The great ones, always seem to get big headed and blow it at the critical moment.
Give me some other examples (not that I really agree with you about McQueen; had he 'blown it,' he would not have remained a huge star through the first half of the seventies.)
(i.e. He should have checked his ego and made Butch Cassidy, with Paul Newman and regardless of billing, instead of this film.)
He didn't need
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a wonderful Western laced with irony both light and dark, but not one that would have really done much for McQueen. (And although McQueen obviously could have played a cocky gunslinger, as he'd done before in
The Magnificent Seven, Redford's lighter touch and 'too romantic' looks proved perfect for George Roy Hill's farcically fatalistic vision, steeped in self-mockery and screwball B-movie traditions.)
The Reivers provided McQueen with more of a challenge, more of a chance to be an actor rather than a star, and a more diversified, versatile filmography. McQueen would do the superstar-tandem thing a few years later in the seventies, but if you do it too much, you arguably dissipate your individuality as a historical figure. You want to remain idiosyncratic and allow for some eccentricity, not just to stack up the 'classics' and 'blockbusters' that you appeared in and count your grosses.
In
The Reivers, McQueen doesn't play a hero and certainly doesn't offer a 'star' turn, and there's something to be said for that. It makes me appreciate McQueen more, rather than less.
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davannacarter
11 years ago
I'm not sure if I understand what you're saying here.
The Reivers provided McQueen with more of a challenge, more of a chance to be an actor rather than a star, and a more diversified, versatile filmography. McQueen would do the superstar-tandem thing a few years later in the seventies, but if you do it too much, you arguably dissipate your individuality as a historical figure. You want to remain idiosyncratic and allow for some eccentricity, not just to stack up the 'classics' and 'blockbusters' that you appeared in and count your grosses.
McQueen didn't turn down roles because he wanted to be an actor. He turned down roles because he wanted to be a star. He turned down Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid because of the lower billing to Paul Newman. The guy who you're quoting is right: McQueen had a huge ego. I read about while filming the Magnificent Seven, he stayed in his dressing room and wouldn't come out until the producers rewrote the script to give him more parts. He also didn't like the idea of Yul Brenner taking more roles than he did and kicked the dirt underneath Brenner to make Brenner as short as he was. I believe he also pulled the dressing room stunt on the Great Escape as well. Read up on some biographical info regarding Steve McQueen. He was notorious for having an ego.
A classical example of an egotistical film star is to gleefully take a role and then, after it bombs, disown the movie and call it crap, which is what McQueen did after the Reivers bombed.
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