Review of The Getaway (1972) by Noel K — 29 May 2010

Director Sam Peckinpah struck pay dirt with this adaptation of author Jim Thompson's novel about an inside bank job in Texas. Texas millionaire Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson of "The Wild Bunch") needs a top gun to rob one of his banks and Carter 'Doc' McCoy (Steve McQueen of "Bullitt") is going to pieces in Huntsville Prison with no chance of parole in sight. Doc gets his wife Carol (Ali MacGraw of "Love Story") to get to Johnson. Doc wins his parole, but he thinks that Carol sold him out. Nevertheless, he meets once with Benyon in San Antonio and greets his team of men for the bank heist. Later, during the planning stage of robbery, tempers flare between Doc and Rudy Butler (Al Letteri of "McQ") about the use of bullet-proof vests. Rudy thinks that the bank will be a pushover and he doesn't like wearing bullet-proof vests. "That's a walk-in bank. You don't have to be Dillinger for this one." Anyway, Doc cases the bank and they check out its alarm system.

Meanwhile, Doc has Rudy and Frank Jackson (Bo Hopkins of "The Killer Elite") to plant explosive charges at different ends of town to distract the authorities when the robbery goes down. During the robbery, Frank loses his cool. Our heroes get away with the loot, but Rudy murders Frank and tries to double-cross Doc. Ironically, despite his boasts of not wearing a bullet-proof vest, Rudy is wearing a vest when Doc nails him and leaves him for dead. Rudy takes veterinarian Harold Clinton (Jack Dodson of "The Andy Griffith Show" ) and his wife Fran (Sally Struthers of TV's "All in the Family") hostage and has the husband dress his wounds. Anyway, Rudy and company follow Doc and Carol. Eventually, Harold cannot tolerate Rudy's cruelty and commits suicide by hanging himself in the bathroom. At Jack Benyon's house, Carol guns Jack down, but Doc doesn't trust her. Later, at a train stop, a thief (Richard Bright) steals the loot from Carol when he helps her lock it up in a locker and palms her the wrong key. They head for El Paso and the sanctuary of a motel run by Laughlin (Dub Taylor of "The Undefeated") with Rudy hot on their trail.

"The Getaway" represented a personal high for Peckinpah, and the film made a killing at the box office. The opening scenes that depict Doc's mental breakdown behind bars are masterful. Peckinpah stages a montage of Doc's activities in the sweat shop, on the prison grounds, and in his cell trying to construct a bridge out of matchsticks. Lettieri makes a nefarious villain and Ben Johnson is simply dastardly. The final shoot-out in a motel in El Paso is great. When our heroes get to the border, they have to deal with an old cowboy (Slim Pickins) and sells them his truck. Lucien Ballard widescreen photography is captivating. A memorable Peckinpah epic.