Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Legendary, 3 Mar 2006
Steve Mcqueen is a legend, and the coolest actor of all time. This boxset takes us through his career starting with Never So Few and ending with Tom Horn. Bullitt is the highlight of this boxset, it is one of his best films. The Cincinnati Kid is also a great film but that cannot be said of the others. To be honest, the only reason to watch Getaway and Never So Few is for Steve Mcqueen. He made average films look better than they actually were. Steve Mcqueen made far better films than there were in this boxset, I feel some poor choices were made here. Where is The Magnificent Seven, Hell is for Heroes, The Sand Pebbles, or The Great Escape??? But, I gave it 5 stars because this man is a legend and one of the greatest actors of all time.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the great mcqueen, 26 Feb 2007
if you're a steve mcqueen fan then this is a good buy all told.
Bullitt - probably the best film here and in the top 3 mcqueen films. steve is at his most effortlessly cool.
The Getaway - pretty straightforward action movie but mcqueen and al latteri make it one of the better ones.
Cincinnati Kid - very good film. one of mcqueens best. ed robinson is also brilliant in this.
Tom Horn - i enjoyed the first hour or so of this. but after that the the film started to lag. steves second last film.
Never So Few - frank sinatra is good in this, but mcqueen steals the scenes he appears in. again this film lags at times but has some good moments.
id agree with the other reviewer that this is far from a definitive collection. the sand pebbles, hell is for heroes, thomas crown, great escape are all among steves best films. i still have to give it 5 though coz its mcqueen
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sam Peckinpah, Peter Yates, Norman Jewison, 21 Jan 2009
This outstanding collection of brilliant movies by the above diretors is great value for money. The crown jewel is "Bullitt". McQueen plays detective Frank Bullitt. He's been assigned to protect a witness for a major trial. The witness, though, is murdered. Before the post-mortem has begun, Bullitt hunts for the killers and plans on nailing them. Featuring an amazing high speed chase through the streets of San Francisco and shot entirely on location, "Bullitt" was Englishman Peter Yates' first major US film and it crackles with energy.
"Papillon" tells the story of a thief nick-named Papillon. (McQueen) framed for murder in France and sent to Devil's Island for life. Schaffner's film portrays Papillon's attempt to survive on Devil's Island until he can figure out an escape plan. Although this isn't Schaffner's best film, it has a number of powerful moments that equal his classic films "Patton", "Planet of the Apes". McQueen steals the movie from method actor Hoffman.
"The Cincinnati Kid" features McQueen as Eric Stoner a poke playing ace who challenges the best gambler around "the Man" Lancey Howard (Edward G. Robinson). A terrific performance by Edward G. Robinson allows Robinson to almost steal the picture under McQueen's nose. With a terrific supporting cast, "The Cincinnati Kid" would be one of the most memorable films about gambling until "Rounders" three decades later.
"Never So Few" features McQueen in the third billed role of Bill Ringa a member of the O.S.S. fighting the Japanese during World War II in Burma. Ringa and his Captain Tom Reynolds (Frank Sinatra) are in Burma to train the Kachin natives in how to fight the Japanese. Reynolds fights dirty when Chinese rebels cross over to Burma to kill and loot the American soldiers stationed there. Although it's not one of director John Sturges ("The Magnificent Seven". "Ice Station Zebra") best films, "Never So Few" provides McQueen with a role that continued his breakthrough as a actor. It also inspired Sturges to cast McQueen in "The Magnificent Seven".
"The Getaway" = a classic. Sam Peckinpah worked with a script by Walter Hill. Scandal broke out on the set when McQueen became involved (and married) co-star Ali McGraw. McQueen plays thief Doc McCoy who has been paroled. The only problem is that Sheriff Beynon (Ben Johnson) expects him to do a big robbery for him. He plans on killing McCoy afterward but things don't quite work out the way that Beynon intended.
"Tom Horn" (McQueen ill with cancer) a tracker and "enforcer" who dispensed justice in the old west takes a job to stop cattle thieves. When things get messy and Horn has to kill some of the rustlers, the ranchers who hired him want Horn stopped. He's put on trial for the murder of a 15 year old boy. The next to last film McQueen made before he died in 1980, is a surprisingly powerful and great western. It's a great movie that deserves a wider audience. Luckily, for those who buy the boxed set they'll finally get a chance to see this classic western.
10/10.
PS - This boxset is better than the other McQueen boxset which contains the childish movies The Great Escape and Magnificent Seven
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