The Getaway is perhaps Sam Peckinpah’s cleanest and tightest work. It’s a slick, unabashedly commercial product, but no matter; it’s still Sam Peckinpah all the way, in its testosterone-charged moodiness, the inevitable slapping around of women, and its grim and melancholy view of life. The Getaway is the perfect Steve McQueen vehicle, showcasing the King of Cool as a competent, methodical bank robber who must navigate his way through dangerous fools. Surprisingly enough, one of these dangerous fools turns out to have as much presence as Steve McQueen.

That actor’s name is Ali Lettieri, whose best known role was Virgil “The Turk” Solozzo, the man who negotiates with Don Corleone in The Godfather, and starts up a war with the Godfather’s family when they decline joining up with the Tattaglia family’s drug business. In The Getaway, Lettieri plays Rudy, a ruthless killer who is working for Jack Benyon (a wonderfully sleazy Ben Johnson), a corrupt politician who is able to bail Carter “Doc” McCoy (Steve McQueen) out of prison so Doc can do a bank job. In most All Honky Capers, the heavies are usually bowling pins for the hero to knock down. But this is not the case with Rudy; he’s not as methodical as Doc, but he’s just as resilient and cunning. For the entire film, Lettieri devours every scene he’s in, including the scenes he shares with McQueen, and for that reason alone The Getaway is worth viewing.

One of the most notable aspects of The Getaway is its unusual and experimental use of audio. The opening scenes showcase Doc suffering a serious case of stir craziness in the penitentiary. The scenes focus upon not only the monotony of prison life, but the monotony of sounds…the machinery that the prisoners use, the bells and whistles of their daily routine, the orders that are barked at them. You get bombarded with the audio nightmare of being locked up, rather than just the actual visual depiction of prison life. The audio bleeds into adjacent scenes, and Peckinpah uses this unusual editing throughout the film to disorienting and effective results. You can feel this movie ringing in your head.

The Getaway also features some rather unusual sexual chemistry. The first couple, oddly enough, are almost quaint and old fashioned. Doc and his wife Carol (a way too cute and future Mrs. McQueen Ali McGraw) have an almost traditional, square romance, trying to have a normal spousal relationship even though they’re a bona fide Bonnie and Clyde. The opening scenes of Doc and Carol’s reunion after his release are dreamy and illusionary. They are soon bickering, then Carol fucks things up royally twice, and Doc has to decide if Carol is worth the hassle. Doc and Carol’s unexpectedly mundane marital strife are interspaced with the horribly inappropriate yet morbidly fascinating relationship between Rudy and his hostage Fran (a stupidly hot and buxom Sally Struthers…yes, Meathead’s wife and eventually obese spokesperson for Christian Children’s Fund, sigh). Fran desperately wants to be Rudy’s Bonnie, and she has no problem having sex with Rudy in front of her utterly emasculated husband Harold (you should immediately recognize veteran character actor Jack Dodson, who played local yokel regular Howard Sprague in The Andy Griffith Show). Fran is completely captivated by bad boy Rudy, and their fling has a very deliberate and pathetic texture to it.

The original score, composed by Quincy Jones, is fabulous in its variety. The music swings from smooth jazz to wakka wakka action music, and features harmonica legend Toots Thielemans. Like the experimental audio, the music defines each scene as much as the visuals.

The Getaway is a bridge between the melancholy of The Wild Bunch and the unbridled nihilism of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. It’s an eminently watchable party film, one you could bring your buddies together to watch, if for no other reason than to gawk at Sally Struthers’s early 70s cleavage and gasp at Lattieri’s greasy vindictiveness. But for the Peckinpah aficionado, The Getaway is the work of an assured director on cruise control. For the McQueen disciple, The Getaway is Stevie Baby stayin’ Bullitt cool.

And by the way … of course Slim Pickens drops in to play a philosophical good ol’ boy that I suspect was the inspiration for Sam Elliot’s cowboy in The Big Lebowski. So, you ready to rent this film, or what?

Tags: ali lettieri, jack dodson, sally struthers, sam peckinpah, steve mcqueen, the getaway

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website