Strap yourself in for the edge-of-your-seat thrill ride that wrote the rulebook on high-stakes heist movies - Joseph Sargent's 1974 masterclass in relentless suspense, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.

Beneath the streets of Manhattan, on an afternoon like any other, four armed men hijack a subway carriage, demanding a $1 million ransom within an hour - or they'll start executing their hostages. Upstairs, in the New York Transit Authority's control room, world-weary transit cop Lt Garber (Walter Matthau) is forced into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the cool, calculating "Mr Blue" (Robert Shaw), parrying the demands of both the hijackers and the city's authorities as the clock counts down to the fateful deadline.

One of the seminal New York crime films of the seventies, shot on location and oozing period detail and authenticity, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three boasts pitch-perfect performances, pitch-black humour, an unrelenting pace and an unforgettable score by David Shire. Oft-imitated, never bettered, this rugged gem of Hollywood heist cinema remains a perennial classic of the genre - and one hell of a ride. Gesundheit!