Perfect cast and a good story

One of my all time favorites.

hyped garbage

Excellent, smart action film.

In the 1930s and 40s, quite a few heist films were made. However, due to the tough Production Code, the movies were amazingly non- violent and evil always was punished eventually. Starting in the 1960s with films like "Bonnie and Clyde", the studios changed the genre completely. Now, because of this films and a few other violent films of the era, bad guys could be anti-heroes, the violence level was cranked up several notches and the audience in many cases had no idea if evil would ever be punished. Director Sam Peckinpah benefited from this new film morality and "The Getaway" is a film in this new tradition...a tradition where the line between the good guys and the bad is DEFINITELY blurred!When the story begins, Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) is in prison for his part in an armed robbery. When he comes up for parole after four years, he's denied...yet, oddly, the decision is reversed and he is freed. Why? Because the Warden is organizing a bank robbery and he needs Doc's skills. Unfortunately, many things go wrong in the robbery and folks involved in the holdup start dying. This is only the first third of the film and the final portion involves Doc and his wife (Ali McGraw) and their attempt to get away scot-free.With Sam Peckinpah and being made in the 1970s, it's not at all surprising that this film is violent and several gallons of blood are spilled. According to IMDb, the director and his notoriously difficult leading man argued a lot during the filmmaking...and the studio always backed McQueen. I assume had Peckinpah been SOLE director it actually would have been even bloodier. But like you'd expect in a McQueen picture, there is LOTS of driving mayhem...lots of shootouts...lots of action. It's like all the action of "Bullit" and a dozen other McQueen films shoved into one! Now this is not to say there isn't much in the way of story...there is. And it has enough novelty that it keeps the viewer wondering what's going to happen next. Well worth seeing, though if it has a fault that it is a tad overlong and the action seems a bit more important than the plot.By the way, Slim Pickens makes an appearance near the end...and it's VERY memorable!

The Getaway (1972) more than fulfills the expectations we bring to a Sam Peckinpah film, being tough, suspenseful, gritty, and unsentimental, with a nod to Peckinpah's personal mythology of Mexico as the mythic country where the rules are different -- the protagonists don't actually get there, but it is the destination of their whole violent odyssey. Steve McQueen, at his iciest, and Ali MacGraw are a Bonnie-and-Clyde style bank robbing couple who pull a big heist which, of course, goes horribly wrong: in the aftermath they have to dodge both their double- and -triple-crossing partners and the police to escape the country with their loot. The film has a number of stunning sequences -- the scenes where the couple hide in a dumpster and end up being slid into landfill is a classic -- and suspense is kept up throughout. The film's main defect is Ali MacGraw's lackluster performance -- she's at her most effective when she just stands there and lets the photography present her as a warm-blooded sexual foil to McQueen's cold-bloodedness. (Incidentally, McQueen and MacGraw were married after meeting doing this film.) A more memorable performance is given by Sally Struthers as a 180-degree opposite of the wholesome girl next door that is her usual public image.Advisory: if you know Peckinpah films, you know this will be replete with sex and, especially, violence.I saw this the 2005 Warner Home Video standard DVD; which was of good quality. There is now also a Blu-Ray, which I suppose would be better.

The Getaway is the 1972 box office smash that featured legendary director Sam Peckinpah at his stylish best and capitalized on the off- the-charts chemistry between Steve McQueen and his new bride at the time, Ali MacGraw.McQueen plays Doc McCoy, a recently released-from-jail career criminal who is coerced into a bank robbery by the crooked warden (Ben Johnson), aided by his wife, Carol (Ali MacGraw) and his old crew. When things go wrong at the robbery, including the death of one of Doc's men (Bo Hopkins) and when another crew member (Al Lettieri) turns on the McCoys, it forces the couple on the run.Peckinpah's nearly flawless eye for cinematic violence is one of the things that makes this film so completely watchable. Watch the scene where McQueen levels a police car with a shot gun...Peckinpah once again makes the art of cinematic violence look almost musical...like a slow- motion ballet. Very few directors have accomplished as much over the years with the art of slow motion as Sam Peckinpah. Mention should also be made of a hair-raising scene that takes place on a garbage truck that the McCoys are forced to hide in.Despite MacGraw's limited acting skills, there is no denying the white hot chemistry she had with the late McQueen. Ben Johnson is appropriately slimy as the warden and Al Lettieri is bone-chilling and works well with Sally Struthers, who plays the innocent housewife who becomes his hostage.The film was remade in 1994 with Alex Baldwin and Kim Basinger, but as I usually say in reviews like this one, stick with the original. An instant classic that has great re-watch appeal, even almost fifty years after its original release.

Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) is released on parole. His wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) is dutifully waiting for him. Sheriff Beynon (Ben Johnson) got him out in exchange for Doc to do a bank job worth at least $500k. Beynon assigns him Rudy Butler (Al Lettieri) and Frank Jackson as his crew. The bank job goes wrong. Frank kills a guard. Rudy shoots Frank. Rudy tries to shoot Doc but Doc beats him to the draw. Rudy wearing a bullet-proof vest survives. Benyon also tries to doublecross Doc with Carol's help but Carol shoots Benyon instead. Carol slept with Benyon trying to get Doc out of prison. Meanwhile Rudy kidnaps a couple (Jack Dodson, Sally Struthers).Director Sam Peckinpah gets to do a lot of action with a simple thin plot. The characters aren't that deep. The couple has a good turn in the story. The tension is surprisingly not that high. It's an action road film that needs more excitement. While the action is good, the movie is very slow a lot of the times. It really only has Peckinpah's action going for it and he's using too much slow motion action. While Rudy's story is a bit different, I'm not really invested in him or his captives. Also I would have made Doc a harder man. Carol is right. He's not hard enough. However the movie has got good Peckinpah action but not much else.