Documentary Movie Reviews

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Steve McQueen: American Icon (2017)

Rate: 6
Viewed: 4/26

4/26: I checked out Steve McQueen: American Icon to see if there was anything new.

The answer is: nothing besides the religion part at the end. That's because Steve McQueen's first wife, Neile, wrote an excellent biography called My Husband, My Friend: A Memoir. For good or bad, it's all in there. Steve McQueen was a true troglodyte, so the born-again Christianity felt like a cop-out for the life he lived, the beatings he inflicted on his wife, and the constant cheating throughout their marriage.

However, the documentary does a good job of capturing the uniqueness of Steve McQueen. He made cars and motorcycles to look cool on screen before two wannabes came along: Paul Newman and James Garner. I've always said Steve McQueen was a true Method actor because of how much more he gave while working with so little. Robert De Niro is legendary for paring down his own dialogue and then some more. The less said, the better. But Steve McQueen was the master of that art long before then.

Where Steve McQueen: American Icon falls short is two areas. One, some guy, whoever the hell he is, combines his own personal story with Steve McQueen's. Um...who cares? Two, there are barely any interviewees. I would've liked to hear from others such as Neile Adams, Chad McQueen (his only son who was alive at the time but died prematurely in 2024), Ali MacGraw, and various personal friends and colleagues who worked with him on different movies. Truth be told, Steve McQueen wasn't well-liked by many in Hollywood as he was famously hard to get along with.

All in all, Steve McQueen: American Icon is skippable if you already know his biography.

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