This film has it all.
It's a great bank robbery film. It's a great prison film. It's a great chase film. It's a great love story. It fires on all cylinders. The depth and complexity of the story and the performances are peerless. It's a sprawling tale over several days, with many important and complex characters, all of whom you feel you know with some depth. Even the small roles are standouts, including Ben Johnson as the crooked sherriff, and Dub Taylor in what should have been a throwaway piece playing a hotel clerk. The only weak spot for me over the years is Ali McGraw who, although beautiful and believable, seems to be playing it so minimalist that she becomes nearly transparent. But that's a small nit to pick - her by-play with McQueen is spot on. When I saw it for the first time the first thought that came into my mind was "these kids really look and act MARRIED..." which is a tough bit of business to play. Their violent love for one another is the undercurrent here, their desire to simply be left alone, to make it in life, to get away from their problems.
The artistry is in the details, in the small brush strokes - the way McQueen holds and uses his .45 automatic are perfect. He is definitely more than just another actor handed a pistol and said "Here, hold this..." Slim Pickens has a tiny gem of a role at the end and in a few brief sentences we learn volumes about his sweet, sad life, and cheer his good fortune for running into our heroes. The Sherriff's flunky sidekicks provide some honest humor, all big cowboy hats and beer guts crammed into a Cadillac convertible.
McQueen was such an artist, and this is a real masterpiece of his almost haiku way of acting. He's the master of the small gesture, the subtle glance, the deadpan line that just turns you cold inside. What a shame he left us so soon. The Getaway stands as a real testament to his genius.
