Old 'Pelham' more satisfying than new one

There's a telling scene in "The Taking of Pelham 123" that comes late in the movie, as New York cop John Turturro takes transit-authority employee Denzel Washington for a helicopter ride.

Turturro is waxing eloquent about how beautiful the view of Manhattan is from high above the city — but all the audience is shown are blurry images that barely look like buildings.

It says a lot about what beauty is in the eye of this beholder — director Tony Scott — who never saw an image through his viewfinder that was beautiful enough to let linger without a blurred, shaken or whirled effect.

For "Pelham," Scott seems to have attached his camera to a merry-go-round. It spins and spins and spins, as if the point of view is from a character suffering from vertigo.

There are other obvious changes in this remake of the 1974 movie, "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (with the numbers spelled out), which had Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw in the roles now occupied by Washington and John Travolta, respectively.

Because the original is 35 years old, it's unlikely that young movie fans will seek it out on their own — so here's a push: The '74 film holds up very well (save for a couple of dated racial and sexist comments) and is far superior to the new version.

And that's not just coming from me. I've been a bit surprised at how many reviews of the new film have praised the first film.

Watching it again, I found the original "Pelham" to be intense and involving, with a stirring musical score (by David Shire) that is sparingly used (back then, silence could be a movie's friend), and a steady rise in tension that quickly engages the audience.

The film is filled with snappy dialogue perfectly delivered and solid performances all around. There is a great deal of well-placed comic relief, some of it gallows humor or snide one-liners, but much of it evolves naturally, the way things do in real life. (This one was directed by Joseph Sargent and is, arguably, his career best.)

And though the first film is also rated R for violence and language, it isn't nearly as violent or profane as the new version.

Matthau plays a transit-authority cop, a cool-headed professional who knows his job and is smart enough to figure things out in time to do some good. He also has a sardonic sense of humor as he develops an adversarial relationship with the chief bad guy, played with smooth confidence by Shaw (who was also a great Bond villain in "From Russia With Love" and played a scene-stealing character in the original "Jaws").