Otterites I may be jumping the gun here but it is Martin Monday and I need something to post about. Feeling the need to get some words in front of you and out of me. Helps with the outlook for the week.
So what I’m jumping the gun about is an upcoming heroes episode on the King of Cool, Steve McQueen. In every performance McQueen seemed to say more with his eyes than with his mouth, and that’s what made him cool.
He was of course masterfully awesome in films like The Great Escape and The Magnificent Seven, but his cool was never more on display than in his police procedural of 1968, Bullitt.
The suspense in Bullitt builds gradually, giving the feel of a gritty realism, aided substantially by the taciturn, moody performance of McQueen. San Francisco police Lieutenant Frank Bullitt is at once dedicated, knowing, drained and weary. His relationship is faltering, his superiors are wearying of him, yet subordinates believe in him and especially in his quiet relentlessness. He’s an anti-authoritarian authority figure, a walking contradiction, yet faith gives results. A middle manager with a sidearm and a fast car. This is the performance McQueen delivers. I feel it to be the greatest of his career.
He was taken from us far too early, aged just 50 years. I feel that had he lived longer, his career would have closely paralleled Clint Eastwood’s. They both came up from television Westerns to film stardom, often saying more with a gesture or a look than with words. I can easily see McQueen stealing Gunnery Seargent Highway and Heartbreak Ridge from Eastwood. Can you imagine them collaborating on a jazz related film in the 80s or 90s? It would have been amazing.
Stay tuned for our McQueen episode Otterites, I promise it is right around the corner. It was a ton of fun to record.
