Over the years, Hollywood had great and memorable actors. Some of them were tough guys, some rebellious, and some performed their own stunts on screen. Steve McQueen was one of those actors. Known as “The King of Cool”, he performed most of his own stunts in his movies as well as participated in auto and motorcycle racing.
Steve McQueen was born Terence Stephen McQueen on March 24, 1930 in Indianapolis, Indiana (Encyclopedia Britannica). His father was a stunt pilot for a flying circus who left McQueen and his mother at an early age (Turner Classic Movies). Because of his mother’s alcoholism, McQueen was sent to live to his grandparents in Slater, MO on a farm until he was brought back to his mother at the age of 8. Because of this unhappy change, McQueen joined a street gang and committed petty crimes. As a result, his mother sent him back to Slater until he was 12 years old. Because of his abusive step-father in Los Angeles, McQueen resumed becoming a petty thief and was arrested for stealing hubcaps off of cars.
Because of his bad decisions and his status of Juvenile Delinquent, McQueen’s mother sent him to the California Junior Boys Republic, a reform school in Chino Hills, CA (Turner Classic Movies). During that time, McQueen was reluctant to be in that home, which led to beatings by other boys. Sometime later, however, McQueen left the reform school to Greenwich Village with his mother. Despite joining the Merchant Marines, he left to live in Texas where he worked in many different jobs in an oil rig, a carnival, and as a lumberjack. In 1947, McQueen joined the United States Marine Corps, but still had problems with authority. For instance, he was sent to the brig for failing to return from a weekend pass. After serving ...
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...cted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame. In 2002, Sheryl Crow recorded “Steve McQueen” and three years later, Ford Motor Company used his likeness in a commercial using a body double for their new mustang.
Hollywood was known to have great and memorable actors for many years. In addition, Hollywood had tough guys, rebellious characters, and some that decide to perform their own stunts. Steve McQueen, the “King of Cool”, was known to be part of that experience. While McQueen was also known to perform his own stunts in his movies, he also participated in auto and motorcycle racing.
Work Cited
“Steve McQueen”. Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 02 Feb. 2014
Turner Classic Movies. Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc., 2014. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.
Today, most stunts are done by highly trained professionals. They know how to safely flip cars fight, and fall from great heights (think ropes and giant air bags). Many have sports backgrounds. Bobby Holland Hanton, who performed in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Thor: The Dark World, was a gymnast. Katie Eischen, who worked in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Furious 7, did track cheerleading, and volleyball. As for Rementer, he has been studying martial arts since elementary
The road movie embodies the human desire for travel and progression. The vehicle of journey is a contemporary metaphor of personal transformation that oftentimes mirrors socio-cultural desires and fears. Thomas Schatz believes that one “cannot consider either the filmmaking process or films themselves in isolation from their economic, technological, and industrial context.” This statement is especially applicable to the independent American films of the late sixties, a time of great political and social debate. Easy Rider (1969) was considered a new voice in film that was pitched against the mainstream. In the 1960s, there was a shift to highlight the outsiders or the anti-heros in film. This counter-cultural radicalism seems to have also influenced the 1991 film, Thelma & Louise. The characters of both films act as figures of anti-heroism by rebelling against the conventional and unintentionally discovering themselves at the same time. Despite their different backgrounds, the protagonists of Eas...
Arguably the most popular — and certainly the busiest — movie leading man in Hollywood history, John Wayne entered the film business while working as a laborer on the Fox Studios lot during summer vacations from university, which he attended on a football scholarship. He met and was befriended by John Ford, a young director who was beginning to make a name for himself in action films, comedies, and dramas. Wayne was cast in small roles in Ford's late-'20s films, occasionally under the name Duke Morrison. It was Ford who recommended Wayne to director Raoul Walsh for the male lead in the 1930 epic Western The Big Trail, it was a failure at the box office, but the movie showed Wayne's potential as a leading actor. During the next nine years, be busied himself in a multitude of B-Westerns and serials — most notably Shadow of the Eagle in between occasional bit parts in larger features such as Warner Bros.' Baby Face. But it was in action roles that Wayne excelled, exuding a warm and imposing manliness onscreen to which both men and women could respond.
He was then drafted into the U.S. Army where he was refused admission to the Officer Candidate School. He fought this until he was finally accepted and graduated as a first lieutenant. He was in the Army from 1941 until 1944 and was stationed in Kansas and Fort Hood, Texas. While stationed in Kansas he worked with a boxer named Joe Louis in order to fight unfair treatment towards African-Americans in the military and when training in Fort Hood, Texas he refused to go to the back of the public bus and was court-martialed for insubordination. Because of this he never made it to Europe with his unit and in 1944 he received an honorable discharge.
Cynthia, Erb. Tracking King Kong: A Hollywood Icon in World Culture - Ch. 1: A Showman’s Dream: The Production and Release of King Kong. Wayne State Univ Pr, 1998.
By adapting the standard Hollywood ‘road’ movie narrative (east to west), incorporating modern music as non-diegetic sound and utilizing shocking scenes – both socially and in terms of ignoring every written and unwritten filming law - Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider stands as a testament to the changes going on in the US during the late 1960s and creates a certain distance to the previous way of seeing America.
In 1939 John Ford gave Wayne another break by casting him as the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach. The roll threw Wayne into the top ranks of the movie stars and finally, in the 1940’s, his legend began to take shape. Relieved from military duty due to physical problems, Wayne became the film industry’s hard-core soilder, but had that compassionate side. Movies released during the war, such as Flying Tigers (1942), The Fighting Seabees (1944) and Back to Bataan (1945) left Wayne with some pretty big shoes to fill.
One of the most famous drivers was a man by the name of Junior Johnson. He was a shiner who had been caught and had spent a year in prison. He got out of prison and went back into the fast money life style of running shine. In his prime he was considered the fastest man on the ridge. He later made his way to NASCAR in 1955 and went on to win over 50 races. He then retired in 1966. Mike Devlin September 30, 2013
BIBLIOGRAPHY An Introduction to Film Studies Jill Nelmes (ed.) Routledge 1996 Anatomy of Film Bernard H. Dick St. Martins Press 1998 Key Concepts in Cinema Studies Susan Hayward Routledge 1996 Teach Yourself Film Studies Warren Buckland Hodder & Stoughton 1998 Interpreting the Moving Image Noel Carroll Cambridge University Press 1998 The Cinema Book Pam Cook (ed.) BFI 1985 FILMOGRAPHY All That Heaven Allows Dir. Douglas Sirk Universal 1955 Being There Dir. Hal Ashby 1979
Throughout his musical career, he earned many titles “Mr. Dynamite” and “The Godfather of Soul” known as the hardest working man in show business. His demeanor at times was often that of a tyrant, generous nature, tolerant, or at times demanding. He was the greatest entertainer during his time. He is known for his performances on stage. The cape act that he uses on stage came from the wrestler Gorgeous Geor...
starred in many of the war movies made at that time. By seeing so many
Many people believe Marlon Brando was the greatest actor of the 20th century. His life was filled with wonderful, interesting, but also encountered troubling times. Marlon Brando was a rebellious boy who later grew up to be known as the “world’s greatest actor.”
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His determination and hard work have made Arnold Schwarzenegger the successful man that he is today. From body-builder to actor to governor, he has found success with each role he has played. He has done it all, he is Arnold Schwarzenegger
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