Happy Birthday: Steve McQueen!

Steve McQueen (March 24, 1930 – November 7, 1980), landed his first film depute in a small part in the film, Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), directed by Robert Wise. A film based on the life of middleweight boxing legend Rocky Graziano. Joseph Ruttenberg, was awarded a 1956 Oscar, in the category of Best Cinematography. The film also won the Oscar for Best Art Direction. The role of Rocky Graziano, was originally to be played by James Dean, but he died before filming began, Paul Newman accepted the part.

The story is about Rocky Graziano, who joins a street gang and gets into trouble and is sent to prison. After his release, he is drafted into the U.S. Army, but runs away. To support himself , he becomes a boxer and wins six fights in a row. Before the Army catches up with him and throws him in a United States Disciplinary Barracks for a year. When he gets out, he falls in love and marries his sister's friend, Norma. He rises to the top, but loses a title fight with Tony Zale. Someone from his past blackmails him into throwing a fight. Rocky fakes an injury and avoids the fight altogether. Will he loose his license and ever be able to fight again?

When McQueen, performed in a two-part television presentation entitled The Defenders, Hollywood manager Hilly Elkins, thought that B-movies, would be a good place for him to start. McQueen was hired to perform in the films: Never Love a Stranger, The Blob (his first leading role), and The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery.

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McQueen, got a big break when Frank Sinatra removed Sammy Davis, Jr. from the film, Never So Few. When Davis role went to McQueen, Sinatra, made sure that McQueen had plenty of close-up shots. After the film, Never So Few, director John Sturges cast McQueen in his next movie, The Magnificent Seven (1960), which became McQueen's first major hit.

McQueen's next big film, The Great Escape (1963), gave Hollywood's version of the true story of an historical escape from a World War II POW camp. This film made McQueen, a superstar.

In 1963, McQueen starred with Natalie Wood in the film, Love With The Proper Stranger. He later performed in the film, Nevada Smith. McQueen, also earned his only Academy Award nomination in 1966 for his role in, The Sand Pebbles.

He followed his Oscar nomination with the film, Bullitt(1968), one of his most famous films. It featured an amazing car chase through San Francisco.

McQueen, performed as a wealthy executive in one of my favorite films, The Thomas Crown Affair with Faye Dunaway in 1968. He made the Southern period piece The Reivers(1969), followed by the film, Le Mans(1971). Then came the film, The Getaway(1972) during which he met future wife, Ali MacGraw. An action-crime film directed by, Sam Peckinpah. The film is based on a novel by, Jim Thompson. It was remade in 1994 starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger.

The story is about Carter "Doc" McCoy, a convict, who is denied parole. He wants his wife Carol, to make a deal with Jack Benyon. Benyon, has Doc paroled on the condition that he take part in a bank robbery, with two of his men. Things go wrong, Frank draws a gun on Doc, who beats him to the draw and shoots Rudy.

Doc meets with Benyon, who attempts a double cross and shot and killed by Carol. Doc gathers up the money and the couple run for the border into Mexico.

Rudy, having secretly worn a bulletproof vest, is still alive. He forces a veterinarian and his wife to treat his injuries, then kidnaps them so he can go after, Doc and Carol.

Benyon's brother Cully and his men also go after Doc and Carol. At the train station, a thief takes Carol's, locker keys and takes their bag of money. Doc, follows the thief onto a train and takes it back. Doc, steals a shotgun and they find themselves several shoot-outs with police. They escape by hiding in a trash bin and dumped at the local landfill.

Rudy's and the veterinarian's wife end up together. They arrive at hotel well known by criminals as a safe house, threatening the hotel's manager. Doc and Carol are given a room on the same floor and ask for food to be delivered, but the manager says he can't leave the desk. Doc, soon realizes that the manager has sent away his family. As they are planning their get away, Fran and Rudy, come to their door. Doc, is surprised to see Rudy alive. He sneaks up from behind and knocks out both Rudy and Fran.

Cully and his men arrive just as the McCoys are leaving. In a gunfight all of Cully's men are killed, except one, who Doc allows to walk away. Rudy now recovered follows Doc, who shoots and kills him.

With the police hot on their heels, the couple hijack a pickup truck and force its driver, a cowboy, to take them to Mexico. After crossing the border, Doc and Carol pay the cowboy for his truck and send him on his way.

He worked for director Sam Peckinpah, again with the leading role in, Junior Bonner (1972), a story of an aging rodeo rider. He followed this with a physically demanding role in the film, Papillon(1973).

After the film, The Towering Inferno(1974), co-starring with his friend, Paul Newman and reuniting him with Dunaway, McQueen wanted to focus on motorcycle racing and traveling around the country in a motor home and on one of his vintage motorcycles. He did not return to acting until the film, An Enemy of the People(1978).

His last films were both loosely based on true stories: Tom Horn, a Western adventure, about a former Army scout turned professional gunman, who worked for the big cattle ranchers and then the film, The Hunter, a action movie, about a modern-day bounty hunter, both released in 1980.

The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (1959).

The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery(1959). Noir. Cast: Steve McQueen. The film is based on a 1953 bank robbery attempt of Southwest Bank in St. Louis. The film was shot on location in St. Louis and some of the men and woman from the St. Louis Police Department, as well as some of the local residents and bank employees, who play the same parts they did in the real robbery attempt.

College dropout George Fowler, joins a gang planning to rob a bank in St. Louis that they think will have a $100,000 by Friday. George, is hired to be the getaway driver in a bank robbery by, Gino an old girlfriend's older brother. George and Gino need a place to stay for the next two weeks so they turn to Gino's sister, Ann, for help. George is planning to use the money to go back to college. Not trusting George, John Egan moves him to the inside, but the robbery doesn't go off as planned.



I thought this shoot them up film noir is worth seeing. I really enjoyed seeing a young Steve McQueen, the clothes, hats and the cars they drove back in the day.

Crahan Denton (born Arthur Denton, March 20, 1914 – December 4, 1966) . From 1945 until his death in 1966, Denton performed in many films, including: The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery, The Parent Trap, Birdman of Alcatraz, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Bus Riley's Back in Town. He was also a guest star on many television shows, including Bonanza, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, and The Fugitive.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The Human Interest Story.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents, was an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over 30 years.

The Human Interest Story, is about a newspaper reporter (Steve Mc Queen), who interviews a man who believes he is from the planet Mars.

Newspaperman Bill Everett, goes to the neighborhood bar to interview a man who believes he is a Martian. There, Everett meets up with Howard Wilcox, who tells him he woke up one morning to find that everyone on his planet had all disappeared. He traveled to Earth and found himself in Wilcox's body. He almost convinces Wilcox to keep his story a secret. Instead He decides to tell his wife the truth. Everett decides to take action to keep him quite and then reports back to his editor. It was fun to see a very young Steve McQueen. Loved the surprise ending.
Click to view : Human Interest Story.

Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen, received an Academy Award nomination for his role in The Sand Pebbles. His other popular films include The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, The Getaway, Papillon, and The Towering Inferno. The Blob(1958), is an independently made American horror/science-fiction film. It was not until Steve McQueen became famous with the TV series Wanted: Dead or Alive that the film became a hit at the drive-in theatres. Today, the film is recognized as one of the quintessential 1950s American sci-fi/horror films.

The film the "Blob", was Steve McQueen's debut performance. The film's theme song, "Beware of the "Blob" (recorded by studio group the Five Blobs—actually singer Bernie Nee overdubbing himself, was written by Burt Bacharach and Mack David and was a nationwide hit in the U.S.



Steve Andrews and his girlfriend Jane Martin are out late at night watching falling stars. When they see a meteor hit the ground. They drive out to try to find where the meteor landed. An old man finds the meteor first and pokes it with a stick. The rock opens where there is a small jelly-like blob inside. The blob, still alive, crawls up the stick and attaches to his hand. Panicked, the man runs onto the road, where he is seen by Steve, who takes him to see Dr. Hallen.

While Dr. Hallen helps the injured man he sends Steve back to the crash site to find out more information. The blob completely consumes the old man, the nurse and the doctor, getting bigger all the time.

Steve and Jane go to the local police and return to the clinic with Lt. Dave and Sgt. Burt, where they find no sign of the creature or the doctor. The police do not believe Steve's story. Steve and Jane are sent home with their fathers, but sneak out and locate all their friends, to ask them to help warn the town.

In the meantime, the blob has killed a mechanic, the janitor and a bar room of late-night drinkers. Steve and Jane find the blob in the grocery store and hide in the walk-in refrigerator. The blob starts to come in under the door but then retreats. Steve and Jane escape and set off the town's fire alarms. The whole town gathers and demands to know what is going on. The people in the theater run screaming running for their lives alerting the town to where the blob is. Jane's little brother confronts the blob with his cap gun. Jane and Steve run in the diner after him but become trapped along with the owner and a waitress. How will they escape with their lives?

I thought the special effects were cheesy fun, as is the story.