Review of The Getaway (1972) by Chris W — 24 Oct 2011

Filmed on location across various parts of Texas this is the story of Carter "Doc" McCoy (Steve McQueen), a bankrobber who gets released from prison after his wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) does whatever is necessary to make it happen. As per part of the deal she makes, the two of them, plus a couple of others, are pulled together to pull off a major job, one that could very well be the last one McCoy ever needs to pull. Things go awry, and, following the botched job, the rest of the films follows the characters as they attempt to make their escapes.

Walter Hill wrote the screnplay, and based the material off of a novel by Jim Thompson. Sam Peckinpah took the reins as director, and Quincey Jones handled the music. Being that this was released in 1972, it easily fits into the canon of tough, gritty crime pictures common for the period. It;s a good solid yarn and (I think) deserves to be better known and more appreciated.

The cast is ptetty good, and they give some decent performances. The characters, despite beign criminals, are somewhat likeable, even though they don't always do nice things. Of course though, It's McQueen, the King of Cool, so he's pretty hard to dislike in general. The action scenes are well done, and I enjoyed some of the humor as well, even though I wasn't expecting it.

My only real complaints are the choppy editing and the freeze frames during the opening credits. Those get a little distracting and annoyed me. Also, I'm not real big on how they handled the sidestory involving Al Lettieri's character as he makes his escape. I mean, he does a good job, as does Sally Struthers, I just think it could have been handled better as the way it is now just seems out of place. The music is fairly decent, but some of it seemed inconsistent and not uniformly strong.

Other than all that, this is a fine motion picture. It's cool, it's gritty, and McQueen is a bad ass. Do yourself a favor and check this out. It was remade in 1994 with an equally impressive cast, but, even though I haven't seen it yet, I have a feeling it'd be best to just stick with this one.