys are, you're better off just sitting back and enjoying this package of crime thrillers boasting its own array of prestige directors, including Fritz Lang (The Big Heat) and Edward Dmytrik (The Sniper).

Don Siegel, the director of Dirty Harry, offers up a more conventional San Francisco-set crime thriller with The Line-Up, a movie version of a largely forgotten TV series.

While many noir films seem slow-paced to a contemporary audience, this assortment of films tends to zip right along. The Line-Up in particular is a fast and furious police procedural, as two detectives investigate a series of seemingly unrelated crimes that lead them to a professional hitman named Dancer (Eli Wallach), who's bumping off unwitting tourists carrying heroin secreted in their luggage. (The film has a surprising homosexual subtext most evident in a scene in which Dancer meets one of his victims in a steam room.)

Noir scholar Eddie Muller provides some commentary on that latter film along with crime novelist James Ellroy, whose penchant for self-promotion is amusing but distracting.

Other films include 5 Against the House and Murder By Contract. 4 stars

The Taking of Pelham 123

THE original version of The Taking of Pelham 123 was a perfectly good movie, released in 1974 during the Golden Age of New York crime movies. (See also: The French Connection, Mean Streets and Dog Day Afternoon.)

It starred Walter Matthau as a deceptively resourceful transit cop, and had an ambience as tough, dark and slick as one of Al Pacino's black leather Serpico coats.

This new iteration alters the tone by placing the story in a post-9/11 New York City, where the hijacking of a subway train has the wince-inducing effect of forcefully pressing a thumb on a bruise.

Led by a mood-swinging psychopath who sardonically dubs himself Ryder (John Travolta), the team of hijackers steals the titular train, notifying the mayor that if they don't receive $10 million in one hour, they will kill a passenger every minute over the deadline.

Unfortunately for subway dispatcher Walter Garber (Denzel Washington), he happens to be on the other end of the radio when Ryder makes his demands. The two men establish sufficient rapport that Ryder insists on communicating solely with Garber, especially after Ryder learns Garber is himself tainted by a whiff of criminality.

Travolta offers a different take on the villain, playing Ryder as a bipolar diva. Washington calibrates his performance to complement Travolta's, which amounts to the polar opposite of Matthau's unflappable cop in the original film. He's rattled, emotional and his resources stay hidden.

Their performances are the bedrock of the movie, and director Tony Scott knows it, accommodating the stars with restraint. Sure, Scott breaks out his whole arsenal of tricks: fast motion, smash cuts and a pummelling soundtrack. 4 stars

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Top 10 DVD Rentals

1. The Taking Of Pelham 123

2. G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra

3. The Proposal

4. Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

5. Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs

6. Land Of The Lost

7. Orphan

8. I Love You Beth Cooper

9. Year One

10. Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past

-- Rogers Video, week ending Nov. 8

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 12, 2009 F4