THE GETAWAY (1972)
Rating: 3 out of 4 /Buy the DVD Here
Tagline: They’re hot!
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Starring: Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Al Lettieri, and Sally Struthers
THE PLAN: Ex-con Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) is out of jail not 2 minutes before he’s planning a heist for the seedy politician (Ben Johnson) that helped get him an early release. Collaborating with his wife (Ali MacGraw) and a couple of low-rent hoodlums (Al Lettieri, Bo Hopkins), Doc plans the bank job perfectly – until it all goes to hell, and the couple find themselves bolting out of town with various creeps on their tail.
THE KILL: Steve McQueen’s name is synonymous with “cool motherf*cker” so it’s a wonder why we’ve never had a REEL ACTION featuring the stoic bad boy before. Once I noticed the glitch, I set out to fix it, while simultaneously taking a look at a heralded action flick from the 70s that I had never before seen: Sam Peckinpah’s THE GETAWAY. Being familiar with most of Peckinpah’s testosterone-fueled filmography (my favorites being the infamous WILD BUNCH and the seriously morbid BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA), THE GETAWAY somehow, well, got away from my prying eyes. All I knew was it broke up Ali MacGraw and Robert Evans’ marriage (she couldn’t resist McQueen’s smoldering charms it would seem), and that it got remade into a pretty unwatchable Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger vehicle. So it was off to the races with two of the 70s’ toughest badasses.
THE GETAWAY is a strange piece of cinema indeed. It’s a fusing of distinct genres: Peckinpah’s old dog western and 70s New Wave romance. Although Peckinpah always utilized an unconventional editing style, THE GETAWAY has that particular avant-garde approach we associate with the French and Italian directors who were blowing everyone away during cinema’s greatest decade. It’s an odd blend, giving the film an unorthodox feel – but make no mistake, this is Peckinpah’s world, and its the characters and their guns who take center stage.
The LONG trailer for THE GETAWAY!
Of course the centerpiece of the tale is Doc McCoy, and he’s a McQueen anti-hero all the way. McCoy is an icy thief who is pretty short on words but long on glowering stares. He’s somewhere between a lover and a fighter, yet somehow seems above all of that. He’s simply in his own universe, where all that matters is a confident strut. Unfortunately he’s paired up with Ali MacGraw. She’s simply too bland for the already less-than-meaty role of Carol. I’m not sure what McQueen saw in the actress on set (or what Doc sees in Carol, for that matter), but whatever it was doesn’t show up on film. While Carol is intregal to the the couple’s moves and shakes, MacGraw doesn’t sell the character’s dark side, and she ends up being a drag. After a while, I found myself wishing Doc would just ditch the chick and hook up with a wacky call girl.
Doc isn’t the only bad motha in this film though. The villain is a real piece of work named Rudy, played by Al Lettieri (“Virgil” from THE GODFATHER). Rudy is the bank-robber left behind and is none-too-happy about it, so he hits the road in pursuit of his share of the loot (and some vengeance as well). In what turns out to be the most amusing subplot of THE GETAWAY, Rudy kidnaps a veterinarian and his childish wife Fran (Struthers), forcing the vet to fix his wounded shoulder AND do the driving for him. Fran is instantly attracted to lusty Rudy, and the two immediately begin getting frisky with each other, right in front of the hapless doctor. It’s some really mean-spirited – and really funny – stuff, and the movie is most alive with 70s perversity when it focuses on this weird trio.
Steve’s first – and only – attempt to run away from Ali MacGraw proved unsuccessful.
At the end of the day however, you’re here for carnage, and trust me when I say there’s plenty of blood and gunshots to be found in these dusty streets. The action is directed fast and furiously, and there’s no doubt that Peckinpah’s influence is still felt today. (Although modern directors have pretty much left behind the ballet of slow-mo bullet explosions.) THE GETAWAY features shootouts, car chases, double-crosses, hostage-taking and kinky sex. That’s Peckinpah country, and that’s REEL ACTION.
TOP DEATH: Rudy, displeased with a cohort’s work, shoots the man in the groin a few times before fnishing the job with a shot to the mid-section. He’s a brutal dude, I’m telling ya.
TOP ACTION: The shoot-out in the hotel at the end. You can tell John Woo, Quentin Tarantino and a bunch of others have seen this cowboy once or twice…
FEMALE EXPLOITATION: As previously mentioned, Ali McGraw is just a sourpuss the whole time, so she’s not raising any bones. Sally Struthers (yes, from “All in the Family”) is hot in a chunky white-trash sorta way.
HOMOEROTIC MOMENT: You kiddin’? This is McQueen baby, he’s too cool for that nonsense.
TOP DIALOGUE: Rudy: “That’s a walk-in bank, man. A piece of cake. You don’t have to be Dillinger for that one.”
Whoooppeee!
DRINKING GAME: Drink every time McQueen looks like he wants to smack Ali MacGraw in the kisser (not including when he actually does it). You’ll be dusting off your shotgun and angrily roaming the streets in no time!
TRIVIA: Screenwriter Walter Hill also wrote the terrible 1994 remake.
Peter Bogdanovich (THE LAST PICTURE SHOW) was originally supposed to direct the film, but eventually left the project.
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