The Getaway

PG

1972

2h 2m

Action

List

83%

24 Reviews

Tomatometer

81%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

When convict Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) is refused parole, he enlists his wife, Carol (Ali MacGraw), to strike a deal with crooked Texan Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson), who agrees to pull strings for Doc in return for his help on one last bank heist. The job is a success, but Benyon's men betray Doc, and he and Carol must take off across Texas with the money, running from both the law and other criminals, aiming to get to Mexico before they're caught, or worse, killed.

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Critics Consensus

The Getaway sees Sam Peckinpah and Steve McQueen, the kings of violence and cool, working at full throttle.

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Audience Member

The two leads are dynamite, there’s thrilling car chases and explosions, and it turns into a real act of deception and jealousy 2 hours is a bit of a stretch but it’s a good ol fashioned on-the-run movie Director Sam Peckinpah makes a decent crime thriller of a couple becoming bank robbers with more baggage than the stuff they carry An above-average thriller; doesn't need to be 2 hours but McQueen and McGraw are excellent together Works as a good character examination, a good relationship study, and a good action flick in one

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/14/23

Full Review

Jack S

McQueen, the King of Cool, isn't particularly so in much of this over-rated action picture. Not when he's orchestrating a truly incompetent heist early on or, when he stupidly walks into a deadly situation in the hotel in the violent finale or, when he's repeatedly smacking around his wife (McGraw) in between. The film's reputation appears to rest on only two truly exciting sequences: At the mid-way point, when he's forced to reacquire his stolen money from another thief escaping on a train and then later, when he calmly blasts away a squad car with a shot gun in front of the entire town of spectators! Most of the rest of the film is merely a drawn out excuse for excessive (for the era) violence

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/21/23

Full Review

Steve D

I am not sure why I should pull for these people.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/02/23

Full Review

Justin C

Half way into this movie and have no idea what's going on. That's enough Steve Mcqueen for me. Maybe I should Getaway from this movie 😆 They got the title right. The Getaway 😆

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/25/23

Full Review

Ravenswood R

Kind of a mess. Very long, never seems to want to end, and when it does it's a solid So What. Very dull performances. Bad music choices by Quincy Jones, with awful dated harmonica music and misplaced funky bits that do not fit the action on screen or pin the right mood many scenes. Peckinpah apparently did not know McQueen had negotiated final cut privileges. McQueen then made changes to the final edit with the director having no say. Two cooks spoiled the soup in this case and the movie just manages to hang together. Memorable only for what it could have been.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Steve McQueen is a symbol of masculine charm in the 1960's & 1970's . This movie has many issues and was deeply troubled film in many ways-changing Directors and stars but it came together with Ali McGraw, Steve McQueen, and Director, Sam Peckinpah. The movie was edgy for its time. It is based on a novel, but there were changes to the source material. There are some long sequences that could have been tightened out, particularly between McGraw and McQueen. McGraw's performance was panned but it is not bad-I think the additional scrutiny over her romantic entanglement in this film after her husband of the time, Robert Evans, fought to get her the role didn't help. It is a cool heist film with a spectrum of villains played well by a strong supporting cast. It is a little dated, but still worth seeing and one of McQueen's best works.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

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Sam Peckinpah

Director

Steve McQueen

Doc McCoy

Ali MacGraw

Carol McCoy

Ben Johnson

Jack Beynon

Sally Struthers

Fran Clinton

Al Lettieri

Rudy Butler

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Pauline Kael

New Yorker

This is the most completely commercial film Peckinpah has made, and his self-parasitism gives one forebodings of emptiness... The Getaway is long and dull and has no reverberations except of other movies, mostly by Peckinpah.

Sep 29, 2023

Full Review

Vincent Canby

New York Times

The action and the violence of The Getaway are supported by no particular themes whatsoever. The movie just unravels.

Rated: 2/5

May 9, 2005

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

The Getaway is a big, glossy, impersonal mechanical toy. It's like one of those devices for executive desks, with the stainless steel balls on the strings: It functions with great efficiency but doesn't accomplish anything.

Rated: 2/4

Oct 23, 2004

Full Review

Justine Smith

Vague Visages

Measured against the earlier reunion after Doc leaves prison and the two make love in a lake and retire to a small room, this violence seems all the more horrifying...

Nov 21, 2023

Full Review

Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

There ends up being enough good ingredients to make for a tasty crime thriller. Perhaps not as good as it could have been, but tasty nonetheless.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 16, 2022

Full Review

Judith Crist

Texas Monthly

It's fast, furious, full of shoot-outs and car chases, lovely little side-forays into suspense and irony, and tidbits of genuine humor.

Jun 11, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

When convict Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) is refused parole, he enlists his wife, Carol (Ali MacGraw), to strike a deal with crooked Texan Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson), who agrees to pull strings for Doc in return for his help on one last bank heist. The job is a success, but Benyon's men betray Doc, and he and Carol must take off across Texas with the money, running from both the law and other criminals, aiming to get to Mexico before they're caught, or worse, killed.

Director: Sam Peckinpah
Screenwriter: Walter Hill
Production Co: First Artists
Rating: PG
Genre: Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 1, 2014
Runtime: 2h 2m

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