Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans (2015)

I love this movie so much

Thanks for the memories!

i must have seen a different film!!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

"Le Mans" came at a time when McQueen's career couldn't be higher. He was dying to make a motor racing picture but arriving for the Le Mans, Frankenheimmer was making "Grand Prix" with James Garner. Undeterred McQueen worked elsewhere but no reasonable script, long production woes, race car disasters, his own conflicts with directors, and budget problems caused a great deal of angst and anxiety, as the star actor saw writers, studio execs, and directors at odds with his vision. McQueen didn't want a romantic or melodramatic plot to get in the way of his passion, so a script built around what he wanted fell by the wayside. Included are audio thoughts and recollections from the man himself, details by racecar drivers, his ex wife, those involved in the film, and his son which coincides with behind the scenes footage of "Le Mans" making for quite an extraordinary experience if you are fascinated with McQueen. His cheating with other women, including wrecking the car while out with an actress starring in "Le Mans", his being on Manson's death list (he was supposed to be at the Sharon Tate home as buddy Jay Sebring asked him to come by the night of the Tate-Lobianco murders!), letters typed and signature signed by him read aloud during key moments in the doc, and the loving portrait of racing and how he tried to beautify it make this a must-see. Only problem: some of McQueen's captioned words and the explanation of chapters for the film are way too small.

Steve McQueen; the Man and Le Mans. 2015*Spoiler/plot- Steve McQueen takes his love for motor sport to France to explore and get involved in their style of racing.*Special Stars- Steve McQueen.*Theme- Challendging the clock is more rewarding that challenging one's self. *Trivia/location/goofs- Le Mans French motor race. A documentary. It was later found out that McQueen's cancer was caused by his wearing asbestos lined anti-fire racing suits for decades and his excessive cigarette smoking.*Emotion- Interesting to watch McQueen in his non-acting work on the race course.*Based On- Steve McQueen's hobby with autos.

This documentary presents, through the use of a few recently discovered audio tapes, the man himself speaking, and through both present day and period filmed first-person accounts of many others involved with the making of the 1971 commercial failure of an auto racing film, how the actor would find his - at the time - skyrocketing Hollywood career taking a momentary nosedive due to his single-minded passion to produce a motor sports movie sans the usual "personal/love interest" backstories to be found within most all of this sort of film genre. In other words, just a movie featuring McQueen's "love interest"...auto racing.It also includes many filmed recollections of his first wife, entertainer Neile Adams, and their son Chad McQueen, and thus also attempts to bring the actor's personal and family life into focus at a time in which the marriage was coming to an end due to McQueen's persistent philandering and a seeming sense of his own personal career hubris.This is probably going to be best enjoyed by fans of McQueen and/or auto racing and/or those interested in documentaries showcasing the business of film-making. I'm interested in the business of filmmaking and the careers and lives of the stars, and my opinion afterwards was that "The King of Cool" could be, under stress, very difficult, just like any of us can be. Also be warned that the language used gets pretty salty.

Why would a documentary about a racing film and an actor need to be rated TV-MA? I'm not in favor of censorship, but what's the need to use so much profanity in a movie that's essentially (or is supposed to be) about a great actor who loved cars and made one of the greatest racing movies of all time?! He wasn't a gangster or a mobster and when the movie itself, Le Mans, is made for everyone, why then is a documentary about the subject rated for mature audience only? Maybe I'm dwelling too much on this but that alone tells me that the filmmakers here didn't understand Le Mans or the man behind it, and apparently didn't want everyone to see this film. Also, just as others have already pointed out, the intro to the movie is so slow and boring, without a need to be so, with very tiny texts that, I suppose, are supposed to be stylish but are not. Too bad because I was not only looking forward to this movie, but also wanted to introduce my younger brother to the man that made Le Mans, through this movie. This movie is not worth it. One would be better off watching the actual movie, Le Mans, again.