The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (aka The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3) is a 1974 American thriller film directed by Joseph Sargent, produced by Edgar J. Scherick, and starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam and Héctor Elizondo. Peter Stone adapted the screenplay from the 1973 novel of the same name, written by Morton Freedgood (under the pen name John Godey) about a group of criminals taking the passengers hostage of a busy New York City Subway car for ransom. Musically, it features "one of the best and most inventive thriller scores of the 1970s". It was remade in 1998 as a television movie and was again remade in 2009 as a film.