The other day, my dad and I watched The Cincinnati Kid with Steve McQueen playing the starring role. It was a cool movie that I had never seen before, and it made me start to think about how many Steve McQueen movies I have seen. He is a legend and is known as the epitome of cool, but he has never been on my list of favorite actors. That may have to change.
In honor of this new movie watching experience, I decided to look into the wisdom that can come from watching Steve McQueen movies. As you may know, I have explored the catalogue of other performers in a similar way. There have been Burt Reynolds, Don Knotts, Kevin Costner, Paul Newman, George Peppard, Don Johnson, Jodie Foster, Tommy Lee Jones, and Ellen Barkin.
The rules are simple. I must have seen the movie, and the wisdom can come from any character in the movie.
From The Magnificent Seven
If God didn’t want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep.
Farmers talk of nothing but fertilizer and women. I’ve never shared their enthusiasm for fertilizer.
Well, the graveyards are full of boys who were very young, and very proud.
From The Great Escape
Tea without milk is so uncivilized.
From The Cincinnati Kid
Gets down to what it’s all about, doesn’t it? Making the wrong move at the right time.
From Bullitt
Integrity is something you sell the public.
Time starts now.
From The Towering Inferno
All fires are bad.
You know there’s nothing that any of us can do to bring back the dead.
From Tom Horn
If you really knew how dirty and raggedy-assed the Old West was, you wouldn’t want any part of it.
SBI: A Thinning Crowd 
From The Magnificent Seven, my husband’s favorite: “Generosity. That was my first mistake.”
And from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, “This is the west, sir. We print the legend.”
Those are great lines.
I love Mcqueen when he says “It’s your building, but it’s our fire.” from The Towering Inferno. 🙂
Great tribute, Rick.
Thanks. That’s a great movie with some great actors.
Reblogged this on Lost in The World Map.
I think I like him best Pappilon and The Sand Pebbles. Despite a seemingly small range of emotion, he was a good actor.
My theory on Tom Horn is that if he’d rode off into the sunset at he end, the movie would have been a lot more popular. But they insisted on sticking to the truth. Fools.
Yeah, it’s strange for a movie to stay with the facts. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.