Edward James Olmos plays Detective Anthony Piscotti, a New York City police officer.[4] He is trying to crack the hijacking of a New York City Subway train where the antagonists are holding the passengers for ransom.
The film is a remake, with Edward James Olmos in the Walter Matthau role and Vincent D'Onofrio replacing Robert Shaw as the lead hijacker. Although not particularly well received by critics or viewers, this version was reportedly more faithful to the book, specifically in the rigging of the hijacked train for the getaway.
The film was shot in Toronto's TTCsubway system, mainly using the system's Bay, St. Andrew and Museum stations, and two of a class of older cars being retired by the TTC. The two cars were shipped by road to the scrapyard the day after filming ended, still disguised as New York cars.
The Toronto subway cars used for filming cannot operate singly, so a two-car set was used. A phony cab was built on the other end of H-1 car 5482 to simulate single car operation. The single car supposedly detached from the front of the train can be seen on several occasions to be part of a train of at least two cars. The most obvious cases are when rounding curves: once when first moving forward after being detached, and later when Anthony has just figured out the hijackers' plan.
Differences from the novel
Since the film was produced much later than the original, there are also additions to the film that did not exist in the original. For example, one of the characters sets up an IBM ThinkPad laptop computer, connected wirelessly to a motion detector that he places on the track. Later in the film, another character views the screen to see an approaching person, whom he confronts in the tunnel. The ransom demand in the remake was $5 million as opposed to $1 million in the original film and the novel.
Home media
In 2012, TGG Direct released the film on DVD in full frame in a two-pack that also included Runaway Train (1985).
