Can a Taxi Man Make a Subway Movie?

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  06.17.09 | 11:04 AM ET

Photo by Diego Cupolo via Flickr (Creative Commons)

There’s a surprising tidbit in the Slate review of “The Taking of Pelham 123,” the Denzel/Travolta-starring remake of a ’70s subway-thriller classic. Turns out, director Tony Scott never actually rides the New York subway. Or, almost never: “Well, when I say never, I mean maybe once or twice quite drunk at night, when I couldn’t find a taxi.” Right.

You know that saying about writing what you know? Well, I think the same could apply to directing intensely place-based films. Slate’s John Swansburg says it all: “For a movie ostensibly set in the city’s bowels, [Scott] frequently contrives to take his camera on helicopter rides.”

Tags: Movies, Shameless Self-Promotion, Train Travel, North America, United States, New York, New York City, News and Briefs

Eva Holland is the senior editor of World Hum. Her writing has also appeared in the National Post, the Montreal Gazette, the Ottawa Citizen and WestJet's Up! Magazine, among other publications. She's based in Ottawa, Canada.


1 Comment for Can a Taxi Man Make a Subway Movie?

Sophia Dembling 06.17.09 | 11:39 AM ET

I just watched the original on TV the other night. I love that movie—it’s the grimy, desperate, wonderful NYC of my childhood. Great cast, too.

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