January 29 movie: The Getaway. My birthday dinner was cancelled on account of snow, and to make up for it I got to pick the movie that night and Georg watched it with me. So we watched the original The Getaway with Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw. Directed by Sam Peckinpah, and I have to say it's not Peckinpah's best effort, nor McQueen's. It drags at times, and there are some serious logical flaws. On the other hand, there are good moments throughout. And the big set piece at the end, in the hotel, is classic Peckinpah.
The original was vastly superior to the Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger version. Which almost goes without saying. You know, I just realized something -- both versions of this movie featured costars who were a couple in real life. Interesting coincidence. Also, I thought of two things about the remake which were better. First, the heavy in the beginning, the money man who sets up the robbery that goes bad, is played by James Woods in the remake. He's way too good at playing a sleazy, smug rich asshole.
Second, there's a part in the middle where they're on their way to El Paso, they're identified, they get away, go on to another town, are IDed again, have to abandon their car, flee on foot and end up in a garbage truck. In the remake this is condensed down to one action sequence in one town, which tightened up that part of the movie considerably.
As for the two bits in the remake I mentioned, with identifiable Joss dialogue. On the train, McQueen silently grabs the woman's bag and shoves it into the compartment. No dialogue. In the gun shop, the clerk never drops behind the counter and never says anything funny.
On the other hand, the part at the end with the old redneck is way, way funnier in the original. Because the old guy is played by Slim Pickins.
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