The Getaway (Deluxe Edition)

Once The Getaway starts, there's no escaping its breathless intensity.

DVD Features:Audio Commentary:Commentary by Peckinpah Biographers/Documentarians Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David WeddleFeaturette:Jerry Fielding, Sam Peckinpah and The GetawayTheatrical Trailer: Fasten your seat belts and join Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw in a supreme action thriller based on Jim Thompson's novel. Sam Peckinpah directed, filming on locations across Texas and in sequence - from the opening inside Hunstville State Prison to the explosive El Paso border climax. Master thief Doc McCoy knows his wife has been in bed with the local political boss in order to spring him from jail. What he can't know is the sinister succession of double-crosses that will sour the deal once he's on the outside - and executing the ultimate robbery.

It's better than the 1994 remake starring Kim Basinger and husband Alec Baldwin, but this 1972 thriller relies too heavily on the low-key star power of Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw, and the stylish violence of director Sam Peckinpah, reduced here to a mechanical echo of his former glory. MacGraw was duly skewered at the time for her dubious acting ability, but the film still has a raw, unglamorous quality that lends a timeless spin to the familiar crooks-on-the-lam scenario. But when the plan goes sour, the couple must flee to Mexico as fast as they can, with a variety of gun-wielding thugs on their trail. Not a great film, but a must for McQueen and Peckinpah fans. As always, Peckinpah rises to the occasion with some audacious scenes of action and suspense, including a memorable chase on a train that still grabs the viewer's attention. --Jeff Shannon McQueen plays a bank robber whose wife (MacGraw) makes a deal with a Texas politician to have her husband released from prison in return for a percentage from their next big heist.