The Getaway

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Action	Theatrical Trailer(s)	None
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1972	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	117:45 Minutes	Other Extras	Cast Biographies Production Notes
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region	4	Director	Sam Peckinpah
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Steve McQueen Ali MacGraw Ben Johnson Sally Struthers Al Lettieri Slim Pickens
Case	Snapper	Starring
RRP	$34.95	Music	Quincy Jones

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Dolby Digital	1.0
16x9 Enhancement		Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 1.0, 192Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	Yes
Subtitles	English Arabic English for the Hearing Impaired	Annoying Product Placement	No
Subtitles	English Arabic English for the Hearing Impaired	Action In or After Credits	No

Plot Synopsis

As you've probably already aware, this film was remade in 1994, with William Baldwin reprising Steve McQueen's role, and Kim Basinger reprising Ali MacGraw's role. All I have to say after seeing the 1972 original is "why did they bother", because I found this original version to be much more watchable due to the obvious fact that the directors and actors aren't taking the whole thing so damned seriously. Another advantage of the 1972 original is that the overly explicit sex and violence of the 1994 version gets to be a little too much, and sometimes a little less can be more when it comes to light entertainment. In any case, the film revolves around Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) and his wife, Carol (Ali MacGraw), and their trek to Mexico. Doc has just had another application for parole denied, so Carol goes to some lengths in order to arrange parole for him, and Sheriff Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson) grants it on one condition. Essentially, Doc has to perform another robbery as a payback for the favour, and the corrupt Sheriff has no intention of letting him walk away from the job alive. Neither, for that matter, does his accomplice, Rudy Butler (Al Lettieri), but shooting down Doc McCoy proves a little more difficult than anyone expected.

I won't spoil the plot of the film in case you haven't seen either treatment of this film, but suffice it to say that some tense sequences take place as the McCoys make their way towards the border. The film is still genuinely exciting to look at after twenty-eight years, but somewhat pedestrian compared to some later films of this variety that I could mention, such as the Kiefer Sutherland-produced Truth Or Consequences. The lack of blood or sex in this film will doubtlessly be a bit of a disappointment to some, but that's the early 1970s for you.

One of the more notable things about this film is a cameo appearance by Slim Pickens playing to type as a truck-driving cowboy. Apparently, he and director Sam Peckinpah went back a bit to an early point in their careers, but what I would like to know is where the hell they get names like these from. Sadly, most of the cast in this film, Pickens not being least amongst them, are deceased, so it would be hard to see what any of them have to say about this film being remastered onto the format of the twenty-first century. Overall, I find the replay value of this film to be somewhat limited due to the fact that I don't find the story (based on the Jim Thompson novel) to be very interesting, but it is certainly much more entertaining than the 1994 remake. This film is certainly worthy of a rental, however, if you're looking for an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.

Transfer Quality

Video

Okay, so the film is a quarter of a century old now, so some allowances have to be made. While this transfer is not as stellar as anything Columbia Tristar has done with films that are closer to half a century in age, my father took a look at the transfer and expressed amazement at how good the picture's general quality was.

The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and is 16x9 enhanced. The sharpness of the film is mostly amazing, with the foreground details being perfectly clear and easy to make out. The backgrounds are a little fuzzy, but this would probably have more to do with the limitations of the photography rather than any specific transfer problem. Shadow detail is rather wanting, but this is again a limitation of the film stock and the camera technology of the early 1970s rather than a transfer problem. Low-level noise and film grain made themselves mildly apparent during nighttime sequences, but they were for the most part rather well contained.

The colour saturation is reflective of the fact that the film was shot in the early 1970s, a time when the colour saturation of all American television and film was a little on the dull side. The film overall has a certain subdued feel that is commonly seen today in day-time soap operas, and is not exactly the most pleasant thing to look at when shown in the much higher resolution of DVD. MPEG artefacts were completely absent from the transfer. Film-to-video artefacts were occasional and minor, with some small amounts of aliasing on car chrome and neon lights. Film artefacts, however, picked up the slack for the other two varieties, with numerous white specks showing up in copious amounts all through the picture. The most likely source of these white marks is simply flecks falling from the negative, as I really doubt that this film has seen a video transfer in quite a long time.

Audio

There is only one soundtrack available on this DVD: the original English dialogue in Dolby Digital 1.0, or straight mono in other words. Some will lament the lack of a remix into Dolby Stereo or better, but this is probably as good as the presentation is likely to get, considering that the source material was doubtlessly in dire shape. The dialogue is mostly very easy to understand, especially when it is the only thing in the soundtrack, but sometimes the overall mix of the soundtrack lets the dialogue down rather badly and makes for a straining listening experience. The sound effects are very artificial-sounding and often drown out anything that occupies the soundtrack at the same moment. Gunshot sounds in particular were problematic for their fake sound and their dominance over the soundtrack, but that's what happens with a straight mono mix.

The score music in this film is credited to one Quincy Jones, and is nothing particularly remarkable. To be perfectly honest, I only noticed it during the closing credits, where it failed to leave any lasting impression on me. However, it does seem competent enough in execution and in complementing the onscreen action, so I can't honestly fault it there.

Being a straight mono mix, the surround presence contained on this disc was completely non-existent. I don't think a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix would have really done that much for the sound effects, given their canned fidelity, but it's still a bit sad to see this release being so limited in performance. The subwoofer was not specifically called upon, but the settings I use with my subwoofer caused some low thuds to occur in time with the gunshots.

Extras

Cast & Crew Biographies

Reasonably comprehensive and interesting biographies are provided for Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Sally Struthers, Al Lettieri, Slim Pickens, score composer Quincy Jones, writer Walter Hill, novelist Jim Thompson, producer David Foster, producer Mitchell Brower, and director Sam Peckinpah.

Production Notes

Three sets of production notes are provided in the extra features menu. In order, these are An Actor's Preparation, Two Firsts For MacGraw, and On Location. Nothing to really get excited about.

R4 vs R1

The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

Full Frame version
Theatrical trailer

I hate dual-sided discs, and there is no excuse for making a disc dual-sided just to fit the film in an alternate ratio when the DVD format actually provides such a functionality without the need for encoding any extra version of the film. I think a theatrical trailer for a film that is older than Rocky is hardly anything to get at all excited about, so Region 4 definitely wins by virtue of being single-sided and in PAL.

Summary

The Getaway is a reasonable action film that has stood the test of time rather well, presented on a reasonable DVD.

The video quality is very good for a film of this age, except for an abundance of film artefacts.

The audio quality is good for a mono soundtrack, but rather limited in terms of fidelity and envelopment.

The extras are very limited in quantity, but the biographies are surprisingly interesting.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment

DVD	Grundig GDV 100 D, using composite output; Toshiba SD-2109, using S-video output
Display	Panasonic TC-29R20 (68 cm), 4:3 mode, using composite input; Samsung CS-823AMF (80 cm), 16:9 mode/4:3 mode, using composite and S-video inputs
Audio Decoder	Built In (Amplifier)
Amplification	Sony STR-DE835
Speakers	Panasonic S-J1500D Front Speakers, Sharp CP-303A Back Speakers, Philips FB206WC Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Subwoofer