It happens in Hollywood. Two stars meet, make a movie, and fall in love. That’s what happened to Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw. They were married the year after this movie’s release. Their acting skills don’t drive the film. It is a fast paced action movie with dialogue when necessary. The script by Walter Hill, is based on the novel by Jim Thompson. Sam Peckinpaugh, famous for The Wild Bunch, delivers plenty of action and violence.
Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw play Doc and Carol McCoy. They are separated by prison walls. Doc is serving a ten year sentence for armed robbery. He is denied parol. He gets out because of corrupt businessman Jack Beynon, (Ben Johnson). He wants Doc to rob a bank for him. Doc agrees to go through with it. The bank heist is successful, but a guard is killed, bringing heat on the bank robbers. Doc and Carol manage to get back to Jack Beynon. Doc knows that Beynon slept with his wife, to get him out of jail. Beynon taunts him with this, and hopes his wife kills him. She doesn’t and kills Beynon. This of course prompts a chase by the other bad guys, including Rudy Butler, (Al Lettiari), who does well playing a sadistic killer. He lends a special talent, and is a perfect foil for Steve McQueen. Doc shot him and left him for dead. He was wearing a vest, and received a shoulder wound. Rudy finds a vet, Harold Clinton, (Jack Dodson), to fix his shoulder. He takes Clinton and his wife, (Fran), Sally Struthers, hostage. Sally Struthers doesn’t say much, but breaks away from her television role. She played Gloria on All in the Family. Fran becomes intimate with Rudy. Her husband is bound and gagged, while they are intimate in front of him. She also aids Rudy in his criminal activities.
Doc’s partners in crime are in hot pursuit of him. The police are as well. Doc and Carol encounter the police in a small town, but outwit them. Doc actually disables a police vehicle in front of the officers. A highlight of the movie, is when Doc and Carol, hide in a dumpster. They don’t realize the sanitation company, is coming for it. They get a ride to the dump, and are dropped in trash. They are unhurt, and surprisingly, Doc finds his shotgun and his money.
The couple end up in a seedy hotel, run by Laughlin, (Dub Taylor). He has been assaulted by Beynon’s associates, to alert them to Doc’s presence. Rudy has also tracked Doc to the hotel. Doc picks up on things, and a violent finale ensues.
The Getaway isn’t a film that will be studied by film critics. It is a heist movie that fits type. McQueen plays it cool, like so many of his films. The film has an interesting contrast. The beginning shows the confines of prison life. It focuses on Doc’s cell, showing his wife’s picture. This seems to be the only thing keeping him going. Later, McQueen’s character is enjoying a freedom on the open road. This is despite being pursued by the law, and bloodthirsty greedy bandits. His concealed shotgun adds to his outlaw status, and his ingenuity. The film culminates in a rain of violence. This wouldn’t be a Peckinpaugh film without it.