Themes: Lovers on the Lam, One Last Heist, Crime Gone Awry
Main Cast: Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Michael Madsen, James Woods, David Morse
Release Year: 1994
Country: US
Run Time: 115 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The Getaway, a remake of Sam Peckinpah's excellent escape thriller of the same name, adapted from a story by Jim Thompson, is the story of ill-fated romance on the run. Doc McCoy (Alec Baldwin) is released from a Mexican prison with the help of gangster Jack Benyon (James Woods) who wants Doc's help in the hold-up of a racetrack. With the help of Doc's wife Carol (Kim Basinger), and Jack's thugs Rudy (Michael Madsen) and Frank (Philip Hoffman), the robbery is successful, but a guard is murdered. Doc also finds out that Carol has had an affair with Benyon. Carol shoots Benyon and the two flee for Mexico and freedom. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
Jennifer Tilly - Fran Carvey; James Stephens - Harold Carvey; Richard Farnsworth - Slim; Philip Seymour Hoffman - Frank Hansen; Burton Gilliam - Gollie; Royce D. Applegate - Gun Shop Salesman; Daniel Villarreal - Mendoza; Alex Colon - Ramon; George Dobbs - City Jail Guard; J.W. "Corkey" Fornof - Pilot; Samuel Hernandez - Bartender; Bill Moseley - Newscaster #2; Don Pulford - Guard in Counting Room; Peppi Sanders - Bookkeeper; Boots Southerland - Cab Driver; Justin Williams - Soldier; Kenny Endoso - Sheriff's Van Driver; Gary Kirk - Policeman; Maurice Orozco - Customs Official; Allison Cowitt; Mike Fenton
Credit
Dan Olexiewicz - Art Director, Marilyn Vance - Associate Producer, Allison Cowitt - Casting, Mike Fenton - Casting, Marilyn Vance - Costume Designer, Joel Segal - First Assistant Director, Roger Donaldson - Director, Conrad Buff - Editor, Mark Isham - Composer (Music Score), Danny Bramson - Musical Direction/Supervision, Carl Fullerton - Makeup, Joseph C. Nemec III - Production Designer, Jack Roe - Production Designer, Peter Menzies, Jr. - Cinematographer, Lawrence Turman - Producer, David Foster - Producer, John Alan Simon - Producer, Walter Hill - Screenwriter, Amy Jones - Screenwriter, Richard Marx - Featured Music, Jim Thompson - Book Author
Married couple Doc (Baldwin) and Carol (Basinger) McCoy drink beer and shoot at empty tin cans in the desert. Carol tries out several handguns and decides she prefers the bigger .45 caliber autoloader. Rudy (Madsen) arrives on a motorcycle and proposes the three break a fourth person out of jail in order to gain a $300,000 payment, (which the three would ostensibly split between them). The job turns out to be a doublecross, however, and for the remainder of the film, the McCoys are on the run from the mob boss who got McCoy out of jail, Travis, and the law.
The film is a criminal road trip movie taking the couple across the American southwest. Locations in the script include Phoenix and Flagstaff, Arizona, New Mexico, and border town El Paso, Texas. Standing in for these communities, the film was actually shot in Tucson, Yuma, Phoenix, and Prescott, Arizona. An exterior, establishing shot for one scene is believed to have been filmed in San Luis del Río, Sonora, Mexico. The location portrayed as the Border Hotel in El Paso is the Hotel Del Sol (formerly Hotel Del Ming) in Yuma, Arizona.
This film is a remake of Sam Peckinpah's The Getaway. Some character names and locations are changed. The writers and producers did not make this version of the film more faithful to Jim Thompson's novel than Peckinpah's version; the 'El Rey' ending from the novel was not included in this film.
Release
The film was given an R rating in theaters and later unrated on home video. The original was rated PG and later re-rated R.
