Educational Media Reviews Online

It was the era of the Vietnam Conflict, Watergate cover-up, of bellbottoms, platform shoes and white disco suits and it was also the era of Steve McQueen, one of the highest paid motion picture stars of the 1960’s and 1970’s. A three-dimensional Steve McQueen with alluring sex appeal, acknowledged super star, and a subdued defiant man was looking for approval but never finding it. His raw and genuine talent as tough-guy, driven with emotions and excitement are expressed in his portrayal in Cool Hand Luke and the quiet driven determination in The Great Escape and Papillon speaks volumes of his acting ability. In the television series Wanted Dead or Alive, McQueen made the character his own and his cool loner sex appeal landed him the leading role in A Hatful of Rain, and Love with A Proper Stranger. Abandonment by his parents leads him to a life of defiance, unpredictability and living on the edge. An avid motorcycle and race car buff, McQueen did virtually all his stunts like the great car chase in Bullitt. The movie industry labeled him as a rebel and hard to work with. Producers were aware of the violence in him but were also interestingly excited by the electrifying rush his characters bought to the screen.

His pent up emotions made him difficult to deal with. He needed to be the best. He was passionate at being competitive with others and his wife. Although a doting father, his main concern was taking care of number one, Steve McQueen. The prodding unpredictable attitude and “hippy” lifestyle lead to a failed marriage and an unsuccessful pursuit as a movie producer.

He was one of the best film actors who was caring, brutal and determined, but yet void of the love of his parents, especially his father. He was a young man who died of cancer at the age of fifty, never reaching the plateau of his desires, yet others saw the making and stardom of Steve McQueen.