The Getaway (DVD)

*** Some Background *** 1972 was a good year for Steve McQueen. It needed to be. It had been four years since he'd enjoyed a box-office hit, and throughout 1970 and part of 71 he had been struggling with his very own pet obsession, 'Le Mans', a movie that had been a production nightmare from start to finish (although it is now regarded as something of a gem by motor-sport fans for its authentic race scenes). What got him back on track was his choice of two scripts that he would film back to back with the same director, maverick booze-meister Sam Peckinpah. The first was 'Junior Bonner', a wistful and poignant story about a washed-up rodeo rider. It ...

I stumbled across “The Getaway” whilst cruising around the radio times to see if there was any late night motorsport on. There wasn’t and normally I’d be disappointed but a Steve McQueen film is an equally enjoyable way to pass away insomnia – especially as it was one I hadn’t seen before. * Plot Synopsis * Carter "Doc" McCoy (Steve McQueen) is a model prisoner in a jail in the south of the USA. However Doc’s request for parole is turned down which leads him to offer his services to the dubious Sheriff Beynon via his wife Carol McCoy (Ali MacGraw). Beynon arranges not only Doc’s parole but ...

The films Sam Peckinpah made with Steve McQueen are his simplest, and sheerly pleasurable. 'Junior Bonner' is a laid-back western, 'The Getaway' a violent, amoral chase movie with McQueen the laconic thief , Ali McGraw his tough wife. Sprung from jail for a robbery, the couple find themselves on the run from the cops and a psychotic former accomplice, and mayhem ensues as, like many a Peckinpah character, the couple make a break for Mexico. The shootouts and car chases are handled with real finesse, and though far less blood squibs are exploded compared to 'The Wild Bunch', there's still the sense that McQueen will do anything to make ...