Title:
Steve McQueen: The Essence Of Cool
Writer:
Mimi Freedman
Director:
Mimi Freedman
Executive
Producer: Leslie Greif
Running
Time: 87 minutes without commercials
Media:
TCM Original Documentary (NTSC DVD Screener)
Premiere
Wednesday, June 1, 2005, at 8pm (ET)/8:30pm (PT)
Network:
Turner Classic Movies (Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV
Rating: Not Available At The Time Of Review
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
When I
was a boy, I went with my father to see “The Hunter,” which starred Steve
McQueen. It was one of those rare moments where I was accompanying my father to
see a movie he wanted to see instead of my father taking me to the movies to see
a film I wanted to see. Playing a bounty hunter, McQueen had this cool scene
where he gets his quarry and uses a shotgun or something to blast the door down.
I was very young and the image stuck out in my mind because it was violent in
such a way that it seemed real to me, but yet I was not disturbed by it like I
might have been had I seen a horror picture or something when I was a kid.
McQueen was tough and cool onscreen, but much like his earlier characters, he
seemed to be a man of few words. Yet when he acted onscreen his presence was
unmatched.
Though he
looks too old for the part, McQueen’s role in “The Blob” is memorable.
Given the choice between approximately twenty-five hundred dollars or a share in
the film’s profits, McQueen took the cash, but “The Blob” went on to
become one of the most successful drive-in movies ever produced and is in itself
gone beyond the label of mere cult film or b-picture to be considered one of the
better sci-fi thrillers of the 1950s, with an excellent DVD available now though
Home Vision Entertainment’s acclaimed Criterion Collection. Within a few years
McQueen would become a household name with films like “The Magnificent
Seven” and “The Great Escape” to his credit. One of my favorite McQueen
films is “Papillion,” where McQueen starred as a man who escaped from a
penal colony on Devil’s Island and his costar was none other than Dustin
Hoffman.
McQueen
passed away in 1980 from a rare form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.
Turner Classic Movies is presenting this original documentary to mark the 75th
anniversary of McQueen’s birth and the 25th anniversary of his
death. The documentary features interview clips that include co-stars Suzanne
Pleshette, LeVar Burton, Richard Attenborough, Martin Landau, Eli Wallach, and
Robert Culp. Directors Robert Relyea, Lawrence Kasdan, Norman Jewison, and Peter
Yates are also interviewed along with family, friends, and stuntmen, all of whom
share their first person accounts of McQueen on and off screen. The documentary
is quite compelling throughout without ever resorting to soap opera like
manipulations to elicit an emotional response. It is very well crafted.
In
addition to this TCM original documentary, there will be three evenings of
broadcasts featuring some of McQueen’s feature film work that includes “Bullitt,”
“The Magnificent Seven” and “The Blob.” Please consult your locale cable
or satellite program listings for a full schedule. “Steve McQueen: The Essence
Of Cool” will debut on Turner Classic Movies on Wednesday, June 1, 2005 at 8pm
(ET)/8:30pm (PT) with an encore broadcast at 11:30pm (ET). Additional
information on this program can also be found by visiting www.turnerclassicmovies.com.
©
Copyright 2005 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.