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Last year, we lost Goodfellas star Ray Liotta, who passed away in his sleep at the age of 67. Now Deadline has shared a previously unreleased interview they conducted with Liotta a couple years before he died – and during the interview, Liotta mentioned that he felt stupid for turning down a role in director Tim Burton‘s 1989 version of Batman.

Batman first came up when Liotta was talking about writer/director Noah Baumbach’s Netflix-released film Marriage Story, which he had a role in. He said, “They started with the Batman stuff and triggered the whole comic book genre, and now most of the studios are putting an unbelievable amount of money into things like that. But movies like this one, Marriage Story… Thank God for Netflix, because they’ll finance your movie. I don’t know who else would give money for Marriage Story. It’s a great movie,...

(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Movie: "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (1974)

Where You Can Stream It: HBO Max, Tubi

The Pitch: Four criminals board a downtown 6 train in New York City. They all use monikers based on different colors and are led by a former British Army Colonel with the pseudonym Mr. Blue (Robert Shaw). They round up the 18 passengers on the train and hold them, hostage, in the first car. Their demand? A million dollars to be delivered to the train within one hour. If the money does not make it to them in that time, they will execute one hostage every minute until they get it. Their only communication to the outside is the train radio that patches them to...

A superb thriller is now better than ever on 4K. We’ve always known why it rewards viewings: it’s both thrilling and funny. When Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam and Hector Elizondo hijack a subway train, Walter Matthau must scramble to collect a ransom while trying to figure out how they’ll make their escape. Peter Stone’s dialogue is delightful — the loud & mouthy ’70s New Yorkers are hilariously abrasive — and lovable. “Who wants to know?!!!” Includes a Blu-ray disc and a new commentary.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three 4K

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1974 / Color B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 104 min. / Street Date December 20, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95

Starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Earl Hindman, James Broderick, Dick O’Neill, Lee Wallace, Tom Pedi, Jerry Stiller, Rudy Bond, Kenneth McMillan, Doris Roberts, Julius Harris,Robert Weil.

Cinematography Owen Roizman

Original Music David Shire...

A special edition of this confirmed '70s crowd pleaser?  I'm there. Robert Shaw has big plans to hijack a New York subway car, and subway cop Walter Matthau is determined to stop him. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three 42nd Anniversary Special Edition Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1974 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 104 min. / Street Date July 5, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 1974 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 104 min. / Street Date November 1, 2011 / 19.99 Starring Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Earl Hindman, James Broderick, Dick O'Neill, Lee Wallace, Tom Pedi, Jerry Stiller, Rudy Bond, Kenneth McMillan, Doris Roberts, Julius Harris. Cinematography Owen Roizman Original Music David Shire Written by Peter Stone from the novel by John Godey Produced by Gabriel Katzka, Edgar J. Sherick Directed by Joseph Sargent

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

I reviewed an MGM-Fox Blu-ray of United Artists' The Taking of Pelham One Two Three back in late 2011, and I can't...

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. We’ve recently seen, for example, the arrival of musical greats West Side Story and My Fair Lady. But studios have also been working to bring back the really good films that have been somewhat forgotten. 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. I’m reminded of all this because out now is the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. This film, starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw, is based on a novel and was one of my favorite films of the 1970s. I was interested to see the Tony Scott remake a few years...

Mark highlights lots of screen politicians - and one banker - you wouldn't want running your country...

Here in Britain, Parliament has been dissolved and there's just under a month until the UK goes to the polling booths to decide who has to put up with taxes, education and all that joy for the next five or so years. This isn't the time for Den Of Geek to get political, but we would like to say don't worry - politicians could be a lot worse than they are.

So often in films, politicians are all that is villainous, slimy or incompetent about the cast of characters, so imagine if one of these movie politicians got into office next month.

You'd be yearning for the days when a ministerial cock-up entailed the receipt for a Battlefield Earth DVD turning up on the register of ministers' interests, rather than the destruction of...

Modern thrillers, and action films to an extent, seem to me to take themselves pretty seriously. I love the 'Bourne' films, which are probably the new benchmark of modern thriller filmmaking, but there seems very little time taken in contemporary thrillers to give the audience little respites of humor, even in the relationships between characters.

Action-thrillers from the 1970s seem to me to have a much greater sense of fun and levity to them. A film like The French Connection, doubtless as gritty and downright thrilling as any film you will ever see, has a huge number of terrific lines and moments between the lead characters that bring them down to earth and away from Superman-like invincibility.

Then there's The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. Not forgotten by any means, but there’s no doubt that it has been overtaken in the public's collective memory by the more revolutionary...