12 Years a Slave (2013) – Steve McQueen

What kind of species are we that we can enslave our fellows? There are two scenes in McQueen’s masterpiece 12 Years a Slave, that shook me to my core. The first was a scene in which Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Solomon Northup is left to hang, while life goes on around him, and another when Solomon is…

The Magnificent Seven (1960) – John Sturges

That music, that cast… It’s no wonder that Sturges’ Americanisation of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is one of my all time favourite westerns, and the first recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Wild Bunch. Elmer Bernstein’s rousing and memorable score supports Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Eli…

The Great Escape (1963) – John Sturges

The next stop in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book sees me back in the war genre, watching one of my all-time favourite WWII films, The Great Escape. Based loosely on actual events there is a lot to love in this film, not only in the movie itself, but for the nostalgia…

The Sand Pebbles (1966) – Robert Wise

Robert Wise directs Steve McQueen, Mako, Candice Bergen, Richard Attenborough, James Hong, and Richard Crenna in this adaptation of Richard McKenna’s novel, and my next port of call in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Lawrence of Arabia. McQueen is Jake Holman who has just been assigned to…

Trailer Tracks: The Great Escape (1963) – John Strugess

  This film was my first introduction to Steve McQueen, and I love to revisit it. Based on the true story, and packed with a fantastic cast… Richard Attenborough, James Garner, James Coburn, Donald Pleasance, Charles Bronson… just fantastic!

Trailer Tracks: The Magnificent Seven (1960) – John Struges

One of those remakes that totally works! Based on Kurosawa’s fantastic Seven Samurai, the story was transplanted to the west, where a group of hired gunfighters, including Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn and James Coburn, are hired to fend off bandits. I don’t know about the song featured in the trailer though…

The Driver (1978) – Walter Hill

Long before Jason Statham was doing much the same thing in The Transporter, Walter Hill wrote and directed this action flick that is the next entry on the 101 Action Movies list. Ryan O’Neal plays The Driver and seems to be trying to do his best Steve McQueen, which isn’t surprising because apparently the film…

The Towering Inferno (1974) – John Guillermin

The 101 Action Movies brings me to the heights of the 1970s disaster movies with this all-star epic, produced by and some sequences directed by Irwin Allen. I’ve never been a fan of the disaster film sub genre, but with a cast like this it’s hard not to settle in for the adventure, even with an…

The Getaway (1972) – Sam Peckinpah

  The combination of the names Sam Peckinpah and Steve McQueen on this entry of the 101 Action Movies told me I would be getting something awesome, and The Getaway did not disappoint. And let’s just get this out-of-the-way, Ali MacGraw looks amazing in this film. I’ve always been a Steve McQueen fan, and my…

Ryan Goldhar

Sigh. It wasn’t til after we parted ways, that Sue and I realized that we hadn’t snapped a pic for our chat with Ryan Goldhar. Ryan is The Guy, he works at Characters Talent Agency, has contributed to the upcoming Sex After Kids, from our good friend Jeremy Lalonde, has a fun podcast of his…