MovieChat Forums > The Sand Pebbles (1966) Discussion > Steve McQueen's Best Performance?

Steve McQueen's Best Performance?

posted 19 years ago by qbrody
18 replies | jump to latest

I am only 28 years old but have been watching Steve McQueen movies since I was a young boy. My father introduced me to The Great Escape and the Magnificent Seven and I was instantly drawn to McQueen. There will not be another like him. I saw the Sand Pebbles later on and even though I didn't understand what was going on, I thought McQueen was excellent. Now, I have to say it was his best role. His acting is top notch. I get emotional every time I see the scene where they are executing Po Han. Watching McQueen is emotional during that scene also. I love when he yells to Captain Collins to shoot something when Collins threatens to shoot him. After he shoots Po Han, the look he gives to Captain Collins is great. You can feel the emotion as he has just lost his only friend. Even though I am partial to McQueen, I think he should have won the Oscar. He never did better. As much as Bullitt is hyped, I don't enjoy his performance as nearly as I do in the Sand Pebbles.

Would love to hear others comments.

[–] csu16387 19 years ago

McQueen is fantastic in The Sand Pebbles. However, I think his best performance is in Papillon. I don't know why he wasn't nominated that year.

"Dry your eyes baby, it's out of character."

[–] BilligerVogel 19 years ago

Hi,
I've seen Papillon and I still consider 'Pebbles' to be his best work.
Maybe it's the material, I don't know. Papillon was close though.
Both are excellent films.

[–] foster1234 19 years ago

I agree the McQueens better in 'Pebbles' than 'Parillon', but when I think of his BEST performance I always think 'The Thomas Crown Affair' or 'The Cinncenati Kid'

Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.

[–] monttrac 19 years ago

Maybe it's enough to say that McQueen had at least two perfect performances, in The Sand Pebbles and in Papillon. I also loved him in Love with the Proper Stranger. His version of masculinity is irresistable -- action, not words. But his acting absolutely exemplifies this. I remember distinctly his movements in the engine room and his toothless Henri Carriere jumping off Devil's Island with his raft of coconuts. He certainly had excellent taste in the films he chose. Le Mans is another great one.

Yes -- I, too, saw The Sand Pebbles in the formal, reserved seat setting. It was an event, like Dr. Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia. You got a program like you would get at the theater, there was an intermission, and you saw all the action on a huge screen from velvet upholstered seats and to the sounds of great music, as well. There was a stateliness to these films that I so enjoy.

Steve McQueen's death was the first time I ever cried for the loss of an actor. I remember hearing his voice on the telephone on a morning news show -- maybe The Today Show -- and he had to pause between each word for a breath. I have no interest in his personal life, because his work is what I know. His death meant the end of this archetypal figure -- perhaps best carried on by DeNiro.

[–] phowell1 18 years ago

McQueen earned his only Oscar nomination for this film, but considering that his competition included Paul Scofield for A Man For All Seasons, Richard Burton for Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, and Michael Caine for Alfie, I think it is safe to say his chances of winning were nil.

[–] monttrac 18 years ago

Wow. I didn't realize he'd ever had an Oscar nomination. That was a tough year, and all the performances have stood up to time's assaults. I still miss S McQ. There's no one even remotely like him. TM

[–] pcventures 16 years ago

I agree totally about the physciality of his performances.
During one of the boarding action scenes, he handled a BAR like a pro,
to devastating effect.

[–] monttrac 16 years ago

Is a BAR a rifle?

[–] pcventures 16 years ago

Yup...

Browning
Automatic
Rifle

[–] Mookie01 16 years ago

No love for McQueen's performance in "Hell Is For Heroes"? It at least deserves a shout-out in any discussion of his greatest performances.

[–] Doc-McCoy 16 years ago

Next to "Papillon", I rate "Hell is for Heroes" as McQueen's best performance. Good call.

Of course he was excellent in "The Sand Pebbles" and deserved that nomination.

"Women should be obscene and not heard." - Groucho Marx

[–] frankiesbabe-1 16 years ago

Sand Pebbles was defintely his best performance. Only Papillion comes close. Incidentally I hate The Thomas Crown Affair!

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 18 years ago

Even though I am partial to McQueen, I think he should have won the Oscar.

No, Paul Scofield very much deserved the Oscar for one of, if not THE most brilliant performance(s) in film history as Sir Thomas More in "A Man for All Seasons". I just watched that movie for the sixty-eighth time today, and there's no way anyone could (or should) have won over him for that performance.

That being said, if it had been any other year than 1966, I would agree with you. I'm not a McQueen fan but I thought he was excellent here. He really portrayed his character well. Holman is an outcast, an introvert, someone who is not comfortable with other people or the rigidly structured navy, and only with the engine of the boat he happens to be on. I love the Video Hound's Guide To War Films' description of the movie - "A blue collar 'Lawrence of Arabia'", which IMO describes Holman's character very well. Unlike Lawrence, Holman doesn't want any glory, he just wants to go on with his job, but he can't avoid the jaws of history, politics, and the military. There isn't an actor living or dead who could have played that part better.

However, I think Richard Crenna gives probably the best performance of the film as Collins - he steals almost every scene he's in.

PEDECARIS ALIVE OR RAISULI DEAD!

[–] hawks-bill 17 years ago

I adore Paul Scofield's performance in A Man for All Seasons but I can at least conceive of another classically-trained actor playing the role just as well.

"There isn't an actor living or dead who could have played that part better."

That's the crux of it. I can't imagine anyone else playing Holman. The remarkable thing about McQueen's performance is its complete *physical* authenticity. Not only did McQueen strive to convey as much as possible without words - with looks and gestures only - but his body movements are so utterly true to his character that it takes your breath away. The way he descends the stairs, how he loads his rifle, and - that scene in the engine room! Never again will I be so riveted to a scene involving something so mundane as machinery repair! Richard Crenna marvels at McQueen's minute attention to authenticity and his affinity for Holman in an outstanding DVD commentary. No fan of Steve McQueen's should miss it.

Crenna was excellent and Mako was a standout as well.

[–] CmdrCody 17 years ago

McQueen was also great as Lt. "Buzz" Rickson in "The War Lover." In this picture, McQueen is flying B-17s out of England for the 8th Air Force. To say he "loves" the war is an understatement.

This was a great vehicle for McQueen...right up his alley as the arrogant yet competent "bad-boy." Robert Wagner is his co-pilot.

REAL airplanes, not CGI ones, are used in this picture. It should not be missed.

CmdrCody

[–] SeisCinemaSeis 16 years ago

His performance in this movie has been praised as his best performance ever, however I prefer his acting in Papillon.

[–] heyjohnny40-1 15 years ago

Sorry for the late post, but Steve was definitely robbed of the oscar. You can tell in many scenes and moments he says nothing but lets his face do the talking for him. I've heard many stories as to why there was no oscar given to Steve, but I really think myself that he did not fit into the "mold" of what Hollywood considered to be a follower. Many actors and actresses who do not behave in Hollywood are considered rebels so to speak and pay the price for acting that way.

[–] futhark985 13 years ago

I haven't seen very many Steve McQueen movies, but have to say that he perfectly embodies the Jake Holman character as I imagined it when I read the book two or three years before I saw this movie in its original theater run. McQueen was a very mechanically inclined guy, just like Jake Holman, and came from a background that had similar stresses. So, in a way, McQueen was playing himself in the character of Jake Holman. This is something I usually do not consider to be great acting, but in this case it was very effective.