DVD of the Week: The Getaway

The money and power that flow through movies make the world of cinema a center of often-bitter conflict: some films come into the world seeming troubled and traumatized, and others bear the alluring mark of their turbulent origins. That’s one of the reasons why behind-the-scenes glimpses at Hollywood filmmaking are often so fascinating. It takes a certain kind of person to get by there, and, judging from even the briefest of outlines of its production, Sam Peckinpah’s 1972 film, “The Getaway,” (which I discuss in this clip) was indeed made by those kinds of people. What appears as a straightforwardly stylish and violent action film, starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw, turns out to be the result of much push-and-pull in board rooms, in editing rooms, and on location. The hallmark of Peckinpah’s fierce aesthetic is a hysterical restraint in the face of violence; it plays like a poignant response to a way of life—and of work.