Remember the 1972 movie The Getaway? (El Paso, Temple: apartment, city hall, hotel)
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I happened upon your request for the name of the hotel used in The Getaway’s final shoot-out. As it was posted in 2007, I don’t know if you’re still interested, but in case you are, here it is:
In the 1994 remake, though the city was referred to as El Paso, that scene at the so-called “Border Hotel” was actually filmed at the Hotel Del Sol in Yuma, Arizona. Which is all I know about that one.
In the original 1972 Sam Peckinpah film, the answer is: The Laughlin Hotel in El Paso. But if you’re planning a film buff’s pilgrimage, you’re out of luck: the hotel no longer exists. The site is now a city hall parking lot and science museum. In fact, except for the film company’s offices the hotel was vacant at the time of filming and torn down shortly afterwards.
The Laughlin Hotel was built in 1917 by a group of investors headed by William M. Laughlin, a transplanted Wisconsin native and the advertising manager for the El Paso Herald. It was located on the NW corner of the intersection of Franklin and Santa Fe streets. It was four stories tall and had a hundred rooms, each of which had its own bathroom. Laughlin and his family moved into the hotel upon completion. Laughlin did not have long to enjoy his hotel: he died at his Herald desk on the morning of April 14, 1919. He was 55. Cause of death was said to be a uremic coma brought on by Bright’s Disease. (He had worked at the newspaper for 16 years and was said in his obituary to have never taken a vacation.)
I haven’t read the original novel of The Getaway. It is possible that author Jim Thompson, a Texan, in doing research for it, came to El Paso, thought the hotel looked like a good place for criminals to hang out, and used it. Or, when the movie was made and the hotel site selected, the script gave Dub Taylor the name of “Jimmy Laughlin” to match the hotel’s sign that was already in place. Or both. In any case, when henchman Cully (Roy Jenson) first enters the lobby he says to Dub Taylor, “You Laughlin?”
When the film crew arrived in El Paso in early April of 1972, that whole area around the hotel was undergoing extensive clearing and construction work for a new civic center and city hall; the hotel was just one of a number of buildings destined for the wrecking ball. In the scenes where Cully and later McCoy (Steve McQueen) are at the hotel’s counter, you can see through the lobby window an oddly shaped structure of steel beams; on completion, that structure would become a theater and home for many years to the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. Perhaps the hotel was selected precisely because it would soon face demolition: the filmmakers could feel free to shoot up the place. (Crew and actors stayed at what was then the downtown Holiday Inn, two blocks away.) The scene where McQueen and Ali MacGraw flee along the fire escape would have been the east side of the L-shaped hotel; where they come upon Slim Pickens would have been the west side.
The film has just three shots of the hotel’s exterior front, and all are taken from the exact same angle, probably at the same time, just keeping the film rolling and then cutting the footage into three sections spaced far apart (the same people can be seen hanging around the door in each). I suspect the single set-up was necessary to avoid showing all the construction work going on around it. (In the scene where McQueen confronts Pickens, at approximately 1:54:33 into the film, you can see the theater structure beyond them and also some scaffolding attached to the hotel, there to help bring it down, I’m sure.)
I hope that answers your question and was worth the five-year wait.
What hotel in El Paso was that shootup scene? Some of you older locals may know. Thanks.
I used to live on Prospect Street in Sunset Heights at the time. One place where they shoot some scenes was in San Francisco St. very close to City Hall. They tore that place down a while ago and now some type of playground.
The corner where the parking lot for city hall is used to be a Texaco Gas Station. My middle brother used to work there. If I remember correctly they shoot a scene at that gas station. My middle brother does remember a chase scene coming down on the bridge over the Freeway right before you get to the that temple, Masonic?
That is the best I remember about the movie scenes that were shot at the areas where I lived. I never saw any of the scene shooting, my brother did as I said. Take care.
I happened upon your request for the name of the hotel used in The Getaway’s final shoot-out. As it was posted in 2007, I don’t know if you’re still interested, but in case you are, here it is:....
Nice response. I was just a kid, but I recall that Civic Center being built, and the steel structure that went up first with the maroon colored beams, even have a photo of it my dad took.
'Just curious, how did you find this information? Are you from El Paso and recall this, or a film buff?
I happened upon your request for the name of the hotel used in The Getaway’s final shoot-out. As it was posted in 2007, I don’t know if you’re still interested, but in case you are, here it is:
In the 1994 remake, though the city was referred to as El Paso, that scene at the so-called “Border Hotel” was actually filmed at the Hotel Del Sol in Yuma, Arizona. Which is all I know about that one.
In the original 1972 Sam Peckinpah film, the answer is: The Laughlin Hotel in El Paso. But if you’re planning a film buff’s pilgrimage, you’re out of luck: the hotel no longer exists. The site is now a city hall parking lot and science museum. In fact, except for the film company’s offices the hotel was vacant at the time of filming and torn down shortly afterwards.
The Laughlin Hotel was built in 1917 by a group of investors headed by William M. Laughlin, a transplanted Wisconsin native and the advertising manager for the El Paso Herald. It was located on the NW corner of the intersection of Franklin and Santa Fe streets. It was four stories tall and had a hundred rooms, each of which had its own bathroom. Laughlin and his family moved into the hotel upon completion. Laughlin did not have long to enjoy his hotel: he died at his Herald desk on the morning of April 14, 1919. He was 55. Cause of death was said to be a uremic coma brought on by Bright’s Disease. (He had worked at the newspaper for 16 years and was said in his obituary to have never taken a vacation.)
I haven’t read the original novel of The Getaway. It is possible that author Jim Thompson, a Texan, in doing research for it, came to El Paso, thought the hotel looked like a good place for criminals to hang out, and used it. Or, when the movie was made and the hotel site selected, the script gave Dub Taylor the name of “Jimmy Laughlin” to match the hotel’s sign that was already in place. Or both. In any case, when henchman Cully (Roy Jenson) first enters the lobby he says to Dub Taylor, “You Laughlin?”
When the film crew arrived in El Paso in early April of 1972, that whole area around the hotel was undergoing extensive clearing and construction work for a new civic center and city hall; the hotel was just one of a number of buildings destined for the wrecking ball. In the scenes where Cully and later McCoy (Steve McQueen) are at the hotel’s counter, you can see through the lobby window an oddly shaped structure of steel beams; on completion, that structure would become a theater and home for many years to the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. Perhaps the hotel was selected precisely because it would soon face demolition: the filmmakers could feel free to shoot up the place. (Crew and actors stayed at what was then the downtown Holiday Inn, two blocks away.) The scene where McQueen and Ali MacGraw flee along the fire escape would have been the east side of the L-shaped hotel; where they come upon Slim Pickens would have been the west side.
The film has just three shots of the hotel’s exterior front, and all are taken from the exact same angle, probably at the same time, just keeping the film rolling and then cutting the footage into three sections spaced far apart (the same people can be seen hanging around the door in each). I suspect the single set-up was necessary to avoid showing all the construction work going on around it. (In the scene where McQueen confronts Pickens, at approximately 1:54:33 into the film, you can see the theater structure beyond them and also some scaffolding attached to the hotel, there to help bring it down, I’m sure.)
I hope that answers your question and was worth the five-year wait.
What an amazing answer. I'd even bet you had something to do with the 1972 movie maybe? Thanks!
Regarding my information on the Laughlin Hotel, it was a matter of curiosity feeding off a hobby. After viewing a DVD of "The Getaway" ($5 at Walmart) and recognizing many sites, I thought I'd wander around and take pictures of the sites as they look today. Then I discovered the hotel was gone and I wasn't sure where it had been. I hit the newspaper microfilms at the public library, as well as old City Directories, and gradually pulled out the information. It took a few days. A lot has changed besides the hotel. The scene where Steve McQueen is waiting on a bus bench for Ali McGraw, with small businesses behind him (Campus Queen #1, Dial Finance, a barbershop, etc.), was the 400 block of Oregon, and all those businesses are now gone, turned into parking lots. (And the bench wasn't an actual bus stop: Oregon was a one-way street then, going south, so no bus could load or let off passengers there except in a traffic lane.) Of course, the old six-story garage McQueen drove to the top of has now been replaced by a nine-story garage. I was living in EP at the time of filming but, oddly, have no recollection of it. The post saying the stars escaped into Sunset Heights is correct. In the film you can watch Slim Pickens turn off Missouri onto Santa Fe, speed past the Masonic Scottish Rite Temple, go up Santa Fe past Prospect and, barely, through Pickens' window, see some of the houses flash by. Somehow they end up passing Crestmont Park off Sunland Park Drive, which is still there.
Regarding my information on the Laughlin Hotel, it was a matter of curiosity feeding off a hobby. After viewing a DVD of "The Getaway" ($5 at Walmart) and recognizing many sites, I thought I'd wander around and take pictures of the sites as they look today. Then I discovered the hotel was gone and I wasn't sure where it had been. I hit the newspaper microfilms at the public library, as well as old City Directories, and gradually pulled out the information. It took a few days. A lot has changed besides the hotel. The scene where Steve McQueen is waiting on a bus bench for Ali McGraw, with small businesses behind him (Campus Queen #1, Dial Finance, a barbershop, etc.), was the 400 block of Oregon,
You mean North Oregon, don't you? The block between Main and Franklin just off San Jacinto Plaza. The 400s on South Oregon would be between Paisano and Third in Segundo Barrio (if memory serves) and I don't think any Campus Queen was ever there.
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and all those businesses are now gone, turned into parking lots. (And the bench wasn't an actual bus stop: Oregon was a one-way street then, going south, so no bus could load or let off passengers there except in a traffic lane.) Of course, the old six-story garage McQueen drove to the top of has now been replaced by a nine-story garage. I was living in EP at the time of filming but, oddly, have no recollection of it. The post saying the stars escaped into Sunset Heights is correct. In the film you can watch Slim Pickens turn off Missouri onto Santa Fe, speed past the Masonic Scottish Rite Temple, go up Santa Fe past Prospect and, barely, through Pickens' window, see some of the houses flash by. Somehow they end up passing Crestmont Park off Sunland Park Drive, which is still there.
I lived in El Paso when they were shooting at eastgate shopping center at a round drivr in restaurant named oasis at the front of shopping center at night. My best friend Jimmy Thorpe and myself snuck into the set an wandered around back by the actors trailers and met Alie McGraw and got to talk to her fot about 30 min. Then we went and peeled 2 of the police decals off of the police cars on the set and stuck them on our jackets and wore them to school. Also that same night we climbed on top of the rooftop of the Goodyear store and watched the filming from behind the sign. I believe that our silhouettes can be made out in t he movie when the camera pans across the lot at the beginning of the big chase scene. Watch Goodyear sign frame by frame at that point and yku can just make out our heads. I lived just a few blocks away at 4501 vulcan in trailer park during high school years.such good times and memory from back then.
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