The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (1974) / Airport (1970) — structural swimlanes

Two 1970s ensemble-disaster procedurals that both land in better-tools / sufficient — the subway version and the airline version of the same 1970s genre. Connector lines mark structural parallels; dashed callouts mark film-specific features the other film has no analogue for.

Hover a beat box for the full beat description. Hover a connector line for the explanation of why those two beats are connected the way they are.

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 (1974) better/sufficient · subway procedural · detective POV 101 min · 40 beats AIRPORT (1970) better/sufficient · airline disaster · manager POV 137 min · 40 beats INITIAL EQUILIBRIUM → COMMITMENT INITIAL APPROACH → MIDPOINT POST-MIDPOINT APPROACH → CLIMAX WIND-DOWN (no Airport analogue) (no Airport analogue) (no Pelham analogue) (no Pelham analogue) (no Pelham analogue) p1[3m]Motorman walks conductor trainee through procedure p2[7m]Four men in identical hats and overcoats board successive stations and seize the front car p3[10m]Lt. Garber escorts Japanese subway officials through the Transit Authority control centerEquilibrium p7[25m]Blue announces over the motorman's radio: “Your train has been taken.”Inciting p9[30m]Garber crosses to a separate radio circuit and plugs into the IRT train-master's frequencyCommit p10[35m]Mr. Grey shoots transit supervisor Caz Dolowicz in the tunnel p13[39m]Garber tries to buy time; Blue compresses the negotiation to a single number p16[47m]The ransom is approved; Blue dictates packaging instructions p20[58m]The ransom money races through Manhattan traffic toward the tunnel p25[68m]Money delivered; Garber and Blue exchange at point-blank radio distanceMidpoint p29[83m]The empty train launches south; the hijackers exit through the emergency door p31[86m]In the squad car on Park Avenue South, Garber says: “They are not on the train.” p34[92m]Blue says “Pity” and steps onto the third rail p36[94m]Three dead hijackers identified; none of them is a motorman p38[98m]At Longman's apartment, the suspect plays injured citizen and controls the space p40[100m]Longman sneezes; Garber says “Gesundheit” at the door; the recognition landsClimax a1[0m]Title sequence — Alfred Newman's score over Lincoln International in the snowstorm a2[3m]Mel Bakersfeld in the airport general manager's office, juggling phonesEquilibrium a4[10m]A Trans Global Airlines 707 has slid off the taxiway and is blocking Runway 29Inciting a6[15m]Joe Patroni, TWA's chief field maintenance man, is called in from home a7[19m]Cindy Bakersfeld on the phone; she demands Mel leave the airport for her social eventResist a9[23m]Ada Quonsett, an elderly stowaway, is caught at a TGA gate without a boarding pass a10[25m]Mel tells Cindy on the phone that he will be at the airport overnightCommit a11[28m]Patroni arrives at the stuck 707 and begins the extraction a13[38m]D.O. Guerrero at his apartment with Inez; the failed contractor's life unraveling a15[44m]At the Meadowood meeting, residents demand a flight curfew; Mel refuses to commitEscal-1 a17[48m]Guerrero at the terminal insurance counter; buys a heavy life-insurance policy a18[49m]Gwen tells Vernon she is pregnant; Vernon's defensive response a22[62m]Flight 2 begins boarding at Gate 33; Ada Quonsett slips through the boarding line a28[80m]In Mel's office, Cindy names the marriage as dead — “the only answer is a divorce.”Midpoint a31[91m]The bomb threat is radioed to Flight 2; Vernon Demerest takes the call in the cockpit a35[102m]Guerrero takes the case into the lavatory; the rear of the aircraft decompressesEscal-2 a38[117m]Patroni climbs into the cockpit of the stuck 707 himself and gives it the gun; the runway opens a39[120m]Flight 2 lands on the just-cleared Runway 29Climax a40[128m]Dawn at Lincoln. Gwen taken to ambulance; Demerest goes with her. Mel meets Tanya outside the terminalWind-Down homage — direct structural parallel parallel scene-type parallel framing, opposite outcome film-specific (no analogue) Equilibrium Inciting Resist Commit Escal-1 Midpoint Escal-2 Climax Wind-Down