The Getaway is the love child of Indecent Proposal, Bonnie and Clyde and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly with a score by Quincy Jones. Doc McCoy (McQueen), is a Texas prisoner waiting on a parole that won’t come. He sends his wife Carol (a sun-kissed Ali McGraw) to go above, beyond, and (to his dismay) beneath a shady businessman with pull to get him released, but there’s a catch… One last robbery with a rag tag team and Carol in tow as a lookout, driver, decoy and bomb planter. The robbery is as successful as these things can be but you didn’t think it would go off without a hitch did you?
The film kicks into full gear in the second act with some double crossing, slow-mo shootouts, BBQ ribs and T&A courtesy of Sally Struthers (yes, this Sally Struthers), and a villan with one of the most glorious moustaches I’ve ever seen. At one point you’ll wonder aloud “Can Steve McQueen possibly blow up another cop car or truck with a pistol without getting a scratch or even breaking a sweat?”. And the answer is yes, the man in invincible and you won’t care because he looks so cool doing it. The Getaway is directed by Sam Peckinpah (Straw Dogs, The Wild Bunch) and was one of the most successful films of his (and McQueen’s) career.
