Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool (2005)

Simply Perfect

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

With a running time of 83 minutes, this is the shorter of the two feature-length documentaries on the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD of Bullitt. It consists of interviews(I liked the sort of "progression" in the on-screen graphic boxes that identify them) with those that worked with him, his friends and the like(not Ali McGraw, for some reason... and unsurprisingly, no one mentions why that is; maybe it had to do with something they experienced) and clips from his films(and yes, it spoils parts of several of them, obviously), a couple of times used to mirror the story being told, and done so really well. It's quite well-edited. This goes over his entire career and his personal life as well, from early on and throughout it. I have to admit, I barely knew anything about him before watching this, and now I might feel confident enough to describe him to someone else who is unaware of his personality. This keeps to a nice pace, if it doesn't seem to make efforts to mimic the energy of the man(honestly, that might have gotten straining to the viewer, what with this being an hour and a half). He is treated with respect, though the negatives of his behaviour are not ignored. The whole thing is interesting and the anecdotes are fun to hear. There is a little swearing, disturbing content and mention of drugs in this. I recommend it to any current or potential fan of McQueen, and anyone else who want to find out more about him. 7/10

This documentary offers a fascinating wealth of information on legendary tough guy actor Steve McQueen. Everything from McQueen's troubled childhood to his exceptional charisma to his cool masculine presence to his competitive nature to his involvement with sex'n'drugs to his brave struggle with cancer gets addressed. Among the interview subjects are his wives Neile Adams and Barbara Minty (Adams' amazing anecdote about McQueen ordering two steaks in a restaurant is quite revealing), fellow actors Don Gordon, Robert Vaughn, Robert Culp, Sir Richard Attenborough, and Eli Wallach, directors Peter Yates and Norman Jewison, Suzanne Plushette, and son Chad (his stories about his dad being a loving and generous father are especially poignant). Starting off with his humble beginnings as a struggling newcomer at the Actors Studio in New York City, with additional details on his first lead in "The Blob," his breakthrough role on the hit TV series "Wanted: Dead or Alive," his star-making part in "The Magnificent Seven," confirming his iconic status in "The Great Escape," doing the lion's share of the driving for that extraordinary car chase in "Bullitt," his eventual interest in car racing, outstanding performance in "Papillon," becoming a recluse at the height of his popularity in the 70's, and his last two films "Tom Horn" and "The Hunter," this always compelling and perceptive documentary on the mesmerizing bad boy and former Marine with the piercing blue eyes who was a loner, a straight-shooter, an incredibly honest actor, and an extremely loyal friend makes you feel as if you actually knew McQueen by the end of the picture. Essential viewing.

This documentary is nostalgic and let us remember him as the way he was: the real fast and furious, but wonderful macho man on the screen, he often wanted to show everybody he was the strongest, the best, the most fearless and the bravest guy in the world, sometimes against the world, sometimes against the stablisment, sometimes against the unjustice, he was an example to many how to face adversity, no matter how tough the problems seemed to be, he tried to get over them and during his fifty years of live in this world, he lived in his own way and we'll always miss him, including new generations of fans and fortunately we can watch his films on TV and dvds.

This is a brilliant documentary on a fascinating film star. All too often, documentaries like this are bits of fluff that offer no insight into how the subject achieved what he did. Not this time.The interviews are conducted in a variety of manners. Some are conducted solo: his ex-wife, Neile Adams speaks of him, with an air of getting a lot of her chest; Robert Vaughn and Martin Landau, two of the most cerebral actors of that generation, talking about craft. Only Richard Attenborough is guarded.Other people they shoot in pairs or groups: director Norman Jewison and d.p. Haskell Wexler wind up talking freely, as do the three stuntmen, speaking in a group; and a taped interview with McQueen talks about his issues.It is not often you see the craft behind what goes onto the film. You do here. Don't miss this.