The Getaway: Deluxe Edition

No one does it better, I loved this movie from start to finish.

This film has many layers.It is one of the best action movies ever made. It is full of graphic beatings, intimidation, sexual sadism, shootings, fires and car crashes. The Texas prison guards and police look real and mean business. The criminals look and act like real criminals - seedy, ignorant, brutal, and callous. When Beynon (whose name in pronounced "Benyan" throughout the movie) is found dead his brother orders his henchmen not to waste time burying the body, saying "dump it down a dry well, if you can find one." McQueen handles the 12 gauge shotgun and .45 Government Model pistol adroitly as befits an ex-Marine and the shoot-outs are very believable. The wounds look real, the dead people look dead. In reality, two people could not survive such a series of violent encounters unscathed, but it's a movie, so they do. Such is the magic of film that we believe it all happens just as we see it.It's a portrait of life in a certain time and place, Texas in the early 1970's. The background scenes are very unselfconscious and natural - the accents, the heat, the mesquite, and barbecue, the open and friendly manner of Texans. The extras seem to have been there all along, living their lives; the camera just happens to catch them as they respond to the whirlwind of violence that rolls into town with McQueen and MacGraw.It's the story of a strong sexual relationship between two very attractive people. It is not surprising that Steve and Ali became sexually involved off the screen and eventually married. The chemistry is obvious and clearly communicated, even though the standards of the time did not require the sexual explicitness that we have become accustomed to these days.It is an exceptionally well made film. Every frame hold one's interest. In fact, Peckinpah's mastery of the visual aspect of film is such that each PART of each frame holds one's interest.The plot is intriguing. How is "Doc" going to get out of prison, and how is he going to rob the bank, and who is going to betray whom, and how? And how are he and "Carol" going to finally get to Mexico? Only the ending has a false ring. "Doc" and "Carol" are ruthless criminals in spite of their good looks and classy clothes, but we prefer to think they are misunderstood lovers, and we want true love to win out in the end, so we accept this ending. But as others have pointed out this is not how the book ended, and it is not consistent with the overall tone of the movie."The Getaway" is a powerful portrayal of the criminal mind as it acts out its ruthless greed and selfishness. But two amoral people like "Doc" and "Carol" could in the end never have really trusted each other. Thompson's story makes this clear, while Peckinpah's film muddies these waters in order to provide an acceptable "Hollywood" ending.This review is based on the VHS version.Update Oct. 20, 2007:I have just seen the DVD version for the first time. Visually it is a significant improvement over the VHS version. The music is more coherent, less sappy. The critical commentary track provides some very interesting insights into the acting and Peckinpah's film technique. The "virtual" commentary by Peckinpah, MacGraw, and McQueen reveals all three to be fairly inarticulate and lacking in insight - Ali gushes on and on about what a great actor McQueen is, when what she really means is how much in love with him she is.It's still a great film, even better on DVD.

Move

This movie was considered an “extreme action” movie when it was released. While it’s still “OK”, it nonetheless pales by comparison to today’s action releases. “My, how times have changed.”

I don't know much about these seventies movies but they're surprisingly brutal sometimes. In the good kind of way, not so much graphic but more suggestive and psychological. That's a really bad bad guy. Oh and the hero Steve McQueen smacks his wife around like nothing and you don't even care. It's love.It's also a cool heist movie.

I can't figure how I managed to not know about this movie over the years. It has enough action to not bore you. McQueen is mostly always in good flicks and with Al Literi as the perfect Thug you can't go wrong.

One of the best action adventure films of the early 70's, The Getaway holds up well today. It refreshingly stays close to reality in its chase scenes and encounters, a relief from the impossibly over-the-top sequences in today's action flicks. And of course nothing is computer generated. The key to the films success is the convergence of the major contributors who were all at their best. The taut script was an early one by Walter Hill, who would later go on to direct action films like The Warriors and 48 Hrs. The director, Sam Peckinpah had been known for Westerns and in 1969 had a big success with The Wild Bunch. Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw were two of the biggest stars in the world at the time and their chemistry is very real. They became involved on the set and married in August of 1972. The supporting cast includes old western regulars Ben Johnson and Slim Pickins, and there's the curiosity of Sally Struthers from TV's All In the Family in a rather disturbing role.In a film like this you don't want to give anything away, so let me just say that Doc McCoy (McQueen) gets paroled from prison and rejoins his wife, Carol (MacGraw). After that there is a bank heist that goes awry with many twists and turns until the end. This is the early 70's, so you need to understand Doc as an antihero. You also should know Peckinpah's reputation for onscreen bloodshed, though it's only there when necessary; it's not really bad by modern standards, but before him most shots were bloodless and often offscreen. Really great without qualification.

As I said before, the writing was pretty bad.

Based on Jim Thompson's novel, The Getaway finds director Sam Peckinpah, and king of cool actor Steve McQueen, turning to hard grit drama after the sedate splendour of Junior Bonner earlier in the year.Doc McCoy is released early from prison due to some string pulling from influential gangster Jack Benyon, however it comes under condition that McCoy pulls off a bank robbery for the gruff smarmy Benyon. Thus the seed is sown for double crosses, murder, cross country pursuits, adultery, and carnage Peckinpah style.Steve McQueen is excellent as McCoy, few actors can claim to look so good when popping off a pump action shotgun, or shooting a pistol complete with arm recoil, and here he has Peckinpah to maximise the damage whilst poetically portraying the slow-mo death sequences. Al Lettieri is vile thug Rudy Butler who is in hot pursuit of McCoy & his wife Carol, a wonderful weasel turn full of cold abusive charm that reeks of menace. Sadly the film is let down a touch by the performance of Ali MacGraw as Carol, it's a terribly wooden performance that threatens to undo all the good things in the film, but luckily McQueen manages to ease her thru the production to minimise the damage.This of course is the film where both of them fell madly in love and ended up getting married to each other, the chemistry is good, but it's just that MacGraw's delivery of her lines lacks emotion or fortitude. Peckinpah disagreed with the critics of the time, even sending a letter to MacGraw praising her efforts. However when she turned up for the shoot unable to drive a car, he was less than pleased since her character was the getaway driver!Full of fine sequences and bloody scenarios, it stands up as a real good Sam Peckinpah picture, it's a kind of city set western where the outlaws are actually coming across as heroes. We get pulled into this couple's world and we want so much for them to achieve their goals, so add that feeling to the gritty structure of the story and you get a real enjoyable piece benefiting from great work from director and charismatic leading man alike. 8/10

This is a reasonable quality transfer of an old film to blu-ray but never having seen it on DVD I can't say how it compares. The story is quite good with lots of twists and turns that you don't expect. Ali McGraw stars (complete with wardrobe malfunction at a distance) along with Steve McQueen and if you're a big fan of hers this film is surely a must.

A superb crime thriller, The Getaway, stars Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw as the husband-wife duo on the lam after a successful bank heist. The film is noted for its car chases and the violent shootout at the end. McQueen oozes charm as the wronged guy out for revenge but the film is rather let down by McGraw's simpering performance as the female lead. Al Lettieri is sinister as the villain who has McQueen in his sights.There was a remake with Kim Basinger but this one is the one to watch! A classic indeed.They don't make 'em like this anymore!

Prime Sam Peckinpah with Steve McQueen, Ali McGraw and the usual supporting cast of Peckinpah regulars. Goes like a rocket and a great example of Peckinpah's montage-like editing style. Warner's blu-ray is okay and adequate in the picture and sound departments. But this is worthy of a re-master. Come on Warner Archive!

I'm not so familiar with Sam Peckinpah's career as I have only seen this and The Osterman Weekend (which I hated) but you can tell from his style that he has certainly influenced a lot of modern day directors. The perfect widescreen photography, quick editing (but not a blur, I should add) and dramatic use of slow-motion give the action in The Getaway an authentic edge. And all done on a low-budget too.Adapted from a Jim Thompson novel by Walter Hill (his macho characteristics are all in there), the story has newly-freed jailbird Carter McCoy forced into a bank robbery by crime boss Jack Benyon. He's also forced to work with rank amateur Frank and psychotic renegade Rudy. You can tell that this dost not bode well.Rudy goes haywire, killing everyone in sight but is soon put out of action by McCoy, who then legs it across country with his cheating wife (the lovely Ali McGraw) and a bag full of simoleons. Down, but not out, Rudy follows him, as well as several associates of the recently deceased Jack Benyon, not to mention loads of cops.The film is basically one action scene after the other but it doesn't pretend to be anything other than tough-guy entertainment. I find it bizarre that this film is rated PG in America and the exact same version is rated 18 in the UK. But the blood effects in the film are pretty damn fake so it does take it out of reality a little bit. Plus there are no (audible) F-words and the nudity is minimum and quick.I saw the 1994 remake first and while it's passable it's not really as rustic and straight-forward as this. It was quite a pointless film and virtually identical, shot-for-shot. Everything that The Getaway has to offer is done best in this one. Unpretenious fun indeed.The Blu Ray sports a brilliant 2.4:1 1080p transfer with Dolby Digital Plus Mono sound and loads of cool extras including an alternate music track featuring Jerry Fielding's rejected score.