• Before this train reaches the next station it will become the scene of the most spectacular hijack ever attempted

• We are going to kill one passenger a minute until New York City pays us 1 million dollars.

• Everyone read it. Now you can live it.

• No other hijack was ever like his

• Walter Matthau says "gesundheit" three times during the movie.

• The Transit Authority (TA) of New York at first refused to allow the film to be shot on the actual New York subway. They feared it would lead to imitative crime (it didn't, but their position was shown to be reasonable when the later film Money Train (1995) apparently did). Associate producer Stephen F. Kesten was equally adamant that no other city's subway could be credibly used (and he was apparently right: see the goofs entry for the remake The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1998) (TV)). The TA finally did cooperate after Mayor John V. Lindsay intervened, but they required United Artists to buy anti-hijacking insurance at a cost of $75,000 in addition to paying $275,000 for the use of the subway.

• Walter Matthau had not been on the New York subway in many years at the time this movie was made even though he was born and raised in New York.

• Filmed mostly in the tunnels leading to the decommissioned IND Court St. station in Brooklyn. The station itself served as Grand Central and 28th St.

• Ever since the release of the film, no #6 train has ever been scheduled to leave Pelham Bay Park at either 13:23 or 01:23.

• 'Steven Spielberg' was considered as director.

• Martin Balsam's character frequently worries that he's going to die. By the end of the movie, Balsam is the only one of the four hijackers left alive.

• Factual errors: The conductor brags that he knows that all cars on the IRT are 72 feet long, when the correct length would have been 51 feet.

• Errors in geography: The relevant section of the Lexington Avenue Line includes curves sharp enough to have speed-controlled signals. As Mr. Green would have known, these cannot be cleared to green in advance of the train's arrival and will not clear if it is running away.

• Factual errors: Subway signaling displays do not show trains in a manner that allows their length to be continuously observed by counting the lit dots.

• Continuity: The first car of Pelham 1-2-3 as it enters 28th St. is car 7339. However, at Grand Central, 7339 is seen on the opposite track across the platform. On top of that, the first car in the tunnel after being cut from the rest of the train is car 7434.

• Continuity: When Pelham 1-2-3 initially enters 28th St., car 7339 is clean. As the train leaves the station after being hijacked, red splotches are visible on 7339.

• Continuity: When Pelham 1-2-3 initially enters 28th St. the front "Brooklyn Bridge" destination sign on 7339 has wide lettering. Later, when 7339 comes to a screeching halt after being tripped by a red timing signal, the "Brooklyn Bridge" destination sign has narrow lettering.

• Factual errors: Just before the gang leaves the train, Mr. Blue talks into the microphone of the radio but does not press the talk button.

• Continuity: When Bud Carmody closes down the rear section of the train at 59th St., there is a noticeable gap between the train and the edge of the platform. When he closes down the front section, there is no such gap.

• Continuity: As Mr. Brown is about to pull his gun on the conductor, a man in a black jacket is seen entering the train. Then Mr. Brown pulls his gun and tells the conductor that when the person leaning against the first car (Mr. Blue) gets on, he is to close the doors. The same man in the black jacket gets on again.

• Revealing mistakes: When Mr. Green pulls out of 28th Street, we see him disengage the "Dead Man's Feature" (by pressing down on the throttle with his hand). However, he does not actually move the control lever to make the train move. In that position, the train is at "idle" and will not accelerate.

• Revealing mistakes: As the police car rushes uptown, the same buildings reflect off the car's windows several times.