Topic: Steve McQueen - Your thoughts on his films

[DSig]

I recently got a '4 fil favorites' of Steve McQueen to fill in a couple of films that I didn't have.  It contains The Hunter, Papillion, Bullitt and Nevada Smith.

In watching these and going back to some of the other ones I have I did start to notice that many of his films are really poor production quality .. almost a 'tv show' quality about them.  This including everything from supporting actors, sets, filming to direction and editing.

Don't get me wrong ... I really enjoy most all of Steve McQueen's work.  With favorites including Bullitt, The Cincinnati Kid, Nevada Smith and of course his character/roll in The Great Escape and The Sand Pebbles.  Of course there are others but these are more my picks of better overall fims.

But if you look at The Thomas Crown Affair and look at the production quality  or even The Hunter you will see what I am talking about.

So my question is ... what are your thoughts on Steve McQueen.  His performances, films and their qualities.

[Achim]

I don't know Nevada Smith, but somehow I seem to remember The Hunter may have been made for TV, actually?

[DSig]

I don't know Nevada Smith, but somehow I seem to remember The Hunter may have been made for TV, actually?

Hmmm don't know where you got that.  I just looked all over the net (and of course it is infalibale ) and it was a feature film.  Though he was very sick at that point (film dated 1980 and he died Nov 1980) I thought his performance was pretty good.  It was the production value of it and other films that I *question*.

You should see Nevada Smith. It is a pretty good film.  Have you seen "The Cincinnati Kid" or "The Sand Pebbles".  Also very good rolls with good production quality.

[Achim]

Well, I was questioning myself there already, so you are certainly right.

I love Cincinnati Kid, have seen it multiple times and the ending is always exciting to me all over again.

I haven't seen Sand Pebbles nor Papillon. But I always liked Getaway a lot.

[DSig]

Yep "The Cincinnati Kid" is a very fine film.  Gritty both in script and filming.  It always reminds me of 'The Hustler' with Newman and Gleason.

[Kathy]

Steve McQueen 

[addicted2dvd]

In my collection I have...

- Bullit
- The Cincinnati Kid
- The Getaway
- The Magnificent Seven
- Papillon

All of which sit in my unwatched pile.

To be honest, as far as memory serves, I never seen a Steve McQueen film. 

[DSig]

Addicted2dvd ... probably because of too many sitcoms 

[Dragonfire]

I saw The Hunter on tv several years ago.

[Achim]

Yep "The Cincinnati Kid" is a very fine film.  Gritty both in script and filming.  It always reminds me of 'The Hustler' with Newman and Gleason.

Oh, I love The Hustler even more than Cincinattii Kid...

I also own Bullit and The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape.

[GSyren]

How about The Towering Inferno? I thought Steve McQueen vs Paul Newman was interesting. Plus I'm a sucker for all kinds of disaster movies, of course.

[Dragonfire]

I saw some of The Towering Inferno on tv years ago.  I think my mom and step dad have it.

[DSig]

How about The Towering Inferno? I thought Steve McQueen vs Paul Newman was interesting. Plus I'm a sucker for all kinds of disaster movies, of course.

The Towering Inferno was really a pretty good film I think.  Probably as far as it could go at the time since it was for a film by Irwin Allen   And it did have on hell of a cast.  I can only imagine how hard it would be to wrangle all those cats.

Similar to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

[DJ Doena]

I don't actively remember watching a single film with him.

I probably saw The Magnificient Seven but I don't remember anything about it.

[Achim]

I can only imagine how hard it would be to wrangle all those cats.

Mark Kermode occasionally repeats the story he knows about this. McQueen and Newman were both very competitive. They paid both very close attention to have the same amount of dialog... And then of course top billing was an issue, which was solved by "diagonal billing", meaning one was on top, but further on the right while the other one was further on the left, but below the other name. If there are memoirs dealing with this, it would probably be an exciting read.