With a peculiar look from the 1970s, the story of a robbery.

A fairly by the numbers, predictable heist-gone-wrong thriller. It’s lacking that artistic or creative flourish that could make it more special. What you have here is mostly functional/competent, there are some decent twists and moments of tension. For example, there’s a really nice side story involving Al Lettieri woven into the narrative, which also leads to a great climax. However, the acting, visuals and directing are nothing particularly special, the characters are a bit flat, the pacing is inconsistent and the music is honestly pretty shitty. There are also some directorial and editorial choices that haven’t aged well (e.g. the conductor doesn’t notice a fight on the train? That doesn’t work in the context of a serious thriller from the 70s. All that was lacking from scene was Steve McQueen saying “please don’t wake my friend, he’s dead tired”). I honestly don’t think you need to seek this one out, there are more interesting genre movies from this time period.

5/10

This is a really interesting (though typically 1970s slow-paced) watch.

McQueen was the epitome of cool with a dangerous edge and the film makes a great deal from that. He's wonderfully cast.

MacGraw is beautiful - as the role and plot require. She is hugely interesting and plays the part excellently. She has to be equally as capable as 'Doc' and she is.

There's a huge amount of 70s stereotypical cinematography. It sometimes gets in the way but overall is bearable.

And without spoiling the plot, there's a huge amount of ambiguity and real motive within the relationship of the lead couple that makes for a guessing game throughout. I found it annoying upon the watch but it keeps me thinking about the film after it has finished so kudos to the director.


7.75/10

(I'm checking out the Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger 1994 version to see how that compares.)

Solid, gritty heist/road movie. Surprising how much of a well fleshed out character and relationship study is buried in this genre thriller. Should've known better I guess, it IS Peckinpah...

Good action movie well directed by Sam Peckinpah and well acted by Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ali MacGraw and Steve McQueen.