The Getaway: 1972, dir. Sam Peckinpah. Seen on DVD (Nov. 3).
Sure, Ali McGraw was pretty. I won’t debate that. But why all the fuss? For one thing, her acting annoys the crap out of me. I haven’t seen Love Story and probably won’t unless there is a god of vengeance who will be very displeased in me for not believing in him and, when I die, will subject me to a continuous and unavoidable watching of the worst weepers in cinematic history. I’ve seen clips of the movie, as we all have, and it is enough to assure me that I am not missing some great performance by Ms. McGraw.
She is particularly annoying in The Getaway, and I don’t think we can blame it all on the usual misogyny in Sam Peckinpah movies. I think a better actress would have handled the role in a less snippy and whiny way. Faye Dunaway leaps to mind.
But yeah, all the roles for women in early 1970s American films were rotten, I won’t argue with that. The Getaway is certainly no exception. Sally Struthers plays this babyish chick who thinks nothing of throwing over one boyfriend for another man, and right in front of the boyfriend, too. I can’t think of a woman I’ve liked in a Peckinpah movie except for Ida Lupino in Junior Bonner. I can’t think of a woman I’ve liked in an early 1970s film except for Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude.
I love The Wild Bunch, and I love Junior Bonner, and I thought I would just love The Getaway as part of some big Sam Peckinpah fest of adoration, but I did not. I liked parts of it very much, but the movie as a whole seemed disjointed and not as engaging as it could be. Some parts of it were slow as molasses and about as much fun to watch.
The script is by Walter Hill and Jim Thompson, from a Jim Thompson novel. Very high-quality writing talent, but it doesn’t seem to show much onscreen in the finished film. I wouldn’t mind reading the source novel, though, to see how it was adapted.
Of course, there is Steve McQueen. And admittedly he looks better than he did in The Thomas Crown Affair or Bullitt. Fashions from the late 1960s and early 1970s do not really suit him. Fortunately, no one expected him to look fashionable in this film, and at times he looks positively grungy, which for McQueen is a definite asset.
The supporting characters are wonderful, and this does seem to be a great talent of Peckinpah’s, the ability to create these colorful yet realistic supporting characters. You actually believe you might encounter someone like this on a street corner, but you try not to think about that too hard because otherwise you might never leave the house.
Ben Johnson is fine here as the bad guy, Jack Benyon, but it’s not a large role and you don’t get to see quite enough of him. Slim Pickens, Dub Taylor, and Bo Hopkins also make appearances.
My boyfriend and I particularly got a kick out of the rib-eating (and throwing) scene in the car, and we have been known to quote it on occasion.
The Getaway was diverting and I’m not sorry we rented it but I don’t have the slightest desire to see it again. I can’t wait for other Peckinpah movies to be released on DVD this year—Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and Ride the High Country—but even Steve McQueen wouldn’t entice me to own this particular movie on DVD, or to see it in a theater. This movie is lumped in my head with The Thief Who Came to Dinner (also written by Walter Hill) and The Hot Rock and you know, I think I liked those other two films better.