The Getaway 1972 is one of my favourite movies. The director Sam Peckinpah is at the best. Perfect action, acting, story, direction, cinematography, script, screenplay makes it watchable again and again and again..............I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this to any Human being around the world. 10/10 full points.THE GETAWAY (1972) Director: Sam Peckinpah Starring: Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw

The Wild Bunch (1969), Straws Dogs (1971), and The Getaway (1972), One could say Director Sam Peckinpah was On a Roll. With a Tumultuous Career of Ups and Downs, Peckinpah had made His Mark in TV Westerns in the Fifties and Directed one of the Best Westerns Ever, Ride the High Country (1962). Then Sam got a Reputation for Over-Indulgence, Over-Budget Movies and was Virtually Black-Listed after He Lost Money and Control of the Final Cut on Major Dundee (1964).He didn't work for Years and then was given a Chance to do "The Wild Bunch" and the Rest is History. Not the most Prolific of Directors and not very Consistent, His Films Waiver in Quality from Great to OK, but None of His Films are Objectively Bad. "The Getaway" was His Biggest Commercial Film, no doubt Helped by the Box Office Appeal of Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw. But the Film is so much More than the Egomaniac McQueen and the No-Talent McGraw. It is a Violent, Funny, Romantic Road Picture with Criminal Lovers on the Lam.There are Numerous Set-Pieces that are Highly-Entertaining between the Squibs and the Slow-Motion Violence. The opening Prison Sequence, the Bank Robbery, the Hotel Shootout, the Hostages, the Train Sequence, the Garbage Truck Escape, the Town Confrontation with Police, and a Viewer Friendly Ending.This is Top-Tier Peckinpah and Top-Tier McQueen, Helped by a Walter Hill Script from a Jim Thompson Novel, with a Fine Supporting Cast of Bo Hopkins, Al Literati, Sally Struthers, Ben Johnson, Jack Dodson, Dub Taylor, Slim Pickins and Others. The Score from Quincy Jones has its Supporters and Detractors but is Fits Finely in the Proceedings.Note...The 1994 Remake is a mediocre Movie. It is best left unseen until after this one, because it is done virtually scene for scene and is an unremarkable copy.

As this film ably demonstrates, literally and symbolically, if you aim a shotgun at a big enough target, you're gonna hit something. This film takes a lot of the more controversial and distasteful aspects of "The Wild Bunch" and "Straw Dogs" and presents them devoid of all philosophical content. It's a triumph of style over substance. I get it -- in 1972, McQueen and Peckinpah were both in need of a box-office hit. So they got Ali McGraw, who can't act to save her life but manages to get halfway there in this film, and off they go on a crime spree. Author David Weddle noted in his book on Peckinpah that the director made off with about $500,000 at the end of the day -- the same amount McQueen and McGraw's characters made from the heist. Fitting.It's not a "bad" movie.... the performances are underwhelming, pretty much all around (Ben Johnson disappears too quickly to make much more than an impression), but the action scenes are compelling and the suspense is strong. The story does not make a lot of sense.... for example, Johnson's character is sitting there in the house with all that loot just waiting for McQueen, under the assumption that McQueen's wife is going to betray him. This powerful, cynical man had no back- up plan whatsoever? Time and again, Peckinpah puts pedal to the metal and blasts right through story and character logic, but we don't mind too much.It's sort of a high-class drive-in movie.... not quite as much mayhem as "Gone in 60 Seconds", but close. McQueen and McGraw are a super sexy couple, and there's an amusing (although sadistic) side story with Sally Struthers and the suitably disgusting Al Lettieri. It's the sort of film Jack Hill would make if he had a bit more money; the stuff that Tarantino fans' dreams are made of.

The Heist is a landmark action film. It is surprising that it is so overlooked. It looms large over the film action genre over the past two decades. Almost every action film owes something to this remarkable masterpiece by Peckinpah at the the height of his directorial powers. For starters, the garbage compactor scene was directly lifted by George Lucas in Star Wars. The dialogue, pacing, and editing are stamped all over Tarantino's films. The action sequences are the starting point for John Woo's Triad masterpieces. A few movies that bear out the direct influence include Point Break (which the story and action sequences are similar); as well as Ben Affleck's The Town.The script by a then up and coming Walter Hill, based upon a Jim Thompson novel, is perfection in itself. In fact, all of Hill's movies can be tied in one way or another to his screenplay in The Getaway. In fact I don't think it's a stretch to say the brash direction and machismo was a defining influence on Takeshi Kitano's directorial career.By all means, if you are a film lover and have not seen this one, you are indeed lucky to be able to see it for the first time. Usually, Peckinpah is defined by critics with his film The Wild Bunch and by general consensus - consider it his best. After seeing this film, it is no longer true for me - this is Peckinpah's finest hour. McQueen shows why he is still regarded as a legend - a simply unforgettable performance.