Red was watching The Getaway – Sam Peckinpah’s 1972 crime caper set in Texas and starring ultra-cool Steve McQueen in one of his most violent roles.  Well, it is a Peckinpah film after all.   Family legend has it that Red’s father and stepmother are in the movie in one of the scenes shot in San Marcos.  Red has never been able to spot them, but he always tries.

What strikes Red about the movie is just how terrible an actress Ali MacGraw is.  She was new to the trade at the time, but still . . .  And, unfortunately, she never got any better.

Ali at least had the sense to realize how bad she was in this movie.

 “After we had completed The Getaway and I looked at what I had done in it, I hated my own performance. I liked the picture, but I despised my own work.”

Still the movie is worth watching for scenes of Texas (Huntsville, San Marcos, San Antonio and El Paso) in the early 70’s.  Those were the days.