In 1974, there was a movie called The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, about four armed men who hijack a subway train in New York, demanding one million dollars for every hostage aboard. There were lots of wide ties, topiary-like sideburns and racial stereotypes. It came down to a battle of wits between two incredible character actors: Walter Matthau as the transit cop, and Robert Shaw (the gangster from The Sting and the shark-hunter from Jaws) as the senior hijacker. If you've never seen it, you'll realize where Tarantino got his names from, in Reservoir Dogs.

They remade it in 1998, with Edward James Olmos in the Matthau-analogue role, pitted against Vincent D'Onofrio. This summer, it'll be Denzel Washington against John Travolta, directed by Tony Scott and written for the screen by Brian Helgeland.

This is absolutely one of my favorite set-piece thriller movies. I can't wait to see what gets done with it.