The Getaway.

Review #1936: The Getaway.

Cast: 

Steve McQueen (Carter "Doc" McCoy), Ali MacGraw (Carol McCoy), Ben Johnson (Jack Beynon), Sally Struthers (Fran Clinton), Al Lettieri (Rudy Butler), Slim Pickens (The Cowboy), Richard Bright (The Thief), Jack Dodson (Harold Clinton), Dub Taylor (Laughlin), and Bo Hopkins (Frank Jackson) Directed by Sam Peckinpah (#590 - Ride the High Country, #591 - The Wild Bunch, #944 - Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, #1439 - Straw Dogs, and #1685 - The Deadly Companions)

Review: 

“As a filmmaker I must look at both sides of the coin and do my best as a storyteller. I have no absolutes. I have no value judgment. Why does violence have such a point of intoxication with people? Why do people structure their day on killing?”

Admittedly, the prospect of Sam Peckinpah and Steve McQueen is an interesting one to ponder, particularly since their only other collaboration was Junior Bonner (1972), a rodeo rider movie. Actually, the original director for this film was Peter Bogdanovich since The Last Picture Show (1971) had made an impression on McQueen and producer David Foster. Foster had been McQueen's publicist before McQueen had encouraged him to become a film producer, and Foster encouraged McQueen to do the film, since McQueen was apparently looking for a "good/bad guy" role. The movie is based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Jim Thompson, and he was slated to write the screenplay for the film (this was the first film adaptation of one of his works since Paths of Glory (1957)). Disagreements would lead to both departing: Bogdanovich was approached by a different studio to do What's Up Doc? (1972), but McQueen got upset at hearing about this, while Thompson would be replaced as writer by Walter Hill, since McQueen was not particularly keen on the ending of the novel: an imaginary Mexican town filled with criminals that was apparently "surreal" in nature, and Peckinpah described it as "written in the fifties, takes place in the fifties, but...really a thirties story". The Hill script was modified by Peckinpah to add a bit more action and make it a non-period piece; Hill felt it was the far and away the best script he wrote. Oddly enough, due to the deal made between McQueen and First Artists, he had final cut privileges on the film, and Peckinpah felt that the actor played it safe with the "pretty-boy shots", and it probably doesn't help that McQueen once admitted to wanting the film to look and feel like High Sierra (1941). While the film didn't receive great reviews, it did make quite an impact with audiences, and it was the biggest hit of Peckinpah's career, with only Convoy (1978) topping it. A remake of the film, this time having Hill listed as a co-writer (complete with retaining the same ending), was released in 1994.

As a heist thriller for 122 minutes, it proves just fine. It is sometimes a tough little film when it sees two characters spend their time in a garbage truck with a hydraulic compactor. It is more of a greasy thriller than an underdog film that McQueen surely thought he wanted, but since it ended up being a hit for everyone involved, I'm sure that pleased him just fine. It makes for a decent heist and a decent chase film, but it does leave one wanting a bit more from its wandering edges. McQueen makes the role count when it comes to the "tough as nails" elements to a character wrapped into a heist straight out of prison, but the elements where he needs to show some sort of tenderness with MacGraw don't particularly sell as well. MacGraw was known at the time for her role in Love Story (1970). Her next role after this film was six years later with Convoy (1978), oddly enough. It isn't so much that she is the weakest element of the film as it is that there is a variety of talent all around her that generates more energy, where even three minutes of Slim Pickens is worth investing a smile. She just comes off as dry, which makes an "on the run with wife and husband" movie more of an obligation than a big thrill. Hell, Johnson just does a few speeches of spiel and you might remember his time in the film a bit more, although at least Lettieri makes a solid heavy fitting for a chase film. Struthers (in her first key film role and fresh in the minds of folks familiar with All in the Family) makes a solid moll, complete with scenes between Lettieri being quite oddball potent. Bright also makes a worthy shifty man in the middle in terms of flim-flam trickery - the locker swap and train sequence makes for a neatly executed sequence between Bright and the main duo. As a whole, it moves a bit too casually in one particular speed to really make anything more than rip-roaring thrills, but Peckinpah still managed to make a conventionally interesting feature that holds up in the ways that matter after a half century because of the way he cuts his action together.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967).

Review #981: Bonnie and Clyde.

Cast:
Warren Beatty (Clyde Barrow), Faye Dunaway (Bonnie Parker), Michael J. Pollard (C.W. Moss), Gene Hackman (Buck Barrow), Estelle Parsons (Blanche Barrow), Denver Pyle (Frank Hamer), Dub Taylor (Ivan Moss), Gene Wilder (Eugene Grizzard), and Evans Evans (Velma Davis) Directed by Arthur Penn.

Review:
August holds significance for this film, as it was released 50 years ago on this month, with three different premieres: August 4 (for the Montréal Film Festival), August 13 (New York), and August 23 (Los Angeles) before going into general release the following month. In any case, I decided it made sense to finally cover this movie today to see how it has aged after (roughly) 50 years. There is something about how the movie works on nearly every level, from its cinematography by Burnett Guffey to its dynamic cast to how it becomes more than just a movie with violence (and lots of it) that opened the floodgates to a new level of bloodshed in cinema that is still readily apparent today. There have been countless other films revolving around criminals and/or a good deal of violence (such as say, The Wild Bunch (#591), though that was a Western), but this does not manage to fall into the background because of how it operates itself, with the ending scene being shocking in its execution. Of note is the use of squibs (a miniature explosive device) in order to imitate bullet hits, which surely stands out from prior movies that didn't have as much (or any) blood for the violence. The editing by Dede Allen is also quite good, having a rapid pace that rolls with the action neatly, with influence coming from the styles used for films directed during the French New Wave. Beatty and Dunaway both do great jobs, along with having a great chemistry together that seems instantaneous. The rest of the cast is also quite excellent in roles that led to further fame (along with an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Parsons), with Hackman and Parsons being enjoyable to watch in their interactions within the Barrow Gang. In a film as rough as this is, there is still a level of humor and excitement one can get from all that happens in the movie, from the first scene with Beatty and Dunaway to the Gang escaping from the cops with Parsons holding onto a spatula. It's a forthright kind of film that never seems inauthentic with its goals and pace. The film does take liberties with what happened in real life with the Barrow gang, but it does not alter the fact that this is still a fine piece of entertainment that never ceases to be anything other than captivating.

This was a controversial film upon release, with criticism being about the level of violence apparent in the movie, but it was still a major success (no doubt due its appeal for the generation the movie was released to). No matter what you might think about how the film portrays violence, the legacy that Bonnie and Clyde has in changing the way violence is depicted on screen is undeniably still felt today, for better or for worse. It may not be everybody's cup of tea, but it definitely pulls no punches in how it operates itself and achieves all of its goals.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.