The Getaway (1994) User Reviews

Worthwhile remake

[tomiron77 · 7/10 · 19 February 2005]

I recently had the opportunity to watch this movie and the 1972 version back to back (the modern version first). I was amazed at how exactly some of the minute details in the original movie were repeated in the remake. The garbage bin, the locker gimmick, the character of the innkeeper and paint truck owner. It was interesting at how many of the touches were not unnecessarily "modernized". (I like that).

I was able to enjoy both versions. Some people made comments disdaining the remake, but I thought it was a worthy movie, if just because it was a more sexy polished version. --I admit I'm biased, because I thought Kim Basinger was one of the hottest women I've seen in movies (I can't believe she was over 40 when she made the film). Her action/shooting scenes near the end were also very well done. The chemistry between her and Alex Baldwin was also superb, I guess due in some part to the fact that they were (or were going to be) a husband-wife couple in real life too.

I also liked the movie to enjoy the differences between the actors (and interpretation) within the almost exact same construct. Steve McQueen's more hardboiled tightly wound character to Alec Baldwin's character who seemed to have a more innate gentleness (sort of like being a victim of circumstance). But of course both being pleasingly hard resourceful men. The old paint truck drivers at the end were also great character actors. Nice ending.

Another interesting aspect of the film was how fit Alex Baldwin and David Morse looked. 11 years has passed since the film was made, but they both (esp. Morse) look a lot younger. The beauty of youth! James Wood and Mike Madsen in distinctive "enemy" roles also did what they both do best.

Dethroning the King of Cool?

[tomsview · 7/10 · 1 March 2013]

When you remake one of Steve McQueen's best-known movies, comparisons are inevitable. Alec Baldwin is believable as the hardened criminal 'Doc' McCoy but where McQueen was able to suggest that there may be mitigating factors in the way his life turned out, Baldwin appears much harder, although he does show that there is at least honour among thieves. When all is said and done, this is a fairly straight remake, and the differences are all in the playing.

Doc McCoy, facing a long prison sentence, sends his wife Carol, played by Kim Basinger, to ask for help from a corrupt businessman, Jack Benyon, played by James Woods. In return, Doc agrees to pull a robbery for Benyon. However the payment Benyon asks of Carol McCoy is beyond what Doc had in mind. She pays the price and Doc is released. Doc does the robbery but from this point on a series of double crosses sees Doc and Carol on the run – pursued by other criminals, the law and tensions between themselves. It all comes to a head with a shootout in a hotel in Texas.

It is hard to believe that the McQueen version of "The Getaway" is over 40 years old, and that the King of Cool is now long gone. Of course, anyone familiar with the earlier version will know exactly what happens next although the sex scenes featuring Baldwin and Basinger register a few points higher on the Richter scale.

In the end, the success or otherwise of this version comes down to nuance and shades of meaning – the way Shakespeare's plays are open to a new interpretation, giving them relevance for each generation. Not that the script for "The Getaway" has much to do with Shakespeare, nor likely to be required reading for high school students in the future, but it does provide a suitable vehicle for Baldwin and Basinger.

Alec Baldwin will not replace the memory of Steve McQueen in this role, but Kim Basinger fares better when compared to Ali McGraw. Basinger projects a sultry presence; she is not a particularly animated actress, and the role of Carol McCoy seems tailor-made for her. It is only when she exchanges light dialogue with Richard Farnsworth's character near the end of the movie that you realise how heavy going the rest of the film is, exposing a fundamental problem – The McCoys are not fun people and it is hard for the audience to really like them.

The subplot involving McCoy's ex-partner, Rudy, and his encounter with the veterinarian and his wife is just as nasty in this version with Michael Madsen creating a truly repellent character.

Where this movie shines is in its production values and solid pacing; the action is exciting and the locations are interesting. Maybe thirty years from now, another group of filmmakers will feel the time is right for another interpretation of "The Getaway", but if they do, I think the King of Cool will still rule.

With "The Getaway" you get what you ask for: simple, but enjoyable entertainment.

[imseeg · 7/10 · 26 August 2018]

I have been doing a Roger Donaldson binge this weekend, it all started with a cheesy volcano movie by director Donalsdon that had no pretentions of being anything else but family entertainment and I like that attitude. Only with those movies that take themselves too seriously I get irritated easily, but director Roger Donaldson knows how to make fun and suspenseful action movies for the masses. He has no pretentions. Donaldson's movies are what they are. Simply that. You get what you ask for. He also made "Cocktail" and "No Way Out" with Tom Cruise. That will give you a good idea what you can expect: sometimes cheesy, but always entertaining. Sometimes soft, sometimes hardcore. This flick is no disney action, but it aint Tarantino either. Middle of the road kind of action, but good enough.

"The Getaway" is a heist movie with a criminal couple on the run from other criminals that want their stolen money back. As simple as that, but executed very well. Not superb, but just very well. That suffices for me. Ideal for a saturday night flick of which I ask nothing else but simple entertainment for guys who wanna watch action.

The criminal couple on the run are being played by the butch Alex Baldwin and the lovely Kim Basinger. I dont like cheesy sex scenes in action movies, but for those who do, Kim Basinger has some pretty revealing nude scenes in it, no wonder, her being the sex bomb of the nineties, in which period she went naked in almost EVERY movie. She is still a good actress though, really, I say that without irony, personally I feel that the sex scenes only slow the heist and pursuit scenes down.

Anyways, as I said before this movie is made for the masses, so dont expect originality. But it has everything one could wish for to be just entertained: violence, suspense, action, sex and some great sick jokes. Just great action flick for guys.

Rare Chemistry Makes This Remake Work... Look At Michael Madson's Hair!

[rpmmurphy · 7/10 · 19 February 2010]

Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger were a married couple when they portrayed the married McCoys in this 1994 remake of the 1972. Their on-screen chemistry is incredible. Any time you get this kind of casting occurrence in a film, it is at least worth checking out. Here it really works.

The thing that distinguishes this Jim Thompson story is the catch-22 Carol McCoy is faced with- and the percussive effect her necessary action has on the McCoy couple- while the tension is ratcheted up to 11- in their non-stop hour-and-a-half getaway throughout the Southwest.

It is a juicy role for a married couple, and Baldwin & Basinger make the most of it. They both are in prime form here and very compelling to watch together.

Besides the McCoys (and Richard Farnsworth), it is a B film. Michael Madson's hair is a real challenge to deal with. At least you can cut out of the Richard Marx end credit song. You have to live with Michael Madson's hair for the whole ride. IMDb rating should be around 7.

Criminally underrated remake with the breathtaking Kim Bassinger!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 7/10 · 27 December 2020]

This remake suffers for the original be a near masterpiece leading by superstar Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw, in such status whatever the outcome it was fated at contempt, also directed by the legendary figure of Sam Peckinpah that increase the gap between both, nonetheless seems to be almost criminal the mere 5.8 of rating gave by IMDB's users along all these years, sounds at first look be purposeful, still Roger Donaldson made a robust and decent job here, Baldwin is miles away of McQueen, although he tries to hard overcame himself, already Kim Basinger are one step ahead of the skinny MacGraw, her sex appeal lifts the movie beyond, an action packed movie that holds the audience with a non-stopping breathtaking sequences, has some holes on the script as well, though it didn't wreck deep damages as a whole, plus the supporting casting as Michael Madsen and James woods are smirking and foreseeable as usually the gangsters are, also the ambiguous and sexy girl Jennifer Tilly is awesomely cogent, strengthening the storytelling with mastery, further the long chase car sequence and the hotel clash aside a bit contrived are enough to improve the high adrenalin rush, my DVD come out during the transition of VHS into DVD and wasn't a proper restoration that the movie deserves, hope in near future it comes to light on the real format with bonus material and fully restored!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1998 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.5

Rather better than expected

[Cajun-4 · 19 June 2000]

I'd had this tape around for a while before finally viewing it on a slow night. My expectations were not high. I've always felt Jim Thompson was over rated, reviews had been generally poor and I'd heard that the earlier version (which I've yet to see)was better. Perhaps because I wasn't expecting too much I found myself enjoying it. There was enough plot momentum, weird characters and spectacular action, not to mention some steamy sex (no need to be shocked, I understand Baldwin and Basinger were married at the time) that it held my interest throughout.

Alec Baldwin is about the worst possible choice for this sort of role

[MBunge · 5/10 · 7 February 2012]

Films like The Getaway are always fascinating to me on one level. That's because they demonstrate how important the most elemental and obvious choices in storytelling are and getting just one simple thing wrong can hamstring even the most talented filmmakers and performers. This movie is well written and nicely plotted. It has plenty of action and a couple of nice sex scenes. The cast is as good as you'll get for this sort of thing and the direction is unobjectionably competent. All of that goes almost entirely to waste, however, because the two main characters here are unsympathetic criminals whom the audience has no reason whatsoever to root for or care about what happens to them.

Don't get me wrong. You can make a compelling and involving film about bad people. The star of every story doesn't have to be some selfless, noble champion of truth, justice and the American way. But if you're going to make a motion picture about a cold blooded villain, you've got to treat him as such and not try to pass him off as a hero. People like looking at sharks but they won't respond to you trying to pretend a great white shark is as cute and relatively harmless as a bottlenose dolphin.

Carter "Doc" McCoy (Alec Baldwin) is a smart and stylish thief who can pretty much figure out how to get in anywhere to get anything. Teamed with his beautiful and devoted wife Carol (Kim Basinger), the two pass through a series of twists and turns until they end up on the run from a treacherous partner, some vengeance-seeking gunmen and the law enforcement. And let me stress again, all of that is well executed. Maybe The Getaway isn't a great action-adventure flick, but it's got all the right parts moving in all the right ways to be a very good one.

None of it matters much because the movie never gives you a reason to really care if Doc and Carol live or die, succeed or fail, get caught and sent to prison or escape and live happily ever after. I don't think Doc does a single good or admirable thing until 90 minutes into the film. He's portrayed as a remorseless criminal who has not trouble at all assaulting an innocent cab driver or committing attempted murder by firing a shotgun at pursuing cops. The only good thing Carol does involved morally compromising herself to benefit Doc, which largely negates any credit she gets for being selfless.

The Getaway rises and falls on one question. Why should the viewer cheer for Doc and Carol while booing their enemies? No explanation is ever provided, other than the charisma of its two stars. Well, Kim Basinger can project a fragile vulnerability like nobody's business but Carol is bound at the hip to Doc and for all of Alec Baldwin's dramatic and comedic abilities, he's never been a performer who radiated likability. At least not until he let himself get fat for TV. Now, I haven't seen the original and don't know how it handled the question of why people should care about these two characters. Maybe Steve McQueen could pull off what Baldwin couldn't or maybe the audience of the early 70s was more inclined to support unrepentant bad guys like Doc McCoy. This remake doesn't answer the question at all, let alone answer it badly.

It would not be at all fair to call The Getaway a bad movie. It's never boring, the action scenes are pretty good and Basinger gets naked on more than one occasion, at least in the unrated version I saw. But I wouldn't have cared a whit if Doc and Carol had wound up dead in the desert instead of riding off into the sunset. I suppose someone else might like it much more than I, but I think the general reaction would be a shrug and the statement "Well, that was okay". In other words, if you've got nothing better to do, there are worse ways of wasting your time.

Kim Basinger makes the difference

[dave-sturm · 7/10 · 23 September 2009]

Way back when, pulp novelist genius Jim Thompson wrote "The Getaway." It was about a man and a woman who teamed up to rob. It has been filmed twice. About 12 people argue on IMDb about which is the better version. I am one of those arguing that the second version is better.

The first version in 1972 was directed by Sam Peckinpah and had a stellar (at the time) cast including Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw. It was directed by Sam Peckinpah. Among the character actors were legends Al Letteiri, Ben Johnson, Sally Struthers and Slim Pickens.

There is no doubt this is an outstanding movie.

Here's the big difference -- Ali McGraw Vs. Kim Basinger. Kim B. blows Ali M. out of the water. Seriously, the whole contest rides on this and Kim so totally takes charge in the second movie there is no competition.

I won't talk about the sex scene between Kim and Alec Baldwin, who is her husband. Why? They deserve their privacy. Even though we saw ... lots.

Bottom line: This movie requires a tough broad. Ali McGraw? Fugeddabout it! No way. Kim, you relentless female tough woman, you rule here.

Kim Basinger? This is a woman who does not look ridiculous handling a nine. But she's also vulnerable in the back of a garbage truck. Alec, you are one lucky guy.

And, Richard Farnsworth has the role that Slim Pickens played in the original. Tough call. I say equal props.

Bottom line? The remake has more ... coolness. 'Nuff said.

Why do filmmakers do remakes?

[serpico_usa · 1/10 · 17 December 2004]

Any one who saw the original would have to go out and destroy this dreadful remake. Alex Baldwin trying to imitate the late Steve Mcqueen in a word for word remake just doesn't work. While Baldwin has done some admirable work this is a flop from start to finish. McQueen had charisma, never try to compete with a star. As for Kim in the role of Ali McGraw enough said. McQueen looked dangerous, menacing and believable as Doc, the film had excitement and suspense,Baldwin and company made this into a comedy,I laughed the one and only time I saw this miserable film. And that dreadful hairstyle for Michael Madsen who is one of today's more exciting and believable actors! Did the makeup people have it in for Michael, what were they thinking.If you wish to see movie-making the way it was under Sam Peckinpah's direction Get the original!

The big gundown

[Mikew3001 · 7/10 · 24 June 2002]

Roger Donaldson's remake of Sam Peckinpah's 1972 gangster movie classic "The Getaway" is alright, but cannot - as many remakes - reach the power, humor and style of the original version. There are some plus points - the bloody and lengthened showdown in the hotel at the end tries to overpower the impact of the original version, and it works.

There are some good supporting roles from James Woods and Michael Madsen (with dreadful hair style that belongs rather into an Ace Ventura or Wayne's World movie). The plot, even many story details, are just repetitions of the Peckinpah movie, but the tempo of the film is okay as well.

Otherwise there are also too many low points: the score is boring and can't compete with Quincy Jones' original jazz funk fusion grooves. The photography is to clean despite all the Mexican dust and sometimes too MTV style and without the dirty atmosphere that was typical for many Peckinpah movies.

Kim Basinger is alright in the Ali McGraw role, but Alec Baldwin is trying too hard to copy an image of Steve McQueen which isn't working at all. The dialogues aren't as witty as with McQueen and McGraw, and Donaldson would have done a far better job if he could have managed to give an individual life to this picture instead of just doing a 1994 techno grunge remix of an early seventies classic.

Anyway, if you like to watch an entertaining contemporary gangster and road movie, the 1993 version of "The Getaway" is still fun to watch. But if you have the choice to take the original VHS or DVD, skip the remake.

The original is far better

[HALNIT-2 · 5/10 · 1 November 2000]

This movie is not terribly bad as a crime story, but could have been much better. The major problem is weakness in storylines, particularly the relationship between main and sub plots. The writers should have put much more effort on it.

Am I the only one who loves this movie?

[kevdo · 10/10 · 4 February 2000]

The action scenes are top notch. Maybe I'm just a sucker for colorful characters and the bank heist angle is well done. Best of all is Alec Baldwin's character, Doc. Baldwin and the rest of the cast really deliver their lines with panache.

Bank jobs, car chase, cat-and-mouse in a four story hotel, steamy sex, crazy characters.... what else do you want?

Entertaining Gangsters.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 3 July 2011]

It's a pretty decent movie as these things go. Baldwin is Doc McCoy, newly released from prison in order to commit a high-end robbery. Faced with cheating partners, he and his wife, Basinger, make off with a gym bag full of large notes and are pursued throughout the Southwest to the Mexican border, where they finally take off on their own. There is some conflict internal to the family because Basinger had to allow the head of the parole board, also the manager of the robbery, access to her succulent body, and Baldwin resents this, sometimes violently, for the first two thirds of the movie.

Lots of action, more explicit sex and brutality, and competent performances, yet something is missing. The chief subtrahend is originality. It's a remake of Sam Pekinpah's film of the same name, with Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw, from the 1960s. Pekinpah's production was edgier, with unexpected incidents, and used some magnificent locations in west Texas. And the production design and set dressing were superior. Even so quotidian a setting as a garbage dump outside of El Paso reeks with atmosphere in Pekinpah's film. Here, it's just a garbage dump. The same can be said of the interior -- and the exterior, for that matter -- of the seedy hotel in which the final shoot out takes place.

But it isn't so much these details that detract from one's enjoyment of the film, it's the realization that it was done -- and done better -- almost thirty years earlier by a director in whose veins the balance between booze and talent was proportionate. How much in the way of credit should accrue to writers, directors, and producers who simply imitate a successful earlier movie in an attempt to cash in on its popularity and on the loosening of moral strictures in Hollywood? The remake is not quite shot-for-shot but almost, and much of the dialog is identical.

Generally speaking, the performances here aren't bad, even though Baldwin is groomed on his release from the slams like a Hollywood star and lacks McQueen's jailhouse haircut. Kim Basinger does a bit better in the role of prisoner's wife than Ali McGraw did, for that matter. McGraw, unfortunately for her, cute as she was in her darkly furry way, always sounded as if she'd just graduated from Wellesley, which at one time she had.

And the direction is competent without adding much to the goings on. Slow motion is used where Pekinpah had used it. And, if you want an instructive scene, watch the trio of bad guy Michael Madsen, Jennifer Tilly, and the DVM James Stevens when Madsen and Tilly become playful and start throwing take-out food at one another -- fried chicken and french fries. Madsen, without provocation, becomes angry and orders Tilly back into the front seat. In Pekinpah's movie the take out is barbecued ribs with sticky tomato sauce and they're tossed back and forth with abandon. The bad guy remains in the back seat and, pelted about the face with a couple of hefty ribs, grows visibly more irritated until he ends the game in an outburst of pique. Both the players and the car's interior are coated with Texas barbecue sauce. There's hardly any comparison in the effectiveness of the two, almost identical, incidents. Pekinpah's is superior.

None of this should stand as a condemnation of the remake itself. If it stands alone, it's suspenseful and diverting. The world is largely divided into good guys and bad. That usually makes for easily digested entertainment and this movie delivers the goods.

Why remake this film?

[martinipromotion · 2/10 · 7 March 2011]

Don't get me wrong. I think that Alec Baldwin could have been great in this film, but the made the Doc character way too much of a wuss. Plus many of the scenes looked like an acting class that decided to use the scenes from the original as their scripted material. There was no tension and much of the subtext just disappeared. Still, there was good use of some character actors like Richard Farnsworth slotted into some of the smaller key roles and it was nice to pick up on some of the references to the original film. However, the overall viewing experience was far less fulfilling than the original, that kicked ass from start to finish.

Also, do dog race tracks really hold huge amounts of money like that?

In the end The Getaway is an OK action movie.

[joltjohn · 7/10 · 26 January 2003]

The Getaway is a remake of the action classic that stared Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw. Now I haven't seen the original so I can't compare the two but by it self this is an OK action thriller. It goes old school with its desert/western setting, bad criminals and finale stand off. When I watched this movie I had no idea what kind of movie it is. The story is simple Doc McCoy (Alec Baldwin), his wife (Kim Basinger) and his partner (Michael Madsen) are hired to get a man out of prison. When the job goes sour, McCoy is locked up for a year in a Mexican prison. With the help of his wife and a Phoenix crime boss Jack Benyon (James Woods), he released and hired to do one more job. This job goes semi good but after it has been done many people end up dead and the McCoys are on the run from many different people all with their eyes on the large amount of cash they have. The performances are OK. Basinger is tough yet still has that soft side and she very good with guns. Madsen is a good mix with Baldwin and Basinger, he add the funny but villainous third part of the gang. The cast is bigger than normal for an action film but since this was made in the early ‘90's some of the actors hadn't hit it big yet. Jennifer Tilly, Phillip Seymore Hoffman and David Morse round out the cast. They all have small parts but they do the best with what they have. The action is not really original and there are a few Woo slow-motion shots thrown in for good measure. There's only one explosion but a lot of guns. The protagonists aren't very likeable, though. In fact, no one in this film is, with the possible exception of Richard Farnsworth's character at the end. Jennifer Tilly threw herself into her role, and both Michael Madsen and James Woods, do their usual creepily evil personas with aplomb.

THE GETAWAY works because the chemistry of sex and violence between the characters played by BALDWIN and BASINGER works. It's not cheesy or contrived. This film is a tale of moral love betrayal and the classic analogy of there being no honor among thieves. The remake follows pretty much the same plot as the STEVE MCQUEEN classic yet takes a few different turns. Fans of the original will like this version as well, one nice aspect is that it maintains a similar look to the original. This film matches the tone of the original and succeeds as a modren film for contemporary audiences.

A major problem with The Getaway is the way the McCoys are seemingly able to sense danger when there is not even the slightest indication of it. Carter, for example, has the incredible ability enabling him to know a gunman is just outside his door as soon as he finishes another bedroom scene with his wife! This serves as an example of how unimaginative things get. the infamous sex scenes are really undeserving of the attention. They are gratuitous in the extreme as they don't serve the story whatsoever. You can't believe the characters like each other that much, having spent most of their time in bitter argument. Believe me, you won't like these characters either.

Action packed thriller

[MacMurrah · 7/10 · 10 November 2006]

The Getaway is a remake of the 1970s movie with the same name starring Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw. This time around with some minor changes the movie comes out pretty aggressively with excellent action scenes. The chemistry between Baldwin and Basinger sizzles as does the action in the sweltering Arizona and Texas deserts.James Woods and David Morse are pretty debonair as smartly dressed villains not to mention the brute character depiction of Rudy by Michael Madsen which he repeats in Reservoir Dogs many years later. The story is pretty good but character development and dialogues are pretty weak. Though no one can replace McQueen, Baldwin's caper is not that far behind.

It's OK...

[JohnnyPHreak · 21 August 2000]

The Getaway is a remake of the action classic that stared Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw. Now I haven't seen the original so I can't compare the two but by it self this is an OK action thriller. It goes old school with its desert/western setting, bad criminals and finale stand off. The story is simple Doc McCoy (Alec Baldwin), his wife (Kim Basinger) and his partner (Michael Madsen) are hired to get a man out of prison. When the job goes sour, McCoy is locked up for a year in a Mexican prison. With the help of his wife and a Phoenix crime boss Jack Benyon (James Woods), he released and hired to do one more job. This job goes semi good but after it has been done many people end up dead and the McCoys are on the run from many different people all with their eyes on the large amount of cash they have. The performances are OK. Baldwin is the American version of Pierce Brosnan. He's much more calm, composed and edgier than Pierce. Basinger is tough yet still has that soft side and she very good with guns. Madsen is a good mix with Baldwin and Basinger, he add the funny but villainous third part of the gang. The cast is bigger than normal for an action film but since this was made in the early ‘90's some of the actors hadn't hit it big yet. Jennifer Tilly, Phillip Seymore Hoffman and David Morse round out the cast. They all have small parts but they do the best with what they have. The action is not really original and there are a few Woo slow-motion shots thrown in for good measure. There's only one explosion but a lot of guns. In the end The Getaway is an OK action movie that if it's on TV it would be enjoyable to watch, if there's nothing better on.

The 'enfant terribles' of Hollywood in forgettable remake...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 24 September 2005]

Nearly a scene-for-scene remake of the 1972 Steve McQueen-Ali MacGraw action-thriller, this time starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, then a hot-tempered, high-powered real-life Hollywood couple. Adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel about a fugitive couple utilizes original screenwriter Walter Hill's work with fresh additions by Amy Holden Jones...so what went wrong? The culprit appears to be the casting--and not only the leads, but of the whole picture. McQueen was such a vital presence on the screen, one would think Baldwin would be afraid to walk in his shoes (even stone-silent, McQueen had a cagey magnetism and a clock ticking behind those weary eyes). Baldwin isn't in Steve McQueen's league, but he isn't without a certain charm. Though he's arguably a more versatile actor than McQueen was, Baldwin isn't at his best in this type of vehicle (he doesn't stand out in his role--in fact, it's easy to forget about him whenever he's off-screen). Cohort Basinger isn't required to do much more than look good (and she does), but James Woods is artificially hammy in a silly mob-magnet role. Worse, a subplot involving another couple taken hostage by Baldwin's ex-partner is unbearable (it was gamey stuff in '72 as well). As for the action scenes, they're pretty old hat, which causes one to wonder: why even remake the original? *1/2 from ****

A couple robbed successfully a bank and escaped from being caught by the justice.

[esteban1747 · 7/10 · 22 October 2001]

Remakes are normally worse than the first versions, but this one is the exception. I saw the first version of "Getaway" twice starred by Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw, which was OK to me, but this new one with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger is more credible in its plot and also in acting. Basinger made more credible the reason to betray his husband, Baldwin made more credible the reason why he stayed with his wife. In general both acted well and perhaps much better than McQueen and McGraw.

Waste of time.

[filthy_morphine · 4/10 · 25 July 2007]

Nowhere near the original. It's quite accurate copy bringing nothing new to the story. But the directing is very poor. Basinger is weak - without good directing. Baldwin is simply just a second league compared to McQueen. I watched it just out of curiosity, being a huge fan of Peckinpah's masterpiece, and I got what I thought. Almost a B movie with second rate acting and directing. I wasn't even disappointed, I just don't know what they were trying to do. This remake doesn't try to play with the original material, it's not a tribute and indeed it lacks some really good actor of its era.

It reminds me of a bad xerox copy of wonderful photograph.

This is a complete waste of your time. Save yourself 2 hours or watch the original (again:)))

Too many action-thriller conventions when it should stay grounded and gritty, but The Getaway is a fast and frenetic film that sustains meek study and interest.

[johnnyboyz · 6/10 · 7 June 2009]

The 1994 version of Jim Thompson's novel and Sam Peckinpah's 1972 film is sporadic but good fun; not really knowing what it wants to be by the end but taking us on a bizarre journey of typically unexciting action that branches out into hard boiled, gruff talking neo-noir inspired leads in somebody's debt before becoming a chase film. It then culminates in one, long shootout and makes the ill-judged move to incorporate comedy into its text. Director Roger Donaldson shoots these gunfights near the very end with a certain guilty pleasure-infused ideation; piling on the slow motion and having one of his female leads squealing uncontrollably in a, perhaps deliberately, annoying manner. There is also a set piece involving one gangster stalking his target, who's hiding in a motel room across the courtyard, and what should be a dramatic, tension filled chain of 'looks' and 'reactions' and silhouettes just becomes a somewhat humorous series of shots that just happens to end in someone getting shot.

Donaldson doesn't bring anything particularly constructive to this text bar the, perhaps obligatory, upping of both violence and profanity. But along with this, he tries to make the lead female come across as a more desirable individual than Peckinpah did as well as feeling the need to include more explosions and more set pieces – this version of The Getaway felt more 'stagey', it felt broader but much to its dis-credit; it got confused and began to blur the lines between what makes a film a good neo-noir and what makes a film fall very much into the realm of a bad action flick.

One underlying theme or consistent feeling this remake has is its periodic look at greed, or what people would actually go through for a small, or potentially small, amount of money. At spaced stages throughout this film, a con-artist at a train station will attempt to trick an attractive young woman out of her case prior to knowing what was inside of it; an owner of a motel will turn in an old friend on demand from some strangers for a little bit of money and the catalyst for the entire film to even occur sees a relatively wealthy and established man in Jack Benyon (Woods) charge four men with breaking into an establishment for the sake of some more money.

The film works to a very basic level, primarily thanks to this spaced study but it also finds time to flesh out a character in Fran Carvey (Tilly), as this young and somewhat naive woman that initially just wants to aid in sick animals with her elderly veterinarian husband. This is before Michael Madsen's Rudy Travis shows up, an injured and pretty ticked off gangster-come-thief, that hijacks both the couple and the couple's car as they head out in search of the money. The kidnapping takes place amidst a room of harmless kittens, which acts as interesting of sorts juxtaposition.

The money comes about after three individuals hold-up an area at a race track in which they keep their money. One betrays the other and then someone else betrays them resulting in a chase across America to the Texas-Mexico border. Initially, The Getaway carries a wavered and uneven feel. Rather than begin like the original with its male lead already in prison, it initially sees its lead characters of Carter 'Doc' McCoy (Baldwin) and Carol McCoy (Basinger) partake in an apprehension of a Mexican criminal, which is badly constructed and executed with too much ease on the characters' behalf. Following this, is the imprisonment of Doc when Rudy seemingly does the only thing possible at the time and leaves him behind for the authorities. It plants a somewhat meek seed in our minds that Rudy is of this nature.

When in prison, Doc learns the 'importance of life' and that 'life is very delicate and something to be treasured' through cradling a mouse for part of his duration, in what is another scene in which the film calls on small, defenceless animals to act as a visual representation of either emotions and/or the realisation of a situation. He is called upon to do the race course job with another guy and his old chum, Rudy. Through the mouse, he decides this will be his last. The fact the leads are in debt to the mentioned Jack Benyon keeps a fair degree of suspense for a while as this figure more powerful than the leads calls the shots. But do we really care for or fear Benyon when certain betrayals occur? Not really. His acting as a threatening off screen presence doesn't really work.

One instance in the original that I really liked and thought captured the crux of the situation was a certain scene at a landfill. The two leads were dirty, grimy and somewhat demoralised but realised crime is exactly this and this is their chosen way of life – their enemies will be soldiering on in order to capture them and they must stay focused and rise to the challenge. The Getaway brushes over these sorts of scenes and studies, opting for more emphasis on the slow motion deaths and the police cars and the explosions, typified in the instance someone shoots a petrol tanker in the race course car park forcing an explosion when driving off was all that needed to have been done. But the film does enough right, overall. Tilly's, whilst un-watchably annoying towards the end, decline into a lust for danger and violence as she falls for Rudy and seems unmoved by her husband's fate is genuinely disturbing, and there is some genuine tension here and there when the two leads are on the run. As far as relatively tacky but enjoyable pulp entertainment goes, The Getaway is your ticket out of here.

Don't even bother...

[MuckyPup · 1/10 · 11 January 2000]

Don't even bother with this movie, it's bad when judged on it's own merits, but when compared to the 1972 original (which IS a classic) it's down right awful. And BTW, somebody commented that the 1972 movie is bad when compared to the book. This is silly, movies should never be judged against the books they are taken from. They are 2 completely different art forms (as if this needed to be pointed out but apparently it does). If you used this criteria for all movies then "2001" would suck and so would "Forest Gump" and "Silence of the Lambs".

Steamy, Entertaining Re-Make

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 2 June 2006]

This was a very entertaining, if morally way below par, action movie which consistently keeps your attention with intense scenes. Kim Bassinger probably looked as good as she ever looked which is saying a lot. She has one of the steamiest scenes I've ever seen on a mainline film (my tape was the "unrated" version) but at least it was with her real-life husband (at the time) Alec Baldwin.

This re-make of the 1972 film also has Michael Madsen, James Woods, Mike Morse and Jennifer Tilley - all playing sleazy characters. They are so bad they make Baldwin & Bassinger look like monks. This movie is not exactly Mary Poppins. There's almost too much of a mean edge to it....almost. Perhaps I enjoy ogling Bassinger too much to can this movie for its baseness.

Whatever, this entertains to the degree that it makes it a very quick two hours. There is no way you could get bored watching this film.

Enjoyable Action Movie

[jcanettis · 6/10 · 5 June 2005]

Let me start by saying that I have not seen the original, 1972 version of "The Getaway". As a result, this critique for the 1994 version will concentrate solely on the impressions it left me after having viewed it, without any references and comparisons with the original one.

"The Getaway" is a typical action film, in which the two main heroes, Doc McCoy (Baldwin), and his sexy wife, Carol (Basinger), are being double-crossed by their gang mates; although it involves several smaller sub-plots, the movie is mainly showing us the couple being on the run, as they are trying to flee from successive unpleasant situations.

The idea of the storyline does not sound very novel, and indeed it is not. And yet, although the movie has a "have-seen-it-several-times-before" taste, it does work and it is quite enjoyable.

Donaldson's direction keeps the story rolling fast, and yet successfully avoiding to overdo the action scenes. As far as the acting is concerned, the duo does a fair job, with Bassinger proving us that she has also some substance apart from her splendid looks; I liked also Madsen in his role as the archetypal bad guy, while Woods has a small but well-acted appearance as the rich mobster.

To sum this up, "The Getaway" may not be a masterpiece, yet it offers two entertaining hours. 6/10.

Needless, Unenjoyable And Unnecessary Remake

[Steve_Nyland · 3/10 · 15 June 2008]

I have not seen this movie in ages but figured I'd comment on it anyway, mostly because the memory of disliking it so intently is burned into my memory cells. The original THE GETAWAY was no prize to begin with but at least had the distinctions of being 1) A Sam Peckinpah movie, 2) Featured Steve McQueen, Ben Johnson, and Slim Pickens, 3) Was a relatively painless way to blow away an hour and a half of time.

By comparison, the 1994 version comes across as little more than a vanity piece for the then red hot Alec Baldwin and his soon to be divorced wife, Kim Basinger. McQueen and his then wife Allie McBride also split up soon after their version of the film was made and one can sort of picture the Baldwins at their marriage councilor arguing over who's stupid idea it was to make this movie.

Let's just get it said and out of the way -- Alec Baldwin never was and never will be anything close to the Cooler King, and one of the reasons why this remake annoyed me so much is the perceived arrogance on Baldwin's part to presume to challenge our memory of Steve McQueen in the lead role. Like someone else points out, Peckinpah's 1972 vision of the film was a satire piece meant to sort of parody the action/adventure heist genre. By contrast Baldwin, Bassinger & company seem to be trying to evoke a more serious tone, with only Michael Madsen's and James Woods' slimy unprincipled villain characters coming off as real people.

The movie is also decidedly mean spirited and unlikeable at a fundamental level that is difficult to put into words. One viewing was more than enough, not just because it didn't have anything new to offer but because of how artlessly it was made. Peckinpah's movie was actually a stylish little entertainment that had an upbeat mood, where this version is a slog that takes too long to amount to little or nothing. There's no artistic urgency to it's existence and some of the more uncomfortable scenes are so uncomfortable that they make the film difficult to enjoy.

So I don't know, this was probably one of the films that helped to initiate the wave of pointless, artistically vapid big budget remakes propped up around a then name brand actor/actress, which in itself isn't a really good thing. I'd always rather see a filmmaker at least try to come up with a new idea for a movie & fall flat with something original. This movie just made me want to pull my eyebrows out, and it's revealing that over the ensuing 15 years since it's release Mr. Baldwin has become widely renowned as one of the biggest jerks in Hollywood. Thank god for "Team America" for putting him in his place.

3/10