McQueen plays San Francisco cop Frank Bullitt assigned to guard a Mafia informant. When the informant is gunned down, it sets off a series of events, including one of the finest car chases in cinematic history. The sound of revving engines just befor
e the chase still fills me with excitement. Another highlight is the tense relationship between McQueen and his superior officer, played by Robert Vaughn. After one of many exchanges, McQueen tells his boss: "You work your side of the
2: THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963)Despite spending much of the film in solitary confinement, McQueen's turn as "the Cooler King", Captain Hilts, is superb for the humour he is able to inject into what is essentially a tragic story. After escaping from the supposedly escape-proof PoW camp, McQueen goes on a rampage on a motorbike. It ends with his capture after getting stuck in a barbed-wire fence, but, boy, was it a hell of a fun chase!
3: THE CINCINNATI KID (1965)McQueen plays an up-and-coming poker player who tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game, but, ultimately, fails. It was rare to see a Hollywood hero like McQueen not come out on top, but his poker joust with Edward G Robinson is one of the most enjoyably tense encounters in film history.
4: PAPILLON (1973)Starring alongside Dustin Hoffman in another escape drama based on a true story, McQueen plays Henri "Papillon" Charrière, a petty criminal wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life in a French penal colony. McQueen was nominated for a Golden Globe in this highly absorbing film of punishment and despair.
5: THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974)I am not saying that this film is one of McQueen's best, but, for whatever reason, it is an old favourite of mine. McQueen joins an all-star cast, including Paul Newman, William Holden, Robert Vaughn and Fred Astaire, in this blockbuster disaster movie which tells the story of a fire engulfing a tower block.
The full article contains 349 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
