The Getaway Review

Getaway , The
Doc McCoy is released from prison thanks to the influence of a big-time gangster and ordered to carry out a robbery. Doc and his wife take the money and head for the Mexican border, pursued by a vengeful thug.

by Kim Newman |
Published on
Release Date:

07 Dec 1994

Running Time:

115 minutes

Certificate:

18

Original Title:

Getaway , The

An exact remake of the 1972 Sam Peckinpah thriller, which essentially reshoots the old Walter Hill script. Roger Donaldson turns out quite an acceptable actioner, though its use of criminal outlaw heroes is more amoral than existential and the ghost of Bloody Sam is impossible to compete with.

          It’s at its best in the simple suspense sequences, like the supercriminal hero’s pursuit of an opportunist petty crook who has happened to steal the suitcase with the loot from his wife on a train.  Kim Basinger is quite often cast in the decorative‑but‑uninteresting way Ali McGraw was in the 1970s, but delivers a far better performance than Ali did – perhaps because Amy Jones has been brought in to do a light rewrite and punch up the woman’s role.  Baldwin is competent in a variation on his Miami Blues criminal role, but doesn't come within a hundred degrees of that special Steve McQueen cool.  Even reliables like James Woods and Michael Madsen can't best memories of the readings of their roles given by Ben Johnson and Al Lettieri, though Richard Farnsworth does a nice homage to Slim Pickens.

          A good rule of thumb is 'don't remake it if you haven't got anything new to say' and, though this is by no means an atrocious disaster, it's hard not to feel cheated by such a refried movie.

A little too exactly like the original but with les memorable performances.
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