The Getaway

Sam Peckinpah
1972

Probably the most straightforward and easily digestible Peckinpah film I've seen to date. The boozy director takes a pretty basic story and spins it into cinematic gold through raw emotion and snarling animalistic perseverance. Bank robber Steve McQueen is released from jail when his main squeeze Ali McGraw sleeps with parole board bigwig Ben Johnson (an act that'll come to bite her in the ass). Johnson hires McQueen to pull a heist that goes sour, leaving Doc and his gal no choice but to stash the loot and evade a posse of gun-toting cronies, as well as a psychotic thug responsible for botching the robbery. This film may as well be an ode to the shotgun - with our hero defending himself and Ms. McGraw from harm by popping-off shell after shell from a 12-gauge pump. Car windshields, headlights, dry wall, and wood burst or splinter in slow-mo to a dizzying tune of destruction. The rocky relationship between Doc and Carol is understandably tense and with every harsh word, slap, and near death experience it's painfully believable that the couple could unravel at any moment. For all the macho male fun there's a real sensitivity to the way Peckinpah treats Doc's first day out of jail, with a joyous dive into a nearby river, and the awkward anxiety of the couple's first night together. There's some comic relief provided by wounded gunman Rudy as he accosts a rural veterinarian and his overripe wife (Sally Struthers!). The hapless husband soon becomes chauffeur and sad witness to his wife's all too willing seduction. It's may not be the most socially acceptable take on women psychology, but it's definitely good for a few yuks.