The Getaway (1972 Film) - Plot

Plot

The opening scenes show Carter "Doc" McCoy (McQueen) in a Texas prison where he plays a game of chess (hinting at a general tendency to make bad moves). On being denied parole from a 10-year sentence, McCoy sends his wife Carol (MacGraw) to make a deal with Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson), a corrupt businessman, telling her to agree to the terms whatever they may be. Benyon manages to get Doc paroled on the condition that he organizes the robbery of a bank with men Benyon personally selects: Rudy (Al Lettieri) and Frank (Bo Hopkins).

McCoy makes meticulous plans, but his preparations meet with disinterest from Frank and menacing derision from Rudy. Doc distrusts all the participants and insists on a system of telephone calls to verify that Benyon's thugs are not at his ranch when the money is handed over. Benyon's brother (uncredited) readily agrees to the demand but his sinister acquiescence leaves Doc feeling even more uneasy.

A guard is killed in the robbery, after which Rudy kills Frank in a double-cross. Rudy also intends to ambush Doc, but is shot by him. However, the injuries are not serious because Rudy has worn the bulletproof vest after all. Rudy forces a rural veterinarian named Harold (Jack Dodson) and his young wife Fran (Sally Struthers) to treat his wounds, seduces the vet's wife, then takes them along as he sets out to pursue Doc and Carol.

McCoy and his wife deliver the money. Benyon taunts him about Carol, who quietly draws a gun behind Doc's back. Benyon seems to be counting on Carol to kill her husband, but she shoots Benyon instead. Doc angrily gathers up the money, aware now that Carol had a relationship and arrangement with Benyon. Doc punches and slaps her, but Carol insists that she did it for him.

The couple flees for the arranged hideout at Laughlin's, an El Paso hotel. McCoy reasons that Rudy (who knew of the hotel) might have been working by himself, but seems oblivious to the fact that the hotel is compromised anyway - Benyon's brother having been present when the hotel was discussed - and he is heading into a trap. Benyon's brother orders Cully (Roy Jenson) to unceremoniously dump Jack's body and find out if McCoy is heading for Laughlin's.

At the train station Carol is left alone and decides to put the bag with the robbery cash in a locker but the seemingly gallant stranger (Richard Bright) who assists her is in fact a con man who steals the bag. Doc follows the thief onto a train and forcefully takes it back. However, he fails to search the thief's pockets; money found on the injured con man is linked to the robbery and witnesses from the train identify Doc from mug shots, making him a wanted man for bank robbery and murder.

Carol tells Doc he will have to trust someone but he replies that he only believes in money. While in a store Doc sees his mugshot on a TV newsflash and realizes he has been recognized by the clerk. Instead of immediately leaving the small town he robs a gun-shop of a pump action shotgun and 00 buckshot ammunition which he uses to cow two policemen - the first to respond to the clerk's phone tip - and destroy their patrol-vehicle. Carol waits at the wheel of their car and is incredulous when Doc uses vital moments to reload and continue blasting the vehicle; he is seemingly unconcerned at delaying their getaway although police re-enforcements are rushing to the scene. Appalled by his reckless arrogance and grandstanding, she knocks Doc off his feet with the car before driving a chagrined McCoy away at high speed; he has them lose the pursuing police by doubling back through the town on a bus. The police pick up their trail and they eventually resort to hiding in a trash bin, only to end up dumped at the local landfill. Filthy and frustrated, they debate whether to stay together or split up. They decide to see things through.

Rudy and the veterinarian's wife have a mutual sexual attraction which leads to the two having sex in front of her husband. Humiliated, the vet hangs himself in a motel bathroom. Rudy and Fran move on, barely acknowledging the suicide. They arrive first at an El Paso hotel used by criminals as a safe house, threatening the hotel's manager. Doc and Carol are given a room on the same floor and ask for food to be delivered, but the manager says he is working alone and can't leave the desk. Doc eventually realizes that the manager has sent away all of his family. He urges Carol to get dressed fast so they can get away. Fran and an armed Rudy come to their door. Doc, peering from another doorway, is surprised to see Rudy alive. Doc sneaks up from behind, and knocks Rudy out; intending to finish him off Doc levels a pistol at Rudy's head but can't bring himself to shoot and merely takes his gun. McCoy's assumption that Rudy does not have another gun proves to be false.

Benyon's brother and the thugs confront the McCoys as they are descending the stairs into the hotel lobby. Doc reacts first and opens fire. The McCoys then fight a running gun battle up the stairwell and back through the hotel with Doc's shotgun proving more than a match for the heavily armed toughs. Rudy recovers consciousness and follows Doc, who finally kills him. Exiting the hotel McCoy gets the drop on the last of Benyon's toughs but, seemingly sickened by killing, McCoy allows him to live.

With the police en route, the couple hijack a pickup truck and force its likable cowboy driver (Slim Pickens), to take them to Mexico. After crossing the border, Doc and Carol pay the cowboy $30,000 for his truck and silence. Overjoyed, the cowboy walks back toward El Paso while the couple drives on into Mexico.