The Getaway (1972)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

just watch it!

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Let me start to say that i'm not keen of remakes, but like John Carpenter's upgrade of "The Thing from Another World" ('51) directed by Howard Hawks, in his horror cult classic "The Thing" ('82), Roger Donaldson's taking on Peckinpah's cult classic, "The Getaway" fares better in some points, except that without the original to serve as a guide, the movie wouldn't even exists.After "Junior Bonner" ('72), released early in the same year, McQueen and Peckinpah joined together again for another venture on screen, this time adapting the Jim Thompson's crime pulp novel, starring the then 42 years' old McQueen, and his mistress 33 years' old Ali MacGraw, then married with producer Robert Evans ("Chinatown").Peckinpah's gritty visual style, the use of frantic chases, slow motion shoot outs and well staged on-screen deaths are patent here and he don't disappoint in that matter, except the narrative is a bit messy, the editing is poor in places (some unnecessary scenes went on forever) and the characters lack juice.McQueen never needed to do much: his working class rudeness, but strangely attractive and gracious "screen persona"; his display of sarcastic humour; shy appearance, but sweating machismo at the same time and physical acting made his performances seemed naturally effortless and understated and that worked wonders in such movies as "The Magnificent Seven" or "The Great Escape" and even when he truly acted from his soul like in his only Oscar nominated role, "The Sand Pebbles" ('66) and his underrated performance as the title character in "Papillon" ('73).Here as Carter "Doc" McCoy, McQueen made more use of his tough guy star power (and his own major ego) than the method acting skills that allowed him and Martin Landau to have been the only 2 students out of 2000 to be accepted in Actor's Studio back in '55.Now don't get me wrong, McQueen is one of my all time favorite actors and always a riot to follow, even a not so good McQueen is way better than a lot of actors doing their best on-screen, but here he was paired with his real life lover, Ali MacGraw, who seriously lacked acting range, and he looked and acted more concerned about her and their relationship than the characters they were playing and the respective storytelling.Peckinpah was always plagued with problems on the set of his films, the majority due to his own self destructive bad behavior and alcoholism and the constant clash between him and the producers or the actors he was directing (like in the ill-fated "Major Dundee") and "The Getaway" was not an exception to the rule, he and McQueen disagreed and had different views about how the movie could be and the end result was more of a McQueen's film than Peckinpah's (or even Jim Thompson's) vision of it.Troubles and some low points aside, "The Getaway" still delivers the goods as an action / crime / drama / heist flick from a way influential (as much as controversial) filmmaker, which his techniques and visual style influenced a lot of future brilliant directors such as Walter Hill, William Friedkin, Michael Cimino, John Carpenter, Roger Donaldson or John Dahl.Now, comparing with the remake, the Donaldson's movie was undeservedly bashed by critics and i find it just a case of picking on the newly weds, Baldwin & Basinger's media attention, because the '94 version is better in those aspects:Alec Baldwin was good and credible as Doc, even if he wasn't McQueen, but Kim Basinger is a way better actress than Ali MacGraw and tops her as Carol McCoy.James Woods is way more sleazy and had more screentime than Ben Johnson, who was too nice and harmless for Jack Benyon and only had a couple of scenes, his character is forgettable, but not because of the actor's fault, Johnson was one of the best character actors that ever lived, i blame it on the screenplay and direction.Cool cat Michael Madsen presents Rudy here as a ruthless "Mickey Rourke-ish" rogue biker and acts circles around Al Lettieri, who was a too ugly, without style and brute criminal that it's hard to believe why Sally Struthers would fell in love with him, but Madsen gave Rudy an edge, the viewer will hate him and sympathize with him at the same time and he have a great on-screen chemistry with Jennifer Tilly which was also better than Struthers.Richard Farnsworth, Philip Seymour Hoffman (in an early screen role), Burton Gilliam & David Morse were all more memorable than their counterparts, the Peckinpah's stock actors: Slim Pickens, Bo Hopkins, Dub Taylor and the other guy that i can't even recall the name.Hill's screenplay on the remake gives early on an antagonism between "Doc" and Rudy and it's way more justifiable the consequent betrayal.The pacing and editing are a lot better, Donaldson shortened the chase that starts at the station and then through the train, that in the original ran for too much time, and have less of bland moments such as Ali's snail reacting to McQueen's dialogue or actions.The final shoot out is much more suspenseful, stylized and entertaining as well as violent in terms of deaths, but strangely the general mood it's way more lighter than the gritiness visual style of the original and in that matter, the '72 version takes the prize, because it was made in the 70's and the Lucien Ballard's cinematography is better than Peter Menzies Jr., no doubts about that.Last, but not least, Donaldson's creative change of "Doc" as a dark haired G.I. model-type of an anti-hero & Carol as a 40-ish blonde bombshell and Rudy as a long haired red / blonde biker & Fran as a "girl next door" brunette, the complete opposite of the two couples in the original film.In short, i give the same rate to the original movie and the remake, because i love them both and the creative team of Walter Hill / Roger Donaldson had all the work and motivation to study the Peckinpah's film and enhanced the more negative aspects, delivering then a more well-structured piece of work, but without the '72 version used as a lighthouse to compose the shots, sequences and mend the narrative, it would never have been done, so....

Thrills, story-line and good acting. Now that is getting off to a good start. But it doesn't end there. This movie unfolds like a good tale should and the movie viewer is comfortably invited into this world for a couple of well spent hours. Who doesn't like a heist movie? First, the caper. Can it be done? Is it worth it and what are the risks? Second how do we "getaway" with it? The getting away with it is what robbery movies are all about. Do they live happily after to spend the cash and live a lavish life or does fate have different plans? Ask yourself this too. Would you have done it? Could you have done it? McQueen, who plays Doc in the movie is willing to risk it all once again to find out. The stakes are he gets caught, gets away or gets killed. This movie focuses on the getaway aspect of it. Keep in mind that the money amounts back then are major amounts for that time. In other words, you could live happily and comfortably for the rest of your life on the score. It gets better when you add the fact of escaping to a place where money is even worth more than face value. The trick is, can you get there? I have always liked McQueen and his acting and he doesn't let you down for the realism on the subject matter. Definitely recommend sunflower seeds or you will nail bite or smoke. Good movie to snack by and have a tasty drink ready to go. No cell phones or bathroom breaks or you interfere with the tension which builds quite nicely. BTW...the true mark of a good movie is seeing it again and again because it has memorable scenes. This be the case here

In the movie The getaway we find the paramount representation of the power of the shot-gun. McQueens shot-gun bullets destroy police-cars, devastate a whole hotel, demolish an elevator, knock down a door slaughtering the thug hidden behind...The action is great, as one can expect from Peckinpah. The final shootout is especially memorable and McQueen just looks great with that rifle. This is the sort of screen presence most movie stars could only hope to have. I saw this way back in early 90s. Saw again on WB channel years back when the channel was newly introduced in India. Revisited this recently on a DVD. It is a well paced, action/thriller. Its a decent heist/road film. Nice Cinematography by Lucien Ballard n very good direction by Peckinpah.

My first Peckinpah movie, and it's easy to understand how he became such a name filmmaker. Dude's a hard-nosed bastard. "The Getaway" has a sinister undercurrent from top to bottom. McQueen's a bank robber of the mean son-of-a-bitch variety, often berating and slapping around wife Ali McGraw (whose dubious acting ability is hard to miss). and then there's Sally Struthers, and if you've only known her from those '90s correspondence school commercials (as I do), you're in for a shock. Here, she's a chesty nympho. See what I mean? Stuff was crazy in the '70s. And then Slim Pickens shows up in a getaway ride (with an unexpectedly nice ending).It's not the greatest heist movie out there, but there's plenty of McQueen cool to keep one interested. And both the train chase and the ballsy shootout ending are quite memorable.7/10