The film was directed by Sam Peckinpah, written by Walter Hill, and stars Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson, Al Lettieri, and Sally Struthers.

The plot follows imprisoned mastermind robber Carter "Doc" McCoy, whose wife Carol conspires for his release on the condition they rob a bank in Texas.

When his wife Carol visits him, he tells her to do whatever is necessary to make a deal to free him with Jack Beynon, a parole board member and corrupt businessman in San Antonio.

Beynon facilitates Doc's parole on the condition that he plan and take part in a bank robbery with two henchmen, Rudy Butler and Frank Jackson.

Doc steals a shotgun from a neighboring sporting goods store, and shoots up the arriving police car to prevent the officers from chasing them.

The mutual attraction between Rudy and Fran, the veterinarian's wife, leads to them having consensual sex on two occasions in front of her husband, who is tied up in a chair at a motel.

A violent gunfight ensues in the halls, stairwell and elevator, and all but one of Cully's men are killed; Doc allows him to run away safely.

Overjoyed, the cowboy heads back to El Paso on foot, while the couple continues into Mexico, having gotten away with their crimes and the remainder of the money.

[5] His first attempt was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, with McQueen starring alongside Paul Newman, but 20th Century Fox, particularly its president, Richard D. Zanuck, did not want Foster as part of the deal.

[7] Bogdanovich's agent, Jeff Berg, set up a special screening of his client's soon-to-be released The Last Picture Show for Foster, with McQueen in attendance.

[8] McQueen had recently worked with director Sam Peckinpah on Junior Bonner and enjoyed the experience,[8] but the film proved to be unsuccessful.

[8] At the time, Peckinpah wanted to make Emperor of the North Pole, a story set during the Great Depression about a brakeman obsessed with keeping homeless people off his train.

[9] The film's producer made a deal with Paramount Pictures' production chief Robert Evans, allowing Peckinpah to do his personal project if he first directed The Getaway.

He was inundated with offers, and accepted one from First Artists because McQueen would receive no upfront salary, but just ten percent of the gross receipts from the first dollars earned on the film.

[11] Thompson's script included the borderline surrealistic ending from his novel, featuring El Rey, an imaginary Mexican town filled with criminals.

Hill said Bogdanovich wanted to turn the material into a more Hitchcock-type thriller, but he had written only the first twenty-five pages when McQueen fired the director.

Thompson's novel is strange and paranoid, has this fabulous ending in an imaginary city in Mexico, criminals who bought their freedom by living in this kingdom.

As soon as Peckinpah came on to direct, he wanted to cast Stella Stevens, with whom he had worked on The Ballad of Cable Hogue, with Angie Dickinson and Dyan Cannon as possible alternatives.

[13] She was married to Robert Evans, who wanted her to avoid being typecast in preppy roles, and set up a meeting for her with Foster, McQueen and Peckinpah about the film.

[18] Al Lettieri was brought to Peckinpah's attention for the role of Butler by producer Albert S. Ruddy, who was working with the actor on The Godfather (1972).

The director recalled one such incident on the first day of rehearsal in San Marcos: "Steve and I had been discussing some point on which we disagreed, so he picked up this bottle of champagne and threw it at me.

"[29] It was McQueen's idea to have his character shoot and blow up a squad car in the scene where Doc holds two police officers at gunpoint.

[22] Jones' music had a jazzier edge, and featured harmonica solos by Toots Thielemans and vocals by Don Elliott, both of whom had been his associates.

[30] Peckinpah was unhappy with this action and took out a full-page ad in Daily Variety November 17, 1972, which included a letter he had written to Fielding thanking him for his work.

[14]Warner Home Video released a two-disc DVD version of The Getaway November 19, 1997, presented in both widescreen and pan and scan.

[41] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times complained that the story was contrived, calling it "a big, glossy, impersonal mechanical toy", and rated it 2 of 4 stars.

[47] Casey Broadwater of blu-ray.com described it as "an effective thriller that plays with and against some of [Peckinpah's] well-noted stylistic trademarks, ... a well-constructed, lovers on the run-style heist flick".

The website's consensus reads, "The Getaway sees Sam Peckinpah and Steve McQueen, the kings of violence and cool, working at full throttle.

[51] In 2010, The Playlist included The Getaway on its list of the "25 All-Time Favorite Heist Movies", describing it as "a solid, straight-ahead action flick that's always fun to wander into the middle of on late night TV".

It stars Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, with Michael Madsen, James Woods, David Morse and Jennifer Tilly.