If hearing the Lord's name vain doesn't bother you in the least, this is a good film with terrific suspense and a good foursome of male actors in Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam and Hector Elizondo. When I first saw this in the theater almost 35 years ago, I liked it a lot.
However, now that the blasphemy part bothers me, this film is a disaster, like the subway-car situation in the story. I don't know if I have heard this much verbal abuse in a 100-minute film as this one, although I can think of a few others that are close. It's too extreme and ruined the movie for me, and it's typical of films made around this time in the mid 1970s. These thrillers had a good "edge" to them but had such a sleazy atmosphere, I can't enjoy them anymore. Also, despite the premise and the trailers, this movie does not have the amount of action you expect you're going to see. Thus, people aren't offended by the language still may be disappointed that this isn't as fast-moving a story as they anticipated.
However, now that the blasphemy part bothers me, this film is a disaster, like the subway-car situation in the story. I don't know if I have heard this much verbal abuse in a 100-minute film as this one, although I can think of a few others that are close. It's too extreme and ruined the movie for me, and it's typical of films made around this time in the mid 1970s. These thrillers had a good "edge" to them but had such a sleazy atmosphere, I can't enjoy them anymore. Also, despite the premise and the trailers, this movie does not have the amount of action you expect you're going to see. Thus, people aren't offended by the language still may be disappointed that this isn't as fast-moving a story as they anticipated.