Where to watch The Getaway
4 Stars
Doc McCoy is put in prison because his partners chickened out and flew off without him after exchanging a prisoner with a lot of money. Doc knows Jack Benyon, a rich “business”-man, is up to something big, so he tells his wife (Carol McCoy) to tell him that he’s for sale if Benyon can get him out of prison. Benyon pulls some strings and Doc McCoy is released again. Unfortunately he has to cooperate with the same person that got him to prison.
Alec Baldwin and (his then-wife) Kim Basinger are the sexiest on-screen couple of 1994. Their collective attractiveness is in direct contrast to the brutal, mean-spirited, and very adult screenplay penned by the master of the medium, Walter Hill. Sam Peckinpah is the director of record on the 1972 film fronted by Steve McQueen and (his then-wife) Ali McGraw, and Roger Donaldson is the man staging this 1994 adaptation. For me, this remake is the definitive version—top-notch writing delivered by OSCAR winners and nominees James Woods, Baldwin, and Basinger. The arid environments and earth-toned color palette give the film a lyrical quality that elevates the conflict between the couple and their pursuers.
The Getaway was overlooked by general audiences during its theatrical run. An uncut, unrated version of the movie promising more titillation propelled the home video release onto the top of the VHS rental charts for the year. I think the hard-boiled story and decisive decision-making of the characters turned off viewers who came primarily for the voyeuristic kink of seeing a movie-star married couple going at it on-screen. But The Getaway is so much better than that and deserves a re-evaluation from modern cinema enthusiasts.
Directed by: Roger Donaldson
Written by: Jim Thompson, Walter Hill, Amy Holden Jones
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Michael Madsen