The Getaway Reviews

Honestly, I had some pretty high expectations with this flick. I mean, come on, a movie directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring the king of cool, Steve McQueen, it really sounded great on paper. Indeed, I think that Steve McQueen was a really awesome actor and I try to catch up his movies whenever I get the chance and, this time, he was working with Sam Peckinpah so I thought this flick should be a winner. In my opinion, McQueen basically plays the same type of character over and over again but he does it so well and he is always so freaking awesome that I actually don't really mind. This movie is a perfect example. Indeed, it was very well directed by Peckinpah but the story was nothing original or mind-blowing whatsoever. What made it interesting was Steve McQueen's character and his relationships with his wife, played by his then-girlfriend Ali MacGraw. Indeed, they have some great chemistry and it made the movie really compelling to watch. Eventually, 20 years, they would release a terribly underwhelming remake with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger who were also a couple at the time. To conclude, even though I don’t think it is really amazing, it still remain a solid action flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in McQueen's work.

"You don't have to be Dillinger for this one."

Under the direction of Sam Peckinpah (who's also responsible for the amazing Western The Wild Bunch), The Getaway is both an excellent anti-hero action movie and a solid character study. This 1972 film is often considered one of Peckinpah's most commercial projects, but it nevertheless bears the director's distinctive stamp: a terrific opening sequence, proficient editing, and restrained bursts of violence. While it ranks a few notches below Peckinpah's more acclaimed efforts, The Getaway delivers enough action set-pieces, flakey characters and cinematic style to keep viewers thoroughly riveted.

The plot is straightforward: professional thief Doc McCoy (McQueen) and his wife Carol (MacGraw) are fugitives on the run after pulling off a bank robbery sanctioned by corrupt prison officials. However the couple's trip to impunity in Mexico is marred not only by skirmishes with the police department, but also run-ins with the mob as well as emotional tension between the lovers.

Sam Peckinpah is the director who made action cool. When he arrived on the scene in the middle of the 1960s, audiences were stunned - never before had action sequences been executed with such tenacity, violence and gritty realism. Peckinpah was not a show-boater either, and the movies that constitute his legacy remain daring and fresh to this day. Even if you've never seen a Peckinpah movie before, you've more than likely seen his influence present in virtually every action flick released since the director made his mark on Hollywood.

At its most basic level, The Getaway is vehemently an action movie. Despite this, as with all of Peckinpah's best movies, characterisation and story shares equal time with the action. But rest assured that even with plenty of dialogue, the film delivers a bunch of brutal shootouts (the climax is a humdinger) and destructive car chases, not to mention numerous suspenseful set-pieces (most notably the bank robbery and a pursuit on a train of Hitchcockian proportions). None of the characters inhabiting the frame are honourable or endearing (symbolised during one sequence in which, to escape detention, Doc and Carol hide in a garbage receptacle and are consequently dumped in a vast waste area), though strangely enough a viewer can grow to like the pair of protagonists (in a Bonnie and Clyde sense).

The air of realism established in The Getaway is amazing - Peckinpah shot the film more or less in sequence and on authentic Texan locations; the characters and their motivations resonate with ordinary people; and the action is spectacular yet never beyond the realms of reality. From the very first haunting shots that encapsulate the depressive monotony of incarceration, a viewer is thrown head-first into a world far removed from Hollywood fantasy. The heroes in this world are morally questionable, and the marriages in this world aren't anything like fairytales. Quincy Jones' easygoing, jazz-inflected score further contributes to the film's flavour, making The Getaway a standout treat. There are a few flaws, though - some of the plot twists are clichéd, and the film is occasionally contrived.

Steve McQueen perfectly fits the bill as a tough ex-con and a man who struggles with showing emotion. McQueen establishes the ideal balance between machismo and vulnerability for his role of Doc McCoy. An audience can sympathise with him (and this is very important, due to the fact he's a criminal) because he's an anti-hero with flaws, and it's clear that despite being a villain he can't bring himself to kill a man in cold blood. It's simply a tour de force of a performance. Al Lettieri is excellent; presenting a terrific study in evil as the ruthless villain who refuses to die. Unfortunately, Ali MacGraw is a waste of time - she has no genuine acting ability and doesn't have good chemistry with McQueen (which is surprising since the two stars eventually got married). Rounding out the cast is Sally Struthers who's fantastic as the tramp obsessed with Lettieri's character, and Ben Johnson who's deliciously evil as Jack Beynon (the corrupt official who sets the main bank robbery in motion).

Compared to contemporary action flicks, The Getaway does lack explosive action, but it makes up for this with realistic portrayals of people who are struggling to overcome realistic obstacles. Viewers weaned on frantically-paced action flicks may find The Getaway incredibly slow, but the more relaxed pacing works to the movie's benefit if you have the required attention span.

8.4/10