The Getaway | |
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Original U.S. theatrical poster
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Directed by | Sam Peckinpah |
Produced by | Mitchell Brower David Foster |
Screenplay by | Walter Hill |
Based on |
The Getaway by Jim Thompson |
Starring | |
Music by | Quincy Jones |
Cinematography | Lucien Ballard |
Edited by | Robert L. Wolfe |
Production
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Distributed by | National General Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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118 minutes |
Language | English |
Box office | $36.7 million |
The Getaway is a 1972 American neo-noir action-crime film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw. The film centers on two outlaws Carter "Doc" McCoy and his wife Carol McCoy on the run due to a successful yet complicated bank heist organized by crooked businessman Jack Beynon. The Getaway is based on the Jim Thompson novel of the same name, with the screenplay written by Walter Hill. The cast also features Ben Johnson, Al Lettieri, Sally Struthers, Jack Dodson, and Slim Pickens. The film marks the second collaboration between McQueen and Peckinpah after Junior Bonner also released the same year.
The screenplay by Hill was written for six weeks. Principal photography for the film began on February 7, 1972, and was shot mostly in Texas. During production, lead actors McQueen and MacGraw began an affair. Likewise, McQueen and Peckinpah would get involved in heated arguments due to the latter's increasing alcohol intake. Originally scored by longtime collaborator Jerry Fielding, Peckinpah became unimpressed with Fielding's soundtrack and he hired Quincy Jones to rescore it. Jones was then nominated for a Golden Globe award for his work, which is the only nomination the film has received.
The film was released on December 13, 1972. A box-office hit earning over $36 million in the United States alone, the film was one of the most financially successful productions of Peckinpah's and McQueen's careers, notwithstanding its mixed reactions from film critics.
The film was remade in 1994 with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger in the starring roles.