Synopsis for
The Getaway (1972) More at IMDbPro »

Bank robber "Doc" McCoy (Steve McQueen) is paroled from a Texas state prison, somewhat to his surprise. His wife, Carol (Ali McGraw), has arranged for his parole by sleeping with the politically well connected but corrupt Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson). McCoy is aware of this, and it eats at him over the next several days.

Benyon had McCoy sprung to rob a bank of $500,000. McCoy wants to use his own men, but Benyon insists that two criminals he knows -- Rudy (Al Lettieri) and Frank (Bo Hopkins) -- take part. McCoy reluctantly agrees. Along with Carol, the three men plot the robbery. The plan involves Rudy and Frank entering the front of the bank to control the crowd and then letting McCoy in the back door so he can crack the safe. While Rudy and Frank purchase the necessary supplies, McCoy and Carol scope the bank, drawing up a timetable for the robbery based on the arrival of employees. McCoy wants Rudy and Frank to wear bullet proof vests but Rudy refuses. Frank begrudgingly takes his. McCoy doesn't trust these men but has no choice but to go forward with the plan.

On the day of the robbery, explosives are placed as a diversion on the outskirts of town. Frank and Rudy enter the bank and order everyone on the ground then let McCoy in the back. As McCoy is removing the money from the vault, the bank guard tries to pull his gun but is shot and killed by the enraged Frank. The three beat a hasty retreat. McCoy and Carol head to the meeting point in one car, while Rudy and Frank take another. On the way, Rudy shoots and kills Frank then pushes his body out of the car. At the meeting place, a deserted farmhouse, Rudy tries to kill McCoy and Carol as well but McCoy is a faster draw and shoots Rudy three times. Believing Rudy dead, McCoy and Carol drive off with the money. But Rudy was wearing Frank's bullet proof vest and was wounded only in the shoulder.

McCoy and Carol go to Benyon's ranch. On the radio, they hear a news report about the robbery. It says $750,000 was stolen. McCoy confronts Benyon about the duplicity. Benyon admits that the robbery was staged to cover a short fall in his own business. He also goads McCoy with Carol's infidelity. As he does so, Carol quietly enters the room behind McCoy and points a gun at his back. But instead of killing McCoy as planned, she kills Benyon. McCoy and Carol leave but McCoy no longer trusts Carol. They decide to go to El Paso and hole up in a hotel McCoy frequently uses. Expecting him to do this, Benyon's associates send a scout to wait in the hotel to see if McCoy arrives.

Rudy also surmises that McCoy will be heading to El Paso. He kidnaps a veterinarian and his wife, forcing to them to treat his gun shot wound and then drive him to El Paso. Harold (Jack Dodson) is scared but his wife, Fran (Sally Struthers) is turned on by the virile, gun-toting Rudy. She and Rudy openly have an affair, tying Harold to a chair in their hotel rooms and forcing him to watch as they have sex. Eventually, the despondant Harold commits suicide.

McCoy and Carol decide to take the train to El Paso. While McCoy stashes their getaway car in the train station's garage, Carol puts the valise with the stolen money into a locker. Because the bag is heavy she accepts help from a stranger. However, the stranger turns out to be a con man (Richard Bright) who switches locker keys with her and steals the bag for himself. McCoy chases the con man onto the train but loses him briefly. In that time, the con man realizes what is in the bag and pockets one of the rolls of hundred dollar bills. When McCoy finds the con man, he beats him unconscious then gets off the train at the next station. He returns to San Antonio to pick up Carol. They will have to drive to El Paso.

McCoy doesn't believe that the police have any way to connect him to the robbery. But when he comes to, the con man goes to the police. They find the roll of bills he pocketed and, seeing the bank's name imprinted on the band holding the roll together, realize whose trail they are on. They show mug shots to the con man and other witnesses from the train who confirm that McCoy was the man they saw. Soon television and print news reports are mentioning McCoy by name and showing his mug shot. When Carol and McCoy stop in a small town to buy a portable radio, the proprietor recognizes McCoy and calls the police. McCoy goes to a gun store and buys a pump action shotgun and shells. As the police arrive, McCoy confronts them. He disarms them then destroys their car. He and Carol drive off then buy a different car in another town.

One night, they stop for dinner at a drive-up hamburger stand. The wait staff recognize McCoy and call the police. McCoy and Carol lead them on a wild chase in which their car is also disabled. They hide in a trash dumpster but are unable to escape before it is emptied into a trash truck. They spend the night in the trash truck, then are emptied with its contents into the local dump at dawn. Carol tells McCoy she doesn't want to go on, as he clearly doesn't trust her. He apologizes, reaffirms his love for her and they walk to El Paso.

Rudy has beat them to the hotel, however. The scout sent by Benyon's associates recognizes him and calls the associates. Believing that Rudy and McCoy intend to meet and split the money, the associates take the next plane to El Paso. Meanwhile, Rudy orders the hotel owner (Dub Taylor) to let him know when McCoy arrives. The hotel owner sends his wife and son away; when McCoy does arrive, he recognizes this as a sign that something is wrong. The owner informs Rudy as ordered but when Rudy and Fran try to coax McCoy and Carol into the hallway, McCoy beats them into unconsciousness.

Meanwhile Benyon's associates have arrived. McCoy engages them in a shootout, killing them all. As he and Carol try to escape from the arriving police, Rudy tries to stop them one last time, but McCoy finally kills him. They make a trash collecting cowboy (Slim Pickens) drive them across the border. The cowboy is sympathetic to their outlaw status and encourages them to stay married. Once in Mexico, they buy his truck for $30,000 cash. As he happily walks back to El Paso, they drive farther into Mexico.