Customer Reviews

Mcqueen the Biography

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If I could give this biography four and a half stars, I would. It is full of facts and anecdotes, and it appears to be (almost) exhaustive. But it's like an over-stuffed fruitcake. It is sometimes hard to enjoy. Christopher Sandford, it must be said, is no prose stylist. He writes like a hack. But he is thorough and does his homework. While repetitive about his basic thesis, he is probably right.

Sanford pushes the line that Terence Steven McQueen's life-long obsession was to avoid being, and being seen as, a "candyass". Since acting is all but intrinsically a "candyass" profession (think: men in face-paint and tights), McQueen tried to make sure that what he did was authentic and gritty enough to rise above that. His point was that acting could be something that real men did. And I think we all have to agree that McQueen proved his point. He was brilliant at faking being real. Today, watching his films, the other actors often look like they are on stage. McQueen looks totally natural.

But all the while (because he had contempt for the movie business? because he had a nagging fear about what he did for a living?) he rode dirt-bikes, raced cars in competition, did his own stunt work (when they would let him), drank, smoked, did all sorts of drugs, and had sex with hundreds upon hundreds of actresses, extras, fans, hangers-on, hippies... anyone who was female and who had a "bubble-ass". While he was married, of course. He hated the studios and men in suits in general, and enjoyed squeezing as much money out of them as possible. Because, again, making "bread" was a man thing. His obsession was to be taken seriously by other real men. He valued his award from the Stuntmen's Association more than any acting award. He did weights all the time. He never cooked. He trained as a black-belt in karate. He sought the approval of mechanics and drivers and martial arts experts. Tough guys. And he was obsessed with making it big, like a real provider, alpha-male type.

Like any typical macho superstar, he beat his first wife Neile Adams when he discovered that she had eventually had an affair with Maximilian Schell. His second wife, Ali McGraw, whom he started sleeping with on the set of "The Getaway", while she was still married, became/was an "alcoholic/male dependent" (p. 451). His third wife, Barbara Minty, who could easily be mistaken for MacGraw, became little short of a hausfrau.

Everybody knows, I am sure, about the billing war over whose name went first -- McQueen's or Paul Newman's - in the publicity for "The Towering Inferno" in 1974. What this biography makes clear is that McQueen's first billing -- at a lower height -- was the culmination of a lifelong pissing match (entirely, it seems, one-sided) with Paul Newman to be top man. McQueen was obsessively competitive. I honestly cannot recall any passage in this book where he is quoted as complimenting another living actor's work, other than James Dean, who died young. Great stuntmen, yes. Car drivers, yes. Friends of his who acted in his films, yes. But other major actors? No. Not Newman, not Yul Brynner, not Brando (McQueen painted "The Mild One" on one of his Triumph motorcycles). No one.

In spite of his colossal egoism-cum-paranoia, or at least, in any case, the McQueen legend has only gone from strength to strength since his death in 1980, aged 50, from cancer. His major films are now considered classics -- are now cult -- and he is considered to be the best thing in them. I speak here of, at least, "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), "The Great Escape" (1963), "The Cinncinnati Kid" (1965), "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968), "Bullitt" (1968), and "The Getaway" (1972). Some of his other, more intimate films are also being rediscovered, especially "Junior Bonner" (1972) and "Tom Horn" (1980).

Perhaps because he is dead and we can go back to the screen legend, Steve McQueen has become the Ultimate Man's-Man -- an embodiment of cool toughness. He beats Clint Eastwood and Paul Newman in that department, and is an inspiration in some sense to contemporary bad-boy, wanna-be-authentic, f***-Hollywood types like Mickey Rourke and Sean Penn. I think McQueen would be happy about that. But this biography does provide us with a wealth of detail about the juvenile-delinquent-Marine-turned-multi-millionaire-tough-guy-actor that lies behind the Tag Heuer watch and Ford car advertisements.

If this biography is to be faulted in terms of content (apart from repetition), it is, in the end, for its account of the films. Sandford fares a bit better with "Bullitt" than with the rest. But this book never departs from being about McQueen to being about his films. For film analysis, consult other books. Also, and this is a much smaller point, perhaps even a matter of taste, there is little interest shown in McQueen's cars or motorcycles. Given how much McQueen himself was interested in them, and given how much interest his fans generally have in them, this is a bit of a let-down. Finally, and it is not clear at all if this is Sandford's fault, the book is remarkably thin on good photos. There is one single small pic, occupying a third of a page, from "Bullitt". And that's it. There isn't a single pic of him in or near a sportscar, for example. No pic of his beautiful green Jag XK-SS. It looks like, for pictures, and for cars, you will have to search elsewhere.

McQueen: The Biography is an excellent read for fans trying to learn more about McQueen's life. One of the biggest movie stars of all time and loved by fans all over the world, this book tells everything you need to know about his life. It covers everything from his movie career, covering all 28 films he starred in, his role on Wanted: Dead or Alive, his troubled childhood, and also his struggle to survive everyday life. As a child, McQueen often had to fend for himself which impacted him greatly for the rest of his life.

I highly recommend this book for someone trying to learn more about Steve McQueen. Not many people know how much money he gave to charities over the course of his career, all of it anonymously too. The book also covers all three of his marriages which tends to show the darker side of his life. As well, fans of McQueen won't be disappointed since there is plenty here about all his movies, including The Great Escape, Bullitt, The Getaway, and Papillon and all his other classics. My only problem with the book, and this is nitpicking, is Sandford's writing style. The man does not know how to use a comma, and I often found myself reading sentences repeatedly to try and figure out what he meant. Either way, this is a great buy. For an excellent biography about Steve McQueen, check out McQueen: The Biography!

The best bet you have is to read Neile McQueen's book My Husband My Friend. I'm halfway done with this book "McQueen the Biography" and I must say it is rehashing the story you get first hand from Steve's first wife. Overall the writer is very impressed with his own ad libbing of Steve-like phrases. It comes off reading almost like a script for a Steve McQueen bio drama movie, not a really factual biography. My advice is to skip it. Go with Neile.

I have been a Steve McQueen fan since watching him interact opposite Paul Newman in a couple of brief scenes in the b&w film "Somebody Up There Likes Me" back in the mid 50's. A year or two later he was racing up the street backward in the cult horror classic, "The Blob". Then came "The Great Escape", "The Magnificent Seven", "Bullitt", and my personal favorite, "LeMans".
Through it all McQueen remained the coolest cat in town. Watching Steve McQueen is a lesson in 'economical' acting - less is always better.
Unfortunately the same is true about the man himself. The less I know about Steve McQueen, the better I like it. I don't want to know he was petty and insecure. That he wasted years of his life brooding over some imagined insults. If you like your Steve McQueen with warts and all, this is the book for you. I prefer to remember him fondly as the 'every man' he so elequently portrayed on film.

Well into the book, the author mentions some astounding claims by William Kelly,the dentist(?) who treated McQueen: 1/ McQueen was cured, & a lab analysis of his surgically removed tumors, (Kelly begged McQueen not have the surgery), showed them to be dead, inert, encapsulated, no longer cancerous, no longer a danger to McQueen's life. 2/ McQueen died of a heart attack caused by injected coagulants: He was murdered. // Kelly claims this is because McQueen had told Kelly that he was going to expose the fraud of mainstream medicine's cancer treatments, on Kelly's tapped phone line. Outrageous? Perhaps, but it certainly should be addressed.

Chris captures the essential myth behind steve mcqueen. He writes in parallel with Jung about 'soul-image', which is one of the archetypal images. For a man this is the 'anima; for a woman, the animus. Chris shows how both sides were present in Steve, thus giving his strength and appeal. The brilliance of the book is in the view of mcqueen from the "archetypes", how he fills many of the the simple american and suave european ideals. Energies both male and female, make mcqueen larger than us. A brilliant view into a great man.

Blatant exploitation of a movie star by a journalist. I don't know what else to write besides that.

I've given it two stars because it has some good lines in it. How accurate the research is, I wouldn't know. But Steve McQueen would be rolling in his grave.

Good in-depth biography of one of Hollywood's most misunderstood bad boys. McQueen broke the mold on action heroes being the forerunner of most of the gendre today. His influence on such stars as Chuck Norris, Arnold, and Slyvester Stallone is undeniable. He raised the bar when it came to acting, action and salary. Always demanding more of himself as well as others.

I found the first few chapters of this book really holdling my attention, but as his career became more solid it all seemed less interesting. I guess it's the early McQueen that is most enjoyable to read about - the way he establishd his "cool" and muscled his way through the film industry to become a major star. The aging of the actor and his diminishing roles and vigor caused me to lose interest and simply didn't feel like finishing it.