DVD Review: Steve McQueen: An American Rebel

You can’t really define “cool” with words — attempting to do so just isn’t ... cool. But we all know cool when we encounter it. Jack Nicholson is cool. So were Miles Davis and Frank Sinatra. Mustangs are cool — or at least, they used to be. Steve McQueen proved how cool a Mustang can be in 1968 when he starred alongside one in Bullitt. Car chases were redefined, and Dodge Chargers never completely recovered. But I can tell you this: had Steve McQueen been behind the wheel of a Charger, rather than the Mustang, automotive design might look much different today.

Now, that’s cool. And Steve McQueen defined it with just a look or a phrase. Even now, nearly 27 years after his death, he still does. Throughout his too-short career, he was an enigma whose on-screen persona rarely strayed far from the actual man, even though he was often at odds with himself, and those around him, as a result. Perhaps because he was so guarded, nobody’s ever produced a truly definitive biography about him.

Unfortunately, Steve McQueen: an American Rebel does little to change that. Loosely based on Marshall Tirell’s 1993 book, Richard Martin’s documentary chronicles McQueen’s life fairly accurately, but rarely delves beyond the superficial. In fact, it more often than not comes across as a personal reminiscence by Martin, who introduces the film by emphasizing that he and McQueen were “drinking buddies” back in the day. The day in question was the late 1950s, when they were hustling work in New York City. That would have made a good introduction had Martin used that as a basis for his credibility for making the documentary. The problem is, he doesn’t let the good old days go. Instead, he threads his own life into some sort of parallel of McQueen’s.

To be honest, I’d never heard of Richard Martin before viewing this documentary. Truth is, he’s had a less than illustrious career in the film industry. Yet, he persists in peppering the film with trivia about himself, letting us know that while McQueen was making such and such film, he was abroad, scouting locations or securing funds for some since-forgotten movie. It’s as if he’s screaming “I coulda been a contender!”

Article Author: Ray Ellis

Ray Ellis is a freelance writer who has been dissecting pop culture and its effect on how we view ourselves for over twenty years, ruffling feathers and dragging unsuspecting pedestrians along for the ride whenever possible.

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