Classic Throwback: The Getaway (Sam Peckinpah, 1972)

From my experience with Steve McQueen, when didn’t he ooze coolness? Whether he is riding a motorcycle (The Great Escape), driving a car (Bullitt) or wielding a shotgun (in The Getaway), he is a complete badass.

The latter is a 1972 American crime thriller from controversial director Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs prior to this). Based on a novel by Jim Thompson, with an adapted screenplay by Walter Hill, The Getaway became a financial success and is now considered to be a 70’s crime classic – enough to spawn an ill-received 1994 re-make starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, anyway. 

From the opening sequences you know immediately that this is a Peckinpah film. There is a complete rejection of convention as we are introduced, in a haphazard, out-of-sorts, non-linear audio/visual montage, to the monotonous existence of life in a Texas prison – and the torments of one particular prisoner, Carter “Doc” McCoy (McQueen). Gutted at being denied parole from a 10-year sentence, McCoy sends his wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) to make a deal with Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson), a corrupt businessman who wields the power to secure his parole. He is successful, on the provision that Doc organizes the robbery of a bank with men personally selected by Benyon: Rudy (Al Lettieri from The Godfather) and Frank (Bo Hopkins).

Having become quickly acquainted with civilian life outside of prison, Doc begins his careful planning for the robbery. He distrusts his shady and potentially volatile colleagues, who either oppose his instructions or seem disinterested. During the robbery, as expected, his plans go sour. Frank shoots the guard when he reaches for a gun (that is incomprehensibly allowed to remain lying right next to him throughout the event), and in the ensuing escape, Rudy first double-crosses Frank, and then is wounded in his attempt to kill Doc and keep the money for himself. Doc and Carol then set out for Laughlin’s, the arranged hotel hideout in El Paso, while Rudy forces a rural veterinarian, Harold (Jack Dobson) and his wife, Fran (Sally Struthers), to treat his wounds and drive him to El Paso in an attempt to intercept the pair.

The second half is punctuated by some great action sequences, which hold up just as well today. Most notable is McQueen's pursuit of a conman, who has stolen the robbery loot from a railway locker, through a train. Brilliantly edited, and really generating some tension, this is much more low-key than most of Peckinpah's other action sequences, but just as effective. The violent climactic shootout between McQueen and Benyon's henchmen is also excellent and features some of the most realistic use of a shotgun I have seen to date. I did feel the film's most famous sequence, which ends with McQueen and MacGraw trapped in a rubbish truck and hitching a ride to a dump, was contrived and not necessary.

I gather this was an against-type role for McQueen, who is again compelling. Though he is a professional criminal and a border-line psycho, we can’t help but desire that he and Carol eventually escape. Plus it's Steve McQueen. The guy is effortlessly cool. In order to make Doc likeable, though, he has to be pitted against some despicable goons and Rudy is surely one. Al Lettieri has a lot of fun, but his ridiculous villain is taken a bit too far in the scenes where he is intimate with Fran while her husband is tied up and forced to watch. Ali MacGraw’s flat performance must also be noted. I thought she was awful, and though her loyalty to Doc is dubious, and we are never sure whether her devotion to him is all for show, their chemistry was challenged by her lack of convincing emotion. The tension and underlying mistrust that mounts throughout the story is also hindered by clunky dialogue.

The Getaway is grimy – corrupt businessmen, double-crossing, desperate vehicular pursuits and a sweaty climate - and full of Peckinpah’s trademark visual style and balletic violence (the intense, and well-edited shootouts are imbued with the typical use of slow-motion). The story unravels at a breakneck pace and though contrived and ultimately purposeless, the film has plenty of style - if predominantly through the presence of McQueen.