Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool

As a MAJOR McQueen fan all of my life, I was eager to see this documentary and I was not disappointed. Many actors whom I have enjoyed and admired were interviewed and greatly added to the interest of the film. I especially enjoyed the interviews with his friends behind the camera and his relationship with them. I must agree with an earlier reviewer who commented on Neile Adams' statements but I also saw a woman who still loved that man after all these years. McQueen's last years as he battled with cancer were heart-wrenching but, I think, were handled with such honesty that it was bearable. Those last interviews were awesome and is this beautiful film available on DVD yet?

Loved the documentary "Essence of Cool". I'd seen Steve McQueen in a few movies as a younger person but now, older with a slightly different outlook to "back then" I realized what a man Steve was as an actor. Every (mature aged) woman loves a dare devil!

Most interesting were the cool motor cycles Steve rode. And I loved how he taught his kids to ride. What a Dad!

I now want to go rent all his old movies - asap.From humble beginnings came a focused, risk taking, talented individual. Well done to the producers and to all the contributors of this great documentary. They captured the man, especially his "Essence of Cool".

Fans of actor STEVE McQUEEN will no doubt admire this compelling bio of his early days, through to his career highlights and untimely death from cancer--all of it helped by some insightful comments from co-workers, but particularly his wife NEILE ADAMS who divulges a lot of information about her marriage to the man who became a superstar and rugged hero.

Especially good are the film clips including some from his early days on TV in "Wanted: Dead or Alive." His first breakthrough came with THE BLOB, never expected to be the major hit it became on a low budget--and then onward to films like THE GREAT ESCAPE, BULLITT and PAPILLION.

Good contributions from Suzanne Pleshette, Martin Landau and several others make it a very watchable look at Steve's career. The final years are told in a way that is poignant and well documented.

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.

Nothing like as good as the other documentary on the Bullitt Blu-ray disc, dealing with film editing but this is just about worth a look. From the title you would imagine this is a great celebration of a great charismatic and cool guy but that just isn't the way it turns out. All the usual suspects say all the usual things except for his first wife Neile Adams, who is great throughout and Dickie Attenborough who is sycophantic and boring throughout, what a terrible man hiding beneath such a gentle facade. Mr Cool himself, who insinuated himself into scenes that weren't intended for him and passed on dialogue he felt he couldn't deal with (while he was concentrating on looking cool and reflective!) seems to finally come apart during the filming of Le Mans. He's a big star, approaching 40 at the end of the sixties - he wants sex and drugs and that's the way he goes. The Getaway and Towering Inferno are late highpoint but it seems he makes so much money from Inferno that more bad than good comes from it. I shouldn't criticise the documentary for clarifying all this and so maybe just the title should be changed to Mr Cool boils over or some such. Worth a watch but a bit sad.