Walter Matthau's Gritty '70s Crime Thriller Is A Must-Watch On Prime Video

The gritty crime thriller is a subgenre that continues to thrive, sparking the imaginations and excitement of filmmakers and audiences alike. In January 2026 alone, we've seen the release of several types of these films: Gus Van Sant's "Dead Man's Wire" and Joe Carnahan's "The Rip" are two major examples. Even genre hybrids like the horror/crime thriller "Night Patrol" get a big boost out of their relationship to the subgenre. Like so many subgenres and genres, a big draw of the gritty crime thriller is its structure and tropes, and as such, it's always fun to follow along with the procedural aspects of a crime thriller. Whether it's a movie about a heist, a hostage situation, a pressure cooker showdown, or some combination of all of the above, the subgenre has no shortage of great films to its name.

But which film started the whole craze? Like any art form, cinema and its genres and subgenres exist on a spectrum, so picking an origin point is always tricky. It's far easier to point out quintessential examples, and when it comes to gritty crime thrillers, 1974's "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" is simply one of the best ever made. It's got so much going for it: a fantastic premise, a vibrant setting shot on location, and an ensemble of great character actors. It also has its own unique quirks, the most prominent of which is the casting of Walter Matthau in the lead role. Now that the film is streaming on Prime Video, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

"The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" is based on the 1973 novel by John Godey, and screenwriter Peter Stone handily adapts the novel's page-turning elements to the script. During a busy, mostly average day in New York City, four disguise-wearing thieves board a particular train on the 6 subway line (the titular Pelham 123) and take the passengers hostage, telling authorities that they demand a ransom of $1 million. The thieves up the ante by stating that the powers that be have one hour to come up with the money, otherwise they'll execute one hostage for every minute over that hour. Although this fiasco ties up oodles of innocent bystanders as well as NYC brass, it's up to transit police lieutenant Zachary Garber (Walter Matthau) to try and outsmart the very well-prepared criminals.

So much of the success of the film comes down to director Joseph Sargent's deft handling of the many locations and moving parts of the story. Undercutting all that tense drama while never taking away from it is Matthau's performance, which combines some of his trademark comic spark with a world weary blue collar New Yorker quality. Although Garber is merely a supporting character in the novel, his elevation in the film leads to the four thieves (played by Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Héctor Elizondo, and Earl Hindman) to strut their character actor stuff alongside him. It makes "Pelham" more than just a run-of-the-mill thriller, imbuing it with idiosyncrasies and depth that allows its wild plot to feel that much more plausible.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if that's true, then "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" has been very flattered over the last 52 years. Sargent's film has character on top of a compelling plot, something best exemplified by the way each thief's name is color-coded: Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Brown. When Quentin Tarantino made his first film, "Reservoir Dogs," in 1992, he paid homage to "Pelham" by giving his criminal characters this very same coding, albeit with a few different colors.

The influence of "Pelham" can also be seen just a decade after its release on another watershed action thriller: 1988's "Die Hard." John McTiernan was clearly so fond of Sargent's work that when he made a sequel to "Die Hard" with 1995's "Die Hard With a Vengeance," he made it into a gritty and tense NYC thriller of his own. The way Sargent and cinematographer Owen Roizman shoot New York City in the film wasn't just an influence on McTiernan, but has extended all the way to Sean Baker, who looked to "Pelham" when making his Academy Award-winning "Anora."

"Pelham" is so good that it begat a remake by the great Tony Scott in 2009, starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta in the lead roles. Scott took pains to make his film distinct from Sargent's, but the DNA of what makes the original great is still in there. While you can't go wrong with either movie, make sure to watch the 1974 film. It may be over half a century old, but its craft and ingenuity are nothing to sneeze at.