The film is filled with a wondefrul supporting cast, from Kenneth McMillan to Jerry Stiller.Ī cash-strapped New York has one hour to assemble a million dollars cash and deliver it to the subway. Amusingly, a delegation from Japan is visiting the MTA control center just as all hell breaks loose and provides some stereotypical comic relief with a killer punchline. It had to be an inside job and the hunt is on. Zach Garber (Matthau), trying to determine how they could pull off the hijacking with such precision. They make demands of cash, threatening the passengers’ lives. Blue (Robert Shaw) - took possession of the subway designated Pelham One Two Three. The film is far from perfect, but is an excellent time capsule of New York City in the mid-1970s, as crime was rampant, the city was dirty, and the public servants were rumpled and dogged. I watched it and felt incredibly nostalgic. I was interested to see the Tony Scott remake a few years back but longed for the original which I finally tracked down. This film, starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, is based on a novel and was one of my favorite films of the 1970s. I’m reminded of all this because out now is the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. They may not get the deluxe restoration or bonus features, but it’s nice to have clean prints and high definition editions so we can still enjoy them at home. But studios have also been working to bring back the really good films that have been somewhat forgotten. We’ve recently seen, for example, the arrival of musical greats West Side Story and My Fair Lady. One of the joys of the current Blu-ray era is that studios have been delving into their libraries and restoring gems, releasing them with varying degrees of love and care. RECOMMENDED READING: Nothing in particular, but Dean Haspiel’s website has information about his published work and a little Googling would probably yield more Dean, as well as a list if Jonathan Ames’s books. And when Zach/Ray draws a picture on television, Dean actually wields the pencil…and again, the lines blur.īut see for yourself. One more thing: Dean Haspiel is the only person I know who possesses an Emmy, an award he received for work on Bored to Death’s animated title sequence. I do know Dean – have known him since he was a little kid. To me, Dean seems to be absolutely delighted to be who and what and where he is. Zach/Ray is a pretty dour dude whereas Dean is cheery and ebullient. You probably wouldn’t mistake Haspiel for Galifianakis. Wait – there’s more! Some of Bored to Death’s storylines are borrowed from Dean’s autobiography.īut here the correspondences begin to dissolve. All clear, right? Ray is tight with the Schwartzman/Ames and Dean is tight with the Ames/Ames. Like the quasi-fictitious Ray, Dean is a cartoonist and a friend and colleague of Mr. Which brings us to Ray, played by the ubiquitous Zach Galifianakis, and also inspired by a person with an address and a social security number, Dean Haspiel. George Christopher is played by Ted Danson and I’ve never liked him in any role as much as I like him as George. The nominal hero, Jonathan Ames, played by Jason Schwartzman, is – no surprise here – based on the real Jonathan Ames but…the actual Ames plays Irwin who is trying to stab Ray because of a problem involving a woman. It’s a comedy, one which has grown on me initially, my reaction was take-it-or-leave-it, but that’s morphed into a genuine fondness for an entertainment that’s quirky, unique and… what am I forgetting?… oh yeah, often quite funny.īored to Death gleefully and wantonly blurs the line between fiction and real life. The show is called Bored to Death and it concerns Jonathan Ames, a largely unpublished writer who moonlights as a private eye, his editor/restaurateur mentor George, and his cartoonist pal Ray. Still with me? Good, because it gets even more complicated. This character, also named Ray, is a comic book artist and Super Ray is his brainchild. He’s a character created by one of the fictional people who is on the show. Shame on me! I forgot about Super Ray.īefore you rush off to consult TV Guide searching for time and channel, be assured that you won’t find Ray there. A few weeks ago I was blathering about the absence of new superheroes in the current television schedules.
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