The Getaway

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sam Peckinpah directs. Lucien Ballard behind the camera. Quincy Jones scores. Robert L. Wolfe cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Shot for just $3.4M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
• 2Grossed $37M — a 11.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
• 354 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
• 5Directed by Sam Peckinpah, shot by Lucien Ballard. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 6Original score by Quincy Jones. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 7Editor Robert L. Wolfe shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 8Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw and Ben Johnson carry the top of the cast.
• 9Marketing tagline: "It takes two to make it … The big two.".
• 10IMDB entry: tt0068638 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 11Classified under 13 themes, including "robbery", "based on novel or book", "texas", "heist".

The technical file

Cinematography

Lucien Ballard

Original score

Quincy Jones

Editing

Robert L. Wolfe

Makeup / hair

Jack Petty

Runtime

123 min · 2h 3m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$3,352,254

Box office

$36,734,619

Return

1096% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG

IMDB

The Getaway (1972) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

84% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

55/100

IMDB rating

7.3/10 · 38,059 votes

MPAA

PG

Also by

Sam Peckinpah

• 
  The Wild Bunch

  1969 · ★ 7.6
• 
  Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

  1973 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Straw Dogs

  1971 · ★ 7.1
• 
  Cross of Iron

  1977 · ★ 7.1
• 
  Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

  1974 · ★ 7.1
• 
  Ride the High Country

  1962 · ★ 7.1

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Prison Release Deal

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Bank Heist Double-Crossing

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Actress Ali MacGraw Looks Back at THE GETAWAY ('72)

  Featurette · Official
• 

  ▶
  The Getaway (1972) - Trailer HD 1080p

  Trailer
• 

  ▶
  The Getaway - Trailer

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  Larry Karaszewski on THE GETAWAY

  Featurette

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Wuchak2024-09-27
  ★ 6/10

  Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw and others chasing a bag of cash in Texas A prisoner in Huntsville (McQueen) is released early due to his wife (MacGraw) making a deal with a corrupt official (Ben Johnson). The cost of his freedom is to head a bank heist in San Marcos with the officer’s questionable henchmen (Al Lettieri and Bo Hopkins). O, what a tangled web we weave. “The Getaway” (1972) is a crime thriller written by Walter Hill based on Jim Thompson’s book and was director Sam Peckinpah’s second most successful film at the box office, after “Convoy” six years later. It was remade in 1994 with Alec Baldwin and influenced soon-to-come movies like “The Outfit,” "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry," "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" and “The Gauntlet,” as well as later ones like “No Country for Old Men.” If you like those flicks, you’ll appreciate this one, although it ranks with the least of ’em IMHO. Why? Because the bank job is unnecessarily convoluted, not to mention expensive, with the myriad pre-caper photographs, a cliched last-minute briefing session in a basement, severing electrical cables in the sewer tunnels and even diversionary explosions. Why Sure! Then there’s the curious train station sequence with a convenient con man that’s inserted into the midsection, which I admit is entertaining in a Hitchcockian way. Lastly, despite some amusing bits, the proceedings are shrouded by a pessimistic and ugly perspective. I get that the protagonists are antiheroes, but the film needed more glimmerings of nobility and love, and less murderous venality. “Pulp Fiction” is a good example. Ali looks good on the feminine front and is, thankfully, way less annoying than her character in “Love Story.” Blonde Sally Struthers eventually appears and never looked better at 23 during shooting, but her character is a ditzy turnoff. McQueen would marry costar MacGraw seven months after the movie’s release, but their marriage would only last five years. It runs 2 hours, 2 minutes, and was shot entirely in Texas at Huntsville (prison), San Marcos (bank robbery), San Antonio (train station), Fabens (city street confrontation) and El Paso (Laughlin Hotel). GRADE: B-/C+

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• FO

  Foster-Brower Productions

• 

  First Artists

  US

• SO

  Solar Productions

• NA

  National General Pictures

• TA

  Tatiana Films

Key crew

• NovelJim Thompson
• ProducerDavid Foster
• EditorRobert L. Wolfe
• MusicToots Thielemans
• StuntsCarey Loftin
• StuntsBob Terhune
• StuntsDick Crockett
• StuntsDonna Garrett
• StuntsBill Hart
• StuntsGary Combs
• Dialogue EditorKatherine Haber
• Art DirectionAngelo P. Graham
• Set DecorationGeorge R. Nelson
• StuntsWhitey Hughes
• Script SupervisorMichael Preece
• Sound EditorJosef von Stroheim
• Art DirectionTed Haworth
• Stunt DoubleLoren Janes
• Executive ProducerSteve McQueen
• Special EffectsBud Hulburd
• Key GripGaylin P. Schultz
• CostumerBarbara Seibert Bolticoff
• Makeup ArtistJack Petty
• CostumerKent James

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• robbery
• based on novel or book
• texas
• heist
• con artist
• murder
• organized crime
• on the run
• bag of money
• gunfight
• bank robbery
• double cross
• neo-noir

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1972-12-13PG

Also known as

International titles

• The Getaway - Ihre Chance ist gleich nullDE
• ПобегRU
• Guet-ApensFR
• La fugaAR
• Ein Mann explodiertDE
• Getaway - Eine knallharte Gangster-StoryDE
• Le guet-apensFR
• Tiro de EscapePT