The Getaway (1972) National General/Action-Thriller RT: 123 minutes Rated PG (strong violence, language, brief nudity, suggestive material) Director: Sam Peckinpah Screenplay: Walter Hill Music: Qunicy Jones Cinematography: Lucien Ballard Release date: December 13, 1972 (US) Cast: Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Sally Struthers, Al Lettieri, Slim Pickens, Richard Bright, Jack Dodson, Dub Taylor, Bo Hopkins, Roy Jenson, John Bryson, Bill Hart, Tom Runyon, Whitney Jones, Raymond King, Ivan Thomas. Box Office: $36.7M (US)
Rating: *** ½
I was 11 when I saw The Getaway for the first time (on network TV, of course). I didn’t make it until the end, but I liked what I saw of it. At the time, most of the names listed in the opening credits meant nothing to me. I didn’t know who Ben Johnson, Al Lettieri, Bo Hopkins, Richard Bright, Dub Taylor, Sam Peckinpah, Walter Hill and Roger Spottiswoode were. I knew Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw by name only. The only ones whose work I was familiar with were Sally Struthers (Gloria on All in the Family) and composer Quincy Jones whose theme from Roots was on one of my K-tel records. I had no way of knowing the unknown-to-me names would ultimately play a major role in my growth as a movie geek. In a way, I consider The Getaway one of the defining titles of my (reel) life.
Nobody does a violent action film like Peckinpah. He’s the auteur behind the groundbreaking western The Wild Bunch. The Getaway doesn’t rise to that level of perfection, but it benefits greatly from its solid leading man. Steve McQueen (Bullitt) plays it tough and cool as Doc McCoy, an armed robber we first meet serving a ten-year stretch in a Texas penitentiary. After being denied parole, he sends his wife Carol (MacGraw, Love Story) to ask corrupt businessman Jack Beynon (Johnson, The Last Picture Show) to use his connections to get him released. He does so on the condition that Doc take part in a bank robbery with two of his guys, Rudy (Lettieri, The Godfather) and Frank (Hopkins, The Wild Bunch).
You know what they say about honor among thieves, right? That’s especially true in this case. I won’t go into all the details, but a series of double-crosses leaves Beynon dead and a wounded Rudy on the vengeance trail while Doc and Carol make for the Mexican border with $500,000 in their possession. Their flight to freedom is made more complicated by the loss of trust between the married couple. You see, that business about honor or lack thereof extends to spouses as well.
Adapted from pulp writer Jim Thompson’s crime novel, The Getaway is an effective, well-oiled chase picture where the “heroes” always have to stay one step ahead of their pursuers of which there is no shortage. The police want to apprehend them. In one exciting scene, Doc purchases a shotgun that he immediately uses to thwart capture by lawmen after a shop owner recognizes him and calls it in. Beynon’s men, led by his brother Cully (Jenson, Harper), want to kill him in retaliation. Rudy’s a little angry over being left for dead. Okay, he’s a lot angry. After forcing a veterinarian (Dodson, The Andy Griffith Show) and his young wife (Struthers) to treat his bullet wound, he kidnaps them at gunpoint to aid in his pursuit. It all leads to a violent climax at an El Paso hotel that caters to criminals.
In keeping with the antiestablishment mood of the era, The Getaway makes anti-heroes out of criminals much like Bonnie and Clyde did five years earlier. The ironic part is that Doc is the most honorable character in the movie. He held up his end of the deal he made with Beynon. The others, including his wife, did not. McQueen is perfectly cast as Doc. His cool, tough persona makes him the ideal choice to play a bad guy with a code of ethics. He doesn’t kill unless it’s absolutely necessary. At the same time, he has no problem slapping his wife around after she tries to pull a fast one. He may be the hero in this story, but he’s nothing close to a good guy. IMO, McQueen is the best of the old school action heroes. Recent action icons like Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel have nothing on this guy. I’ll always regret McQueen’s premature death to cancer.
MacGraw was never much of an actress. I wouldn’t exactly call her a terrible actress, but she comes perilously close. She plays roles without becoming fully invested in them. She doesn’t engage with her co-stars. She’s best described as insouciant. She generates no chemistry whatsoever with McQueen which is odd since they became a real-life couple while filming The Getaway. Johnson, a great character actor in his own right, makes excellent use of what little screen time he has. In just a short amount of time, you come to detest him. Lettieri invests his character with the right amount of vileness. He’s a rotten SOB here. Cowboy actor Slim Pickens (One-Eyed Jacks) shows up briefly as a driver hijacked by Doc and Carol. He’s just great!
Overall, The Getaway is pretty good. It has pacing issues and rambles aimlessly on more than one occasion. It also boasts a few well-orchestrated action sequences. Would you expect any less of Peckinpah? He knows how to stage such scenes. It’s his gift. Nothing in The Getaway is up to the high standards of The Wild Bunch, but they’re still distinctly his. The hotel finale with Doc shooting it out with Beynon’s guys is violent and thrilling.
I like The Getaway a lot. It’s a lean, mean action movie that benefits from a near-solid screenplay by Walter Hill, future director of The Warriors and 48 Hrs. Like I said, the story meanders a bit here and there, but the action scenes compensate nicely for this decidedly minor lapse. I’ll say this much. This version, despite its flaws, is a damn sight better than the rotten 1994 remake. Alec Baldwin is no Steve McQueen (nobody is), Kim Basinger isn’t any better than Ali MacGraw and Roger Donaldson is no Peckinpah. The original is the definitive version of The Getaway. It’s only good Peckinpah as opposed to great Peckinpah, but it’s better than no Peckinpah at all.
