The Getaway (1972 film)

The Getaway
Original U.S. poster
Directed by	Sam Peckinpah
Written by	Walter Hill Jim Thompson (novel)
Starring	Steve McQueen Ali MacGraw Ben Johnson Al Lettieri Sally Struthers
Music by	Quincy Jones
Cinematography	Lucien Ballard
Studio	First Artists Solar Productions Foster-Brower Productions
Distributed by	National General Pictures
Release date(s)	December 13, 1972 (1972-12-13)
Running time	122 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$3,352,254
Box office	$36,734,619

The Getaway is a 1972 American action-crime film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw.

The film is based on a novel by Jim Thompson, with the screenplay written by Walter Hill. A box office hit earning over $36 million domestically, the film was one of the most financially successful productions of Peckinpah's and McQueen's careers.

It was remade in 1994 starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger.

Plot

The opening scenes show Carter "Doc" McCoy (McQueen) in a Texas prison where he loses a game of chess (hinting at a general tendency to make bad moves). On being denied parole from a 10-year sentence, McCoy sends his wife Carol (MacGraw) to make a deal with Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson), a corrupt businessman, telling her to agree to the terms whatever they may be. Benyon manages to get Doc paroled on the condition that he organizes the robbery of a bank with men Benyon personally selects: Rudy (Al Lettieri) and Frank (Bo Hopkins).

McCoy makes meticulous plans, but his preparations meet with disinterest from Frank and menacing derision from Rudy, including the suggestion of bulletproof vests. Doc distrusts all the participants and insists on a system of telephone calls to verify that Benyon's thugs are not at his ranch when the money is handed over. Benyon's brother (uncredited) readily agrees to the demand but his sinister acquiescence leaves Doc feeling even more uneasy.

A guard is killed in the robbery, after which Rudy kills Frank in a double-cross. Rudy also intends to ambush Doc, but is shot by him. However, the injuries are not serious because Rudy has worn the bulletproof vest after all. Rudy forces a rural veterinarian named Harold (Jack Dodson) and his young wife Fran (Sally Struthers) to treat his wounds, seduces the vet's wife, then takes them along as he sets out to pursue Doc and Carol.

McCoy and his wife deliver the money. Benyon taunts him about Carol, who quietly draws a gun behind Doc's back. Benyon seems to be counting on Carol to kill her husband, but she shoots Benyon instead. Doc angrily gathers up the money, aware now that Carol had a relationship and arrangement with Benyon. Doc strikes her, but Carol insists that she did it for him.

The couple flees for the arranged hideout at Laughlin's, an El Paso hotel. McCoy reasons that Rudy (who knew of the hotel) might have been working by himself, but seems oblivious to the fact that the hotel is compromised anyway - Benyon's brother having being present when the hotel was discussed - and he is heading into a trap. Benyon's brother orders Cully (Roy Jenson) to unceremoniously dump Jack's body and find out if McCoy is heading for Laughlin's.

At the train station Carol is left alone and decides to put the bag with the robbery cash in a locker but the seemingly gallant stranger (Richard Bright) who assists her is in fact a con man who steals the bag. Doc follows the thief onto a train and forcefully takes it back. However, he fails to search the thief's pockets; money found on the injured con man is linked to the robbery and witnesses from the train identify Doc from mug shots, making him a wanted man for bank robbery and murder.

Carol tells Doc he will have to trust someone but he replies that he only believes in money. While in a store Doc sees his mugshot on a TV newsflash and realizes he has been recognized by the clerk. Instead of immediately leaving the small town he robs a gun-shop of a pump action shotgun and 00 buckshot ammunition which he uses to cow two policemen - the first to respond to the clerk's phone tip - and destroy their patrol-vehicle. Carol waits at the wheel of their car and is incredulous when Doc uses vital moments to reload and continue blasting the vehicle; he is seemingly unconcerned at delaying their getaway although police re-enforcements are rushing to the scene. Appalled by his reckless arrogance and grandstanding, she knocks Doc off his feet with the car before driving a chagrined McCoy away at high speed; he has them lose the pursuing police by doubling back through the town on a bus. The police pick up their trail and they eventually resort to hiding in a trash bin, only to end up dumped at the local landfill. Filthy and frustrated, they debate whether to stay together or split up. They decide to see things through.

Rudy and the veterinarian's wife have a mutual sexual attraction which leads to the two having sex in front of her husband. Humiliated, the vet hangs himself in a motel bathroom. Rudy and Fran move on, barely acknowledging the suicide. They arrive first at an El Paso hotel used by criminals as a safe house, threatening the hotel's manager. Doc and Carol are given a room on the same floor and ask for food to be delivered, but the manager says he is working alone and can't leave the desk. Doc eventually realizes that the manager has sent away all of his family. He urges Carol to get dressed fast so they can get away. Fran and an armed Rudy come to their door. Doc, peering from another doorway, is surprised to see Rudy alive. Doc sneaks up from behind, and knocks Rudy out; intending to finish him off Doc levels a pistol at Rudy's head but can't bring himself to shoot and merely takes his gun. McCoy's assumption that Rudy does not have another gun proves to be false.

Benyon's brother and the thugs confront the McCoys as they are descending the stairs into the hotel lobby. Doc reacts first and opens fire. The McCoys then fight a running gun battle up the stairwell and back through the hotel with Doc's shotgun proving more than a match for the heavily armed toughs. Rudy recovers consciousness and follows Doc, who finally kills him. Exiting the hotel McCoy gets the drop on the last of Benyon's toughs but, seemingly sickened by killing, McCoy allows him to live.

With the police en route, the couple hijack a pickup truck and force its likable cowboy driver (Slim Pickens), to take them to Mexico. After crossing the border, Doc and Carol pay the cowboy $30,000 for his truck and silence. Overjoyed, the cowboy walks back toward El Paso while the couple drives on into Mexico.

Cast

• Steve McQueen as Carter 'Doc' McCoy, an armed robber.
• Ali MacGraw as Carol Ainsley McCoy, his wife and partner.
• Ben Johnson as Jack Benyon, a powerful and corrupt businessman.
• Sally Struthers as Fran Clinton, wife of Harold.
• Al Lettieri as Rudy Butler, a bank robber.
• Roy Jenson as Cully, a henchman of Jack Benyon.
• Richard Bright as a con man who deceives Carol McCoy.
• Jack Dodson as Harold Clinton, a veterinarian.
• Slim Pickens as the cowboy who helps the McCoys.
• Bo Hopkins as Frank Jackson, an accomplice in the robbery.
• Dub Taylor as Laughlin, manager of El Paso hotel.

Production

Steve McQueen had been encouraging his publicist David Foster to become a film producer. His first attempt was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with McQueen starring alongside Paul Newman but 20th Century Fox did not want Foster as part of the deal. The project fell apart and while McQueen was making Le Mans Foster acquired the rights to Jim Thompson's crime novel The Getaway. Foster sent McQueen a copy of the book and urged him to do it. The actor was looking for a good/bad guy role and saw these qualities in the novel's protagonist.

Foster began to look for a director and Peter Bogdanovich was brought to his attention. He and McQueen screened Bogdanovich's soon-to-be released The Last Picture Show and loved it. They met with the director and a deal was made. However, Warner Brothers approached Bogdanovich with an offer to direct What's Up, Doc? starring Barbra Streisand but with the stipulation that he would have to start right away. The director wanted to do both but the studio refused. When McQueen found out, he was very upset and told Bogdanovich that he was going to get someone else to direct The Getaway. McQueen had just worked with Peckinpah on Junior Bonner and enjoyed the experience. He recommended the director to Foster who then approached Peckinpah. Like McQueen, Peckinpah was in need of a box office hit and immediately accepted. The filmmaker had read the novel when it was originally published and had even talked to Thompson about making it into a film when he was starting out as a director. At the time, Peckinpah had also wanted to make Emperor of the North Pole, a story set during the Depression about a brakeman obsessed with keeping hobos off his train. The film's producer made a deal with Paramount Pictures' production chief Robert Evans who allowed Peckinpah to do his personal project if he would first direct The Getaway. Soon after, the director was dismissed from Emperor and told that Paramount was not making The Getaway. A conflict arose between Paramount and the film's budget. Foster had 30 days to set up a deal with another studio or Paramount would own the rights. He was inundated with offers and went with First Artists Group because McQueen would receive no upfront salary, just 10% of the gross for the first dollar taken in on the film. This would be very profitable if the film was a box-office hit.

Screenplay

Jim Thompson was originally hired by Foster and McQueen to adapt his novel for the film. Thompson worked on the screenplay for four months and produced a treatment, with alternate scenes and episodes. Thompson's script included a borderline-surrealistic ending from his novel featuring the kingdom of El Rey, a Mexican town filled with criminals. McQueen objected to the depressing ending and had Thompson replaced by screenwriter Walter Hill. Peckinpah read Hill's draft and the screenwriter remembered that he did not make many changes: "we made it nonperiod and we added a little more action".

Casting

When Peter Bogdanovich was originally hired to direct, he cast Cybill Shepherd, his girlfriend at the time, for the role of Carol. When Peckinpah was brought on to direct, he wanted to cast Stella Stevens, whom he worked with on The Ballad of Cable Hogue, with Angie Dickinson or Dyan Cannon as possible alternatives. Foster suggested Ali MacGraw, a much in-demand actress after the commercial success of Love Story. She was married to Robert Evans who wanted her to avoid being typecast in preppy roles and set up a meeting with her, Foster, McQueen, and Peckinpah about the film. According to Foster, she was scared of McQueen and Peckinpah because they had reputations for being "wild, two-fisted, beer guzzlers". When McQueen met MacGraw there was a very strong instant attraction. She was unsure about doing the project because of her attraction to him. She said, "he was recently separated and free, and I was scared of my overwhelming attraction to him".

Peckinpah originally wanted actor Jack Palance to play the role of Rudy Butler but could not afford his salary. Impressed by his performance in Panic in Needle Park, Hill recommended Richard Bright. Bright had worked with McQueen 14 years before but he did not have the threatening physique that McQueen pictured for Butler because they were the same height. Peckinpah got along famously with Bright and cast him as the train station con man instead. Al Lettieri was brought to Peckinpah's attention by producer Albert Ruddy who was working with the actor on The Godfather. Like Peckinpah, Lettieri was a heavy drinker which caused problems during filming due to his unpredictable behavior.

Principal photography

They began work on February 7, 1972, filming on location in multiple Texas towns including Huntsville, San Marcos, San Antonio, Fabens and El Paso. Peckinpah shot the opening prison scenes at the local penitentiary with McQueen surrounded by actual convicts.

McQueen and McGraw began an affair during the film's production. She would eventually leave her husband Robert Evans and become McQueen's second wife. Foster was worried that their relationship would have a negative impact on the production by causing a potential scandal with the media ruining the reputation of the film. MacGraw got her start as a model and her inexperience as an actress was evident on the set where she struggled with the role. According to Foster, Peckinpah and MacGraw got along well but she was not happy with her performance: "I looked at what I had done in it, I hated my own performance. I liked the picture, but I despised my own work".

Peckinpah's intake of alcohol increased dramatically while making The Getaway, and he became fond of saying, "I can't direct when I'm sober". He and McQueen got into the occasional heated arguments during filming. The director recalled one such incident: "Steve and I had been discussing some point on which we disagreed, so he picked up this bottle of champagne and threw it at me. I saw it coming and ducked. And Steve just laughed".

McQueen had a knack with props, especially the guns he used in the film. Hill remembered, "you can see Steve's military training in his films. He was so brisk and confident in the way he handled the guns". It was McQueen's idea to have his character shoot two squad cars in the scene where Doc holds two police officers at gunpoint.

Under his contract with First Artists, McQueen had final cut on The Getaway and when Peckinpah found out, he became very upset. Richard Bright said that McQueen chose takes that "made him look good" and Peckinpah felt that the actor played it safe: "he chose all these Playboy shots of himself. He's playing it safe with these pretty-boy shots".

Soundtrack

Peckinpah's long-time composer and collaborator Jerry Fielding was originally hired to do the musical score for The Getaway. He had previously worked with the director on Noon Wine (1967), The Wild Bunch (1969), Straw Dogs (1971) and Junior Bonner (1972). After the film's second preview screening, McQueen was unhappy with the music and used his clout to hire Quincy Jones to rescore the film. Jones' music had a jazzier edge and featured harmonica solos by Toots Thielemans, with Don Elliott credited for "musical voices." Peckinpah was unhappy with the decision and took out a full-page ad in Daily Variety on November 17, 1972 including a letter he had written to Fielding thanking him for his work. Fielding would work with Peckinpah on two additional films, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) and The Killer Elite (1975).

Release

There were two preview screenings for The Getaway, a lackluster one in San Francisco and a more enthusiastic one held in San Jose, California. The film was the eighth highest grossing picture of the year, making $36,734,619. It also earned $26,987,155 in worldwide rentals.

Remake

A remake was made in 1994: The Getaway

References

• Simmons, Garner (1982) Peckinpah, A Portrait in Montage. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-76493-6
• Terrill, Marshall (1993) Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel. Plexus. ISBN 978-1556113802
• Weddle, David (1994) If They Move...Kill 'Em!. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-3776-8

External links

• The Getaway at the Internet Movie Database
• The Getaway at AllRovi
• The Getaway at the TCM Movie Database
• The Getaway at Rotten Tomatoes