BLOODY SAM: THE FILMS OF SAM PECKINPAH

Polish poster for 'The Getaway'

      "The Getaway" was the first Peckinpah movie I saw on the big screen. It was his biggest commercial success, and it was proof that Sam could take an ordinary action film and make it something more through rich characters. It wasn't a controversial movie, it was just great audience pleasing fun. Like Preston Sturgees said so humorously in "Sullivan's Travels" sometimes the audience just wants to be entertained. They get hit over the head by "messages" everyday in real life. How about a little escapism. Sam gave it to audiences in 1972 as Carter "Doc" McCoy (Steve McQueen) and his wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) shot their way across the Southwest in search of a place they could call their own. Amidst this rousing action tale, Sam delivered his best essay on the relationship between men and women. The theory that a woman's woman will stand by a man's man also played out in real life on the set as Ali MacGraw left pretty boy producer Robert Evans for the motocross daredevil, Indy car driving, brooding Steve McQueen.

Doc (Steve McQueen) gets the drop on the cops in 'The Getaway'

      Doc is released early from a Texas penitentiary by Jack Beynon (Ben Johnson), a powerful banker, in order to pull off the robbery of a mob bank. Doc’s release was negotiated by his wife. The couple is teamed up with the psychotic Rudy Butler (Al Lettieri) and his simpleton sidekick Frank Jackson (Bo Hopkins). The robbery goes off fine until Frank kills a guard. A chase between the cops and robbers ensues with Doc and Carol in one car, Rudy and Frank in another. During the chase Rudy kills Frank (Bo Hopkins would have to wait until "The Killer Elite" to survive the opening robbery of a Peckinpah film). At the rendezvous between Doc, Carol and Rudy, Rudy attempts to kill Doc. Doc shoots him first. Doc and Carol leave to meet with Jack Beynon and split the money. Doc leaves Carol in the car and goes inside the corrupt banker's home. As the two men talk, Carol walks up behind her husband raises her gun to his head. At the last second she turns the gun on Jack and kills him instead. The rest of the film has Doc and Carol on the run from the banker's brother and his henchmen, their ex-psycho partner who was only wounded by Doc, and half the police in Texas. All the while they are trying to settle their marital troubles. Loads of fun.

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      Two common themes in Sam's movies are loyalty and survival. Doc and Carol must stick together to survive the forces arrayed against them. They are forced to do this even though their has been a betrayal on the part of Carol. In the sequel it was made very clear that Carol (Kim Bassinger) had sex with Jack (James Woods), and she was tempted to double cross her husband for the security that the flashy gangster could provide. In the original, the sexual betrayal is not as clear. As Doc slaps her on the side of a deserted Texas highway, Carol cries and tells Doc that anything she did was for him, that she never intended to kill Doc. Of course the tears that streamed down her face as she raised the gun to the back of Doc's head tell a different story. She loved him, but she seriously considered trading up to a more luxurious model. Love overcame greed and Carol shot the banker instead. Proving that a woman's woman will stick by a man's man. It takes Doc a while to wipe the images of unfaithfulness from his mind, but a real man can forgive choices made out of love. Unlike David and Amy in "Straw Dogs," the McCoys are made for each other. Carol can drive a getaway car or shot a pump shotgun to beat the band. She endures every hardship and challenge that Doc does and runs the same risks. They make such a nice couple!

Sam and Ali MacGraw on the set of 'The Getaway'

      There are several standout supporting performances. Notably Jack Dotson from Mayberry as Harold Clinton, a cuckolded Veterinarian who’s’ bimbo wife Fran (Sally Struthers, the only weak link) is seduced by the psychotic Rudy. Al Lettieri as Rudy brings his trademark menace to the film. With the exception of his performance as Virgil Solotso in "The Godfather" this is his finest work. Slim Pickens makes a great little cameo appearance at the end.

      On the heels of his biggest commercial success, Sam began work on his version of the oft told story of Billy the Kid. His experience on this film would leave him an embittered man. Not since "Major Dundee" was he treated with such contempt by a studio head. The devotion of his cast and crew during the shooting is a testament to what a true artist and friend he was to those who collaborated with him. Someone ought to make a movie about SAM making the movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

» CHAPTER 4: PAT GARRET AND BILLY THE KID (1973)

Rusty White