The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Extremely entertaining crime thriller directed by Joseph Sargent and adapted from the 1973 novel by Morton Freedgood.

A New York subway train is hijacked by a team of four men in hat and moustache disguises. They take 17 passengers hostage and threaten to kill them unless they are paid $1 million within an hour. 

Walter Matthau stars as the Transit Police lieutenant responsible for saving the victims and resolving the crisis. Robert Shaw plays "Mr. Blue", who is one of the deadly crooks.

It’s tense and exciting with plenty of moments of welcome humour. That said, there are also some very dodgy racist jokes.

Hello, Dolly! (1969)

Romantic comedy musical starring Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau and Michael Crawford.   

A widowed matchmaker seeks a husband in (and around) New York in 1895, employing a number of outlandish schemes to secure his affections. 

On the down side, with the exception of the annoying title song, none of the music is memorable and the plot is thin indeed. Also, Matthau is so unappealingly grumpy as the millionaire Horace Vandergelder that you can’t imagine why Dolly (or anyone else) would ever want to marry him – however rich he was. Some of the big, lavish set pieces drag on, despite being “technically” impressive. 

On the plus side, it improves a little after a slow start. Barbra oozes star quality, as always, and is very funny in her own way. Michael Crawford is exceedingly watchable, too. He demonstrates his “Frank Spencer” physical comedy, but with a silly American accent. Marianne McAndrew is likeable as his love interest, Irene Molloy, and you wonder why she didn’t have a more successful career.