The Getaway. C+

The Getaway is fairly entertaining, but considering its attractive cast (Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw in the leads), its high-profile director (Sam Peckinpah) and its revivalist screenwriter (the great Walter Hill), it should be a bit more. The main problem is that it commits the terrible crime of being both bland and utterly chaotic. The movie looks nice (Peckinpah's attention to multiple camera arrangements is every bit as meticulous as it was in The Wild Bunch), but it has no rhythm. One feels it is being made up as it goes along, and because the plot is formulaic (it's a basic lovers on the run tale) and the characters moody and uninteresting, this is hardly justifiable (even for a wild-man director like Peckinpah). There are some exciting set pieces, like when the heroes get into a garbage truck and are dumped in a waste land, and there are refreshing bits of humor speckled throughout to liven the thing up a bit. But unless you mistake this for the 2013 Ethan Hawke thriller, it may be best left unseen.