Steve McQueen is known as the King of Cool. More than an actor, he is an icon and a brand of maverick, with a bold and calm spirit. This duplicity gave McQueen a license to be an authority of authenticity in his image and his persona. In a career spanning nearly three decades, McQueen became the antihero. He didn’t take sides, didn’t play favorites and didn’t push agendas. McQueen was an original that no one could duplicate. Its popularity peaked during the 1960s counterculture, cementing the stoic contrarian in the mainstream.
Westerns were McQueen’s bread and butter until his breakthrough roles in B movies, dramas and war films. Frank Sinatra, for example, gave McQueen one of his first moments of happiness in Never so little (1959). After fellow Rat Pack member Sammy Davis Jr. allegedly spoke negatively about Sinatra in a radio interview, Sinatra handed over his part to McQueen. His performances became more nuanced with each scenario and genre he played in. McQueen maintained a quiet confidence and coolness through it all, and these movies show him at his coolest.
8 The Reivers (1969)
An obvious starting point for the man of action, McQueen plays crook Boon Hoggenbeck who goes on a joy ride in the McCaslin-made, sunny yellow 1905 Winton Flyer. Ned McCaslin (Rupert Crosse) and Lucius McCaslin (Mitch Vogel) accompany him on a journey across Mississippi to Memphis in one of America’s first automobiles. McQueen’s portrayal of a hick is funny, if not remarkable, in this adaptation of William Faulkner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
7 The Blob (1958)
This was McQueen’s first leading role in a B-movie. the blob is a gelatinous and carnivorous amoeba-like alien who crashes to Earth via meteorite, terrorizing and consuming the small towns of Pennsylvania. Most young actors started out in low-budget productions. Here McQueen makes playing the canary in the coal mine, or the boy who yelled blob, believable in this sci-fi horror classic.
6 The Hunter (1980)
In his latest feature film, McQueen portrays American bounty hunter Ralph “Papa” Thorson. He tracks down fugitives all over the country and always gets his man, but is a humble man of culture who likes to collect antiques and listen to classical music. The juxtaposition of the stubborn private agent and longing old soul is felt in McQueen’s latest role.
5 Papillon (1973)
McQueen plays the real French convict Henri Charrière. He is nicknamed Papillon, the French word for “butterfly,” because of his butterfly tattoo on his chest. Unjustly convicted of murder, Charrière befriends another convict, Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), who helps him plan their escape from French Guiana prison. Dalton Trumbo (from Roman holiday and Spartacus fame) and Lorenzo Semple Jr. (screenwriter of The parallax view and many episodes of the Batman television series) wrote this adaptation of Charrière’s autobiography and McQueen portrays him as a desperate but determined man who remained free despite injustice.
4 The Sandstones (1966)
Set in 1920s maritime China, the war epic is based on the US Navy’s naval operation Yangtze Patrol to acquire and protect its seaports. McQueen is a marine engineer, Jake Holman, who oversees the seas and his crew. His meticulous attention and bending protocol to his friends is bittersweet in this performance. Fun Facts: Mako, the voice of antagonist Aku in the Cartoon Network show, samurai jackplays the shipmate of McQueen’s engine room.
3 Bullit (1968)
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Shot in San Francisco, McQueen wanted an authentic film that went beyond the usual theatrical release. Instead of fabricated studio sets, the cast and crew filmed in real city locations. In hospital scenes, for example, real doctors and nurses were used instead of stand-in actors. bullitt gave us too one of the greatest car chases in film history. McQueen said he wanted “a film about reality” and that he is clearly taking up the creative challenge.
2 The Beautiful Seven (1960)
Cars don’t have the idyllic charm of the wild west. One of the greatest westerns, The beautiful seven is a remake of seven samurai, in which seven snipers are hired to defend a Mexican village from invading bandits. McQueen was allowed to play one of the seven after he staged a car accident, which freed him from his western television role in Wanted dead or alive. McQueen traded cars for guns and fought like 700 men.
1 The Great Escape (1963)
McQueen is credited with not one but two vehicle performances in film. Before bullitt came in the motorcycle and the chase The Great Escape. The film has one of the best stunts and depicts the 1944 mass escape of British POWs from a Nazi Germany POW camp during World War II. McQueen’s Americanized presence may be just for commercial appeal, but he shows us that there’s no greater escape than the thrill of the hunt for the will to drive free.