Delayed Reaction: The Getaway

Premise: After a bank robbery gone wrong, a couple flees to Mexico while being chased by both the police and co-conspirators who double-crossed them.

 

I think I was supposed to come into this movie with more fully formed opinions about star Steve McQueen and director Sam Peckinpah. I've seen a couple McQueen movies, although he still just feels like that guy you get when Paul Newman is busy to me. I know Peckinpah by name and that's about it. I get some of the broad strokes though. McQueen is cool, if the last name wasn't enough of a clue. I understand that Peckinpah has a reputation for being violent. To some extent, decades more of violent cinema has numbed me to a lot of that. There is a pitch-black humor to the movie though. The dentist husband killing himself after being cuckolded in particular was bleak as hell. The general appeal of the movie is that it's like these New Hollywood movies but not trying to be artistic. It's just a fun time.

 

I can't figure out where I land on Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw together. They are more age-appropriate than I realized, because McGraw looks so young. They don't have an animal magnetism. I'm not rooting for them because they steam up the screen. The characters do deserve each other though. They're both criminals and will to do some questionable things to get what they want. I like the idea of them spending their lives in Mexico angry at each other for 3 days, blissfully in love on the 4th day, and repeating the cycle in perpetuity.

 

I know both this and No Country for Old Men were based on books, but I couldn't help but wonder if the former inspired the latter at all. Similar stories and location. It's sort of like the Coens took The Getaway and wondered "how can this be more nihilistic?". Both work wonderfully though. The Getaway isn't topping my list of favorite heist movies by any means, but it's very good at what it's trying to be. The crime elements don't try to get too fancy or too clinical. McQueen and MacGraw hold the screen well, even if they don't ignite it together. I even had fun realizing Sally Struthers was the dentist's wife by the end.

 

Side Thought: Director Steve McQueen still edges out actor Steve McQueen in my Steve McQueen rankings.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend