Taking Of Pelham One Two Three Essay

Joseph Sargent’s 1974 crime/drama/thriller film, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, centers on a heist of a New York subway cart and the race against time to catch the culprits and save the hostages. The dramatic aspect is embedded within the development of the colorful, diverse characters and their dissimilar reactions towards the crime situation. These character’s different personalities as well as their different agendas almost hinder the narrative of the film, but diegetic elements stop that from happening. In fact, the setting, especially the subway and the props, is representative of the way in which the characters want to be seen as. The costume definitely propels the narrative because the four criminals, Mr. Blue, Mr. Brown, Mr. Gray, and Mr. Green, not only rely on their disguises to conceal their identities, but they also use them to interact with each other. Diegetic sound plays an unknowingly major part in the resolution of the film, while David Shire’s unusual and somewhat discordant instrumental non-diegetic musical score keeps the viewer enthralled. Thus, the film suggests that …show more content…
Blue and his band of bandits. Mr. Blue, Mr. Gray, Mr. Green, and Mr. Brown are obviously not acquainted with each other because throughout the film Mr. Green and Mr. Blue get to know each other. Also tension between the four criminals arises due to the fact that they all have a different method to approaching the heist, so they often butt heads. Both Mr. Gray and Mr. Brown are eccentric individuals that, with their facial expressions, express their dislike with taking orders from Mr. Blue. Therefore, Mr. Blue has a difficult time keeping Mr. Gray and Mr. Brown under control because they are unpredictable and, on top of that, their lack of communication makes things worse. Mr. Blue still manages to keep them in check with the threatening use of his gun and the promise of