Steve McQueen: A Biography

I didn't know a lot about Steve McQueen. I'm old enough to vaguely remember him on TV in "Wanted..." I didn't see most of his late '60s and early-'70s films. I do think he's really good, and understated in "The Towering Inferno." It's a good bio....I enjoyed finding out more about him and his relationships with some of his contemporaries(Eastwood and others).

I am half-way through the disturbing reading of "NEW YORK TIMES best-selling author" Marc Eliot's take on the life and career of Steve McQueen.Why is this author a NY Times best-selling one? This is my first encounter with the work of Mr. Eliot - and so far this book seems to be a trimmed down retread of Marshall Terrill's vastly superior STEVE MCQUEEN: PORTRAIT OF AN AMERICAN REBEL. I understand Mr. Terrill came out recently with an updated version of his 1993 book. I wish I had purchased that instead of this book which is modelled on the skeleton of that better bio - except that this one has left off all the muscle and meat and so it never comes alive. Plus Terrill's book is by far the better illustrated.As to this book, however. I can't stand when too many authors nowadays slap a book together, rush it through lazy proof-readers who - if they even exist - aren't worth spit, and then just sit back on their prior credentials and start counting the dough. Others in their reviews here on Amazon have pointed out some of the many errors in this hack job. Here are a few to add to that list:On page 128, in his synopsis of SOLDIER IN THE RAIN, Eliot claims Jackie Gleason's character is killed in a bar-room brawl. He isn't.On page 163 Eliot comes down fairly hard on the inaccuracies "in both time and place" in THE SAND PEBBLES, claiming that the movie plays "fast and lose with the facts." (Actually, the charge Eliot levels at this film apply quite spectacularly to his own negligence when it comes to facts!) "The movie takes place ten years earlier than the novel," says Eliot. "The book version of THE SAND PEBBLES is set in 1926," he further contends. The trouble is this: BOTH the movie and novel take place in 1926!!! Our un-astute historian goes on to argue about the only battle between the U.S. Navy and Asians as having taken place in 1937 and it was actually between Americans and Japanese - and he goes on to try to explain why the film switched the nationality of the attackers and....the point is he incorrectly and overly attempts to explain things that are not germaine to either the book or the movie and misses one major point that has its source within the film. Richard Crenna's Captain Collins (which, contrary to Eliot's pointless point, does NOT owe much to Bogart's Capt. Queeg in THE CAINE MUTINY) explains that history only becomes viable "when it goes down on paper." In refering to the earlier that day almost-mutiny aboard San Pablo he says "What happened today has not gone down on paper yet. It is not history until it goes down on paper." Enough said here.Page 163 again: It is San Pablo and NOT San Pueblo as Eliot writes it twice. And where he gets the notion that the San Pablo - er, in his take San Peublo - is "known to the Chinese as the 'Sand Pebbles'" is completely beyond me. Richard Attenborough's character explains early on that it is the sailors who are, indeed, the Sand Pebbles.Page 164: Eliot writes that "Holman's final words are 'I was home, how did this happen?'" Thank God Eliot didn't write the movie script! The actual last words of the mortally wounded McQueen as Jake Holman are "I was home. What happened? What the hell happened?"Page 243-244: In the space of one long, stinking-to-high-heaven-with-factual-flatulence paragraph our flimsy author completely manages to mangle the story of the genesis of Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH. There is not one fact in the twisted nonsense Eliot offers us about this matter that is correct. And what makes this especially egregious is that listed in Eliot's sources is David Weddle's outstanding biography of "Bloody" Sam entitled IF THEY MOVE...KILL 'EM! (Weddle's book, by-the-way, is an excellent example of how all biographies of film stars and filmmakers should be written.) If Eliot truly used Weddle's book as reference...how could he have gotten the story of how THE WILD BUNCH came to be so shamefully wrong? One is left with the obvious conclusion that Eliot did NOT even read his source materials - or if he did then he skim-read or was incapacitated in some way. One can only guess in what way. Suffice it to say, contrary to Eliot's Alice in Wonderland account of things, THE WILD BUNCH never began as THE DIAMOND STORY! I could not make this stuff up if I tried.I am sure I will encounter more lazy writing as I complete my reading - but add the above to what others have mentioned in their own reviews and the point is this: how can we trust our esteemed, New York Times bestselling author if he cannot make certain of the things he is writing about BEFORE the book goes to press and sits on shelves waiting to be purchased??? Is it so much to ask??? With regards to Holman's last words alone, would it have broken Eliot's fingers to pop a DVD of the movie in to make certain of what those last words were before he writes them and they become history when finally published? Can't he read the opening title card of the same film and read that it clearly states the film is set in 1926 - and NOT the ten years earlier mis-informed nonsense that he spews forth in his footnote on page 163. It is a sad day when an author's footnote...needs a footnote to correct the errors in the original footnote! Also in this same footnote Eliot ponders if the Yanay incident has perhaps inspired the fictional attack on the San Pueblo (sic). In the very next sentence he goes on to now refer to the attack as having happened on the U.S. Panay! Which is it??? Footnote please!The bio of the author on the inner back flap informs us that the author "divides his time among New York City; Woodstock, New York; Los Angeles; and the Far East." Bully for him. I am glad that all of the money he has made via his writing has enabled him to live in luxury at four different locations across the globe - while most folks struggle to keep but one roof over their heads! - but all I ask is that he and all authors that write faster than they think...please, please light somewhere when you write a book. Review it. Check it over painstakingly before you publish. Fine-comb it - and have truly professional people double-check it for you before it goes to print. Before it hits bookstore shelves. Before we, the public, shell out hard-earned money for YOUR work! Respect us - as much as we wish to respect you. By your work...we shall know you. Buy your work...and we shall know you as well.

Interesting read, and Mark Elliot cuts to the heart of things while giving a lot of good info. Steve was like all Hollywood beauty-babes--conceited, a philanderer, and a real SOB. But he was talented and fun to watch. Too bad he died so young, but when you don't take care of yourself, you gotta pay the piper.

All I can say is, if you've seen a lot of Steve McQueen's films from the past, and have an interest in what made him the "cool, but intense" actor he was....you won't be able to put this book down.I only got to page 94 when a friend was heading out of town for medical treatment and was asking about a book that would keep her interest during her treatments. I knew what book to give her! I then ordered another copy for myself. I'll be starting back on page 94 soon. I can't wait!

I especially liked the fact that you know nothing was omitted describing his sad life. It tells every detail from baby on and all the sadness & pain he had to endure when so young. In spite of the lack of love, an alcoholic prostitute of a mother, a father who deserted them when Steve was just a baby, on the streets trying to find food as a young boy & so much distrust with other people he worked his art to become the top wanted actor & was keenly aware of what was good & what was bad for him. He was difficult to work with but only because he wanted things right. He did reunite with his mother but the closeness was never there. He searched for his father only to find him after his dad had passed on. This, too, is a well written book and although it was not indicated I would think he made sure he approved of all that was written. Do not wait....get this book and you will not be sorry,

thorough read on a great actor

Great read ! Learned a lot about one of my favorite actors. The roles he was offered and turned down and the actors who eventually end up playing the role!

Steve McQueen: A Biography by Marc Eliot Elegant, literate, lucid, entertaining, November 3, 2011This is the best biography I have read this year, and definitely the best Steve McQueen bio. I have read Eliot's work before; he is a critical reactionary, having worked in Hollywood and been a writer for so many years, and an apparent follower of Auteruism. His is the first biography that his actually about something, rather than a strict and at times lurid story. I love his work and I love what he accomplished with Steve.What I can stand are the "gotcha" nit-pickers I read time and time again who pass themselves off as wanna-be critics. Someone is not satisfied with the definition of "rare" photos? What a joke.This book was one I could not put down. The revelations are brilliant and the book is original, brave and entertaining.

This is by far the worst book I've read so far on Steve McQueen. Not only has Marc Eliot practically copied other biographies on the actor but has not even got his facts right, such as claiming his ex-wife Neile Adams was by his bed side when he died when herself, her children and friends clearly has stated that she was in LA. He also makes out that Steve McQueen was an angel at times when close sources such as his ex-wife's and friends have said he had his demons. Won't be re-reading this in a hurry!

The worst biography I have ever read.I think the author Marc Elliot must be a “Gossip Columnist”. If you take-away all the mini biography’s of any- one and everyone who ever met Steve McQueen, and the peripheral crap from this book you are left with about 25% of the content as interesting reading and pertinent information relating to this great star.

A great actor! good to read his life story. From a troubled background to become a hollowed icon is no mean feat. He is still the man!

The author has written an ok book, but with just a little bit too much sniping and petty criticisms, ok, McQueen wasn't perfect, but then neither is this book!

Excellent read did not stop reading from the moment I started and was pleasantly surprised by all the information and facts.Steve McQueen even though a troubled man is still one of my idol's.