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Directed by |
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Starring |
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Specs |
- Widescreen 2.35:1
- 16:9 Enhanced
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Languages |
- English: Dolby Digital Mono
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Subtitles |
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Extras |
- Cast/crew biographies
- Production notes
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The Getaway |
Warner Bros./Warner Bros. .
R4 . COLOR . 118 mins .
M . PAL |
Feature |
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Contract |
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While Peckinpah's The Getaway ranks a few notches below The Wild Bunch and
Straw Dogs, it delivers enough action set-pieces, flakey characters and
cinematic style to keep viewers thoroughly engaged.
One-time husband and wife duo Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw star as fugitives
running from a bank robbery sanctioned by corrupt prison officials. Their
trip south to impunity in Mexico is marred not only by skirmishes with The
Law, but also by emotional tensions between the two lovers.
As in all of Sam Peckinpah's important works, characterisation in The
Getaway shares equal time with story and mood setting, which creates lengthy
hot and cold threads in the film. Rest assured however that Peckinpah
delivers some fine moments of shotgun mayhem, not to mention several classic
suspense scenes, such as the bank robbery and bag-snatching sequences. What
The Getaway lacks in explosive destruction and death-toll statistics,
compared to contemporary examples of the action genre, it more than makes up
for with portrayals of real people struggling to overcome realistic
obstacles. The fact that this 1972 production has dated is surely a
recommendation.
Video |
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Contract |
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Presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen, this PAL DVD release is a
pleasure to watch, especially considering the film's vintage. As with all of
my PAL DVDs, I had to boost the colour and brightness beyond normal
settings, but the end result was smooth, crisp and rock solid. A few
stand-out moments include the breakfast scene -- check out the stove shot
and McQueen's light blue robe -- and the river cruise lunch date, which
features a piercing red boat and interesting compositions.
Dot-crawl, either from the original elements or from the MPEG-2 compression,
is almost non-existant. White speckles on the source material often prick
the image, but they are not distracting. And as mentioned above, darker
scenes such as those in the prison benefit from extra brightness, but these
are minor quibbles. Even though I have not seen it, I'd guess that the NTSC
version looks the same, without that distinctive, soft yet high-res PAL
look. (I associate the NTSC 'look' with acrylic paintings and PAL with oil
paintings.)
Audio |
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Contract |
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Background hiss is audible throughout the DD mono track and naturally
becomes more noticable during quiet scenes, for example after arriving home
from the celebratory swim. Having said that, the dialogue, effects and music
are strong and largely distortion-free, if a bit brassy...although I cannot
imagine hearing the antiquated Quincey Jones score any other way!
Extras |
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Contract |
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Overall |
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Contract |
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Fans of the late, great Sam Peckinpah -- who appears briefly in
Republic's Invasion of the Body Snatchers DVD -- have probably snapped up
this Warner title already. For others, I recommend borrowing or renting
first. The picture quality, with colours looking perhaps intentionally faded
due to the locations and print stock, is better than expected, while the
monaural sound is merely as you would expect. The lack of extras
notwithstanding, this is a good DVD, largely due to its Peckinpah pedigree.
LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=14
Send to a friend.
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And I quote... |
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Review Equipment |
- DVD Player:
Panasonic A130MU
- TV:
Loewe Ergo 68cm 100Hz
- Amplifier:
Arcam 8
- Speakers:
ALR/Jordan Entry 5M
- Audio Cables:
Standard RCA
- Video Cables:
standard s-video
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