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NAU Film Series: McQueen's 'Bullitt' a template for today's action films

14.10.11

Steve McQueen was one of the pleasures of 1960s moviegoing. He was and is a unique presence, the essence of cool, and a quintessential screen persona like Bogart, Clint Eastwood or John Wayne. His star burned bright but not long. He died at 50 from cancer caused by asbestos exposure.

He was the highest-paid actor in the world when he took a five-year break from movies. Unlike Paul Newman, he didn't adapt into middle-aged character roles. Unlike Eastwood, he didn't live long enough to develop a behind-the-scenes career. "I've got a feeling, I'm leaving stardom behind ..." he said. "I don't think I can be doing my kind of thing in the seventies; I want to be (a filmmaker on) the creative side of business."

He was never secure as an actor. "I really don't like to act," he said. "At the beginning I was real uncomfortable." Even at his peak, he was the type of actor who counted his lines in "The Towering Inferno" to make sure co-star Paul Newman didn't have more.

McQueen minimized his talent, calling himself not an actor, but a reactor, not acknowledging that reacting is really what movie acting is all about. The great director John Ford said, "The secret is in people's faces and eyes." In that respect, McQueen was as brilliant as Gary Cooper. "Bullitt" director Peter Yates considered McQueen a marvelous actor, a study in movement.

Source: Arizona Daily Sun