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The Getaway

Play trailer Poster for The Getaway PG 1972 2h 2m Action Play Trailer Watchlist
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83% Tomatometer 24 Reviews 81% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
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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The Getaway

The Getaway

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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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Critics Reviews

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Pauline Kael The 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 Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Scott M This is one of the best thrillers of the 70's. It sways between cool, brutal and arousing. McQueen is engrossing. Al Lettieri's character Rudi is genuinely menacing. The music by Quincy Jones add perfectly to the suspense and is as sexy as hell. It may not be as graphically violent as today's films but the underlying core of the movie is constantly threatening. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/06/24 Full Review 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 Read all reviews
The Getaway

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

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
Producer
David Foster, Mitchell Brower
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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