The Getaway (1972)

Sam Peckinpah is a fine film director, and this collaboration with Steve McQueen does nothing to alter that claim. Don (McQueen) has been granted parole by Sheriff Beynon, but there’s a catch; Beynon wants him to rob a bank, Don’s specialty. Beynon sets him up with a team that Don questions; it’s no surprise to find that everything goes horribly awry and he ends up on the run with his girlfriend. There’s double crossing aplenty, shades of Oceans Eleven (1960/2001) and even Heat (1995) with some car chases added for good measure. With McQueen at the center of it, it’s hard not to think of Bullitt, released just four years previously, and although The Getaway doesn’t quite live up to that high benchmark, it’s still a fine film. It came a year after Pekinpah’s hugely controversial Straw Dogs, and he steers clear of any sort of controversy here (that’s not to say Straw Dogs isn’t a good film) but still manages to make a hugely enjoyable heist romp, with terrific performances adding to it. 7.3/10