Director Sam Peckinpah struck pay dirt with this adaptation of author Jim Thompson's novel about an inside bank job in contemporary Texas. Not only did "The Getaway" prove to be a hit for Peckinpah but it also bolstered Steve McQueen's career. Previously, Peckinpah and McQueen had collaborated on "Junior Bonner," but "Bonner" did nothing for them at the box office. The film is an amazingly mellow movie for a Peckinpah film and is comparable to "The Ballad of Cable Hogue." Conversely, "The Getaway" contained virtually everything that a Peckinpah movie needed, primarily action, intrigue, and violence. Mind you, "The Getaway" wasn't as intense as "The Wild Bunch" and not as heavy-handed philosophically as "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid." Despite its somewhat kinky subplot, "The Getaway" is the kind of Peckinpah movie where things go right for the hero and the heroine with an amenable ending.

Texas millionaire Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson of "The Wild Bunch") needs a top gun to rob one of his banks, and Carter 'Doc' McCoy (Steve McQueen of "Bullitt") is going to pieces slowly in Huntsville Prison. Every time that he applies for parole, he gets shot down. Doc gets his wife Carol (Ali MacGraw of "Love Story") to get to Johnson. Doc wins his parole, but he thinks that Carol sold him out. Nevertheless, he meets once with Benyon in San Antonio and greets his team of men for the bank heist. They have their conference aboard the little party barges on the Riverwalk tourist attraction. During the planning stages of the robbery, tempers flare between Doc and Rudy Butler (Al Letteri of "McQ") about the use of bullet-proof vests. Anyway, Doc cases the bank and they check out its alarm system. Meanwhile, Doc has Rudy and Frank Jackson (Bo Hopkins of "The Killer Elite") to plant explosive charges at different ends of town to distract the authorities when the robbery goes down. During the robbery, Frank loses his cool. Our heroes get away with the loot, but Rudy murders Frank and tries to double-cross Doc. Doc is just a little too fast for him. Ironically, despite his boasts of not wearing a bullet-proof vest, Rudy is wearing a vest when Doc nails him and leaves him for dead. Rudy takes an animal doctor (Jack Dodson) and his wife (Sally Struthers of TV's "All in the Family") hostage and has the husband dress his wounds. Rudy and company follow Doc and Carol. At Jack Benyon's house, Carol guns Jack down, but Doc doesn't trust her. They head for El Paso with Rudy hot on their trail. "The Getaway" represented a personal high for Peckinpah and the film made a killing at the box office. The opening scenes that depict Doc's mental breakdown behind bars are masterful. Lettieri makes a nefarious villain and Ben Johnson is simply dastardly. The final shoot-out in a motel in El Paso is great. When our heroes get to the border, they have to deal with an old cowboy (Slim Pickins) and sells them his truck. A memorable Peckinpah epic.

King of cool Steve McQueen teams with "Bloody Sam" Peckinpah for this thoroughly engaging story of a couple on the lam following a botched robbery.

Walter Hill adapts the novel by Jim Thompson in this story of Carter "Doc" McCoy (McQueen), a criminal currently doing time. His wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) manages to secure his release by playing up to crooked parole board chief Jack Beynon (Ben Johnson); Doc and Carol are then made to participate in a bank robbery which goes as wrong as movie lovers everywhere could expect it to. Doc and Carol have to make their way across Texas to Mexico and safety while being trailed by Rudy Butler (Al Lettieri), a vengeance minded member of the gang.

The cast simply couldn't be better in this sexy, slick, violent production; even MacGraw isn't bad as the wife with a loyalty to her man through thick and thin. McQueen once again has an undeniable presence on screen and the viewer can believe that he's going to keep going despite the odds. Johnson is enjoyably slimy, Lettieri scores as a truly rotten creep, and Richard Bright, Jack Dodson, Dub Taylor, Bo Hopkins, and Roy Jenson all do well in assorted memorable bits. The ever affable Slim Pickens doesn't appear until near the end of the picture, but he helps to close it on a very ingratiating final note.

Peckinpah is in very fine form here, creating a milieu where moral considerations often go out the window. Doc isn't necessarily a "good guy", yet we still can't help but root for him, especially when characters like Beynon and Butler are even worse. Just to give people an idea of how sleazy Butler is, he thinks nothing of dallying with vapid, sexpot blonde Fran (Sally Struthers) in front of her weakling husband Harold (Dodson). The many vignettes along the way keep you eagerly watching - Doc is forced to pursue another thief (Bright) to get his own ill gotten money back, for one - but the highlight is undeniably the incredibly tense sequence aboard the garbage truck. Peckinpah once again demonstrates a real flair for the kind of stylized violence he perfected in "The Wild Bunch", with blood spurting and many squibs exploding.

People can hardly fail to notice that again the director is not about to go the politically correct route, as a resentful Doc, still not happy about what Carol did with Beynon, slaps her around. Yet, when Doc punches Frans' lights out later, it actually provokes a reaction of relief from the audience because it puts an end to her shrill whining.

Overall the film makes for fine entertainment. Even at two hours and three minutes, it's remarkably well paced and tension filled, and it never falters, kicking into gear for a rousing final act. Highly recommended.

10 out of 10.

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.