If you’re looking for a safe bet, or if you simply loathe modern orange actors like Matthew McConaughey, Hulu.com is now streaming The Taking of Pelham One Two Three in its entirety. Judging from the above poster, the film looks like a pulpfest, and to a degree it is, but it’s also an overlooked, hardboiled thriller with two no-bullshit performances from the late greats, Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. Arguably a third star in the film is New York City; the metropolis’s daily grind and ’70s grime is so well captured by director Joseph Sargent viewers practically suffer the screeches and the subway smells. And then there’s the perfect ending. We don’t mean to nag, but with a remake starring Denzel and Travolta due in 2009, you might want to check it out while the plotting and twists remain fresh.

Click here to watch The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Discuss: Anyone a fan? Anticipating Tony Scott’s remake? Feel free to recommend other films starring Shaw and Matthau below.