Usually, I review movies in the order I’ve watched them but this one simply had to skip the line. The Getaway is a masterpiece of neo-noir, a tight and gritty no-bullshit thriller about an ex-con pulling one last heist. The opening scene is a work of art. We first see a group of deer grazing the green grass around some buildings near the forest. As the camera pans out we realize that the buildings are small factories for prisoners, located right next to the prison itself. Right about when that realization hits you, the deafening sounds of machinery overwhelm everything. We see the daily routine of one of the prisoners, Carter “Doc” McCoy.
Denied parole and barely holding onto his sanity, Doc McCoy is a man on the edge. The tone and the atmosphere of the movie are highly immersive and they grip you like a motherfucker. I expected nothing less from the great Sam Peckinpah, who, just three years earlier, gave us The Wild Bunch. Lean and mean, The Getaway doesn’t have a single boring moment or, Satanforbid, a melodramatic scene. It perfectly balances action, tension, character development, and worldbuilding. Throughout this all, it has only one objective: realistic authenticity. Everything that happens must be grounded in reality thus drawing you further into the movie.
As the bank employees go about their morning routine, they remain blissfully unaware of the storm heading their way. But The Getaway isn’t just a high-stakes crime thriller, it’s also a portal to another era. A time when you could walk into a store, buy a shotgun and a box of shells, and stroll right out. When society, culture, and even the cars had a different kind of grit and allure. The story takes place in the great state of Texas adding another flavor to the already thick crime cake. And when I say thick, I really mean it. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that this movie is based on a 1958 novel of the same name by Jim Thompson.
Doc is not alone in all of this as he has his wife Carol by his side. The two of them are quite a team. What makes The Getaway different from modern crime thrillers are the lengths protagonists are willing to go to to, well, getaway. In fact, there are no heroes in this movie, apart from maybe one that appears during the closing minutes. Instead, we get a lineup of antiheroes, each morally bankrupt in their own way. Who’s worse, a corrupt Texas politician and businessman or a bank robber willing to kill anyone who gets in his way? In that way, The Getaway echoes Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch, a story of criminals on the run, where anything goes.
While the story of our two lovers trying to get to Mexico is engaging, I found the other one, unfolding parallel with the main one, just as intriguing. I don’t want to spoil anything but it features several incredibly thought-provoking moments. Add to this a couple of unexpected twists and you got yourself an intense two-hour film that’s constantly engaging. 22 years after the original, we got a remake that’s actually not that bad. The Getaway 1994 edition, starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, is as not as gritty and unrelenting as the original but it’s certainly worth checking out.
Baldwin and Basinger were husband and wife at the time of the filming while McQueen and MacGraw hooked up during the filming of the original movie. He gave one hell of a performance here but MacGraw was a bit wobbly. She came through in the end, putting up with that slapping scene that was quite brutal. Luckily, Al Lettieri, who plays Rudy was fucking phenomenal along with Sally Struthers on the other side of the coin. Finally, if you’re looking for movies like The Getaway, I have to mention Bullitt, also starring McQueen. The Driver is also a good starting point. If you start poking around these I’m sure you’ll stumble upon several other “pure” neo-noir thrillers.
I wanted to keep this short and sweet but I simply cannot resist the urge to talk about three more things. The first one is the phrase “The real McCoy” and it has nothing to do with this particular McCoy. Its origins are still debated so if you want to learn more about it, you can check this Wiki article. The next item on the menu is the trash compactor scene I feel George Lucas directly lifted from The Getaway and inserted it into Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
I’m sure you’re quite familiar with it, so just pay attention when the real one comes. Even the garbage truck itself looks a little like the Sandcrawler Jawa use to collect various garbage around the planet. The violent grand finale was something that took the early seventies audience by surprise. They considered it too brutal but also intense and gripping. To me, it’s just okay, and to blaspheme further, I will say that the one from the remake felt better. There, I’ve said and I feel much better now.
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Writers: Walter Hill, Jim Thompson
Cast: Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Sally Struthers, Al Lettieri, Slim Pickens
Fun Facts: Both the director Sam Peckinpah and actor Al Lettieri were alcoholics and drank heavily on the set. Moreover, Peckinpah said that he “can’t direct while he’s sober”.
Rating:
IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068638/
