I Am Steve McQueen

For everyone who likes Steve McQueen, this film is a giant pain in the a**. A random bunch of people reruns for 90 minutes the same message over and over again, how Mc Queen was so cool, the best, so cool, the hardest, so cool, the most lustful, the king of cool. Hectically narrated, with nonmusical editing, this flimflam looks like a extended king of cool- commercial gone wrong.

I Am Steve McQueen (2014)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Entertaining documentary taking a look at the man Steve McQueen and the movie star Steve McQueen. This documentary tries to show people what made McQueen so special to so many people and what impact his early death had on them. We get a lot of interviews here with his friends, admirers and even his children and grandchildren. Among the people interviewed are Ali MacGraw, Norman Jewison, Katherine Haber, Pierce Brosnan, Gary Oldman, Zoe Bell, Robert Vaughn, Ben Mankiewicz and Chad McQueen.

If you're a fan of McQueen then you're certainly going to want to watch this documentary narrated by Robert Downey, Jr.. I think fans of the actor are going to enjoy hearing all of these stories from some of the people who were the closest to him because they give you a great idea of what the actor was like away from the camera. At the same time, those unfamiliar with the actor are probably going to be the ones most entertained by this because it really does give them a great explanation as to why McQueen has become an icon. There are clips shown from all of his major movies and we hear about his love of doing stunts as well as his need for speed. His racing career also gets a lot of screen time.

I AM STEVE MCQUEEN is certainly a highly entertaining film that manages to show what made the actor so special.

If you took a swig of the hard stuff each time someone mentioned how cool Steve McQueen was in this documentary. Your liver would give up by the time this documentary finished.

Produced in conjunction with the McQueen family. This was a hagiography. Steve McQueen was cool, he loved racing. His son Chad mentioned the drug taking, no one mentioned his bad temper and the wife bashing although his first wife came close. Not cool.

You have McQueen's grandchildren telling the viewer how wonderful he was. They were all born after he died. They never met their grandfather and this was only alluded to at the end of the documentary.

McQueen was a star, he made some great films. I remember being shocked as a kid when he died. I thought guys like Steve McQueen do not die at the age of 50.

I thought this would be an examination of McQueen and his movies. Norman Jewison had directed him. Robert Vaughn had appeared with him in several films and they contribute here. Actors such as Gary Oldman and Pierce Brosnan are fans.

McQueen states in an interview that he injected his own characteristics in his film roles. The rebel, the lone wolf, the racer. That does not make him a great actor. It is telling that only when he appeared with Dustin Hoffman in Papillon, he made an actual effort to act.

This documentary was just an overview of his life and movies. There was little here that was new and seen elsewhere. It was also too fawning.

As my favourite actor, I'm always interested in seeing retrospectives on his life, even though mostly I'm aware of his biography.

Interviews with his son and his ex-wives surely show an insight of his life as close as possible. Problem is, when like 1/3 of the movie is filled with talking heads, which have nothing to say. People like Pierce Brosnan, Gary Oldman might be classic actors, but never met McQueen. Gets even more absurd, when models like Marisa Miller or Zoe Bell talk about him. I honeslty hardly believe they watched more than 4 films of him,so what do I care about them talking about Steve?

Even bigger problem is what they talk, because it's as cliché as it might get. "He was the coolest / Nothing beats him / He wants to be the #1. / If you have 2 people on the screen, everyone watched McQueen etc. "

Get film historians, directors to talk about him, not some people, who might look good on the IMDB page, but have nothing to say.

Also his filmography was very rushed. We all know, his passion for racing was immense, but for me, it got way bigger screen-time as needed.

There are better documentaries about McQueen out there, watch this at the end.