jjares reviewed Steve McQueen & Charles Bronson: The Lives and Careers of the Top Action Stars of the 1970s on + 3278 more book reviews
This was all new material because I wasn't a fan of Steve McQueen or Charles Bronson, but my husband was. By the 1960s, there was a change in Hollywood. Moviegoers wanted an antihero who walked his own walk and did his own thing without worrying about others. Thus, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson emerged on the screen. Steve was always considered to be cool.
Steve has an interesting backstory. Born in the Midwest, his mother married multiple times to men who didn't like Steve. When Steve's mom and husband moved to California, he was sent to a juvenile facility. He learned some discipline and then joined the Marines. By 1951, he was acting in TV westerns. Before long, he hit it big on the Silver Screen. He acted naturally and became the King of Cool, although his greatest love was car racing.
Charles Bronson was the King of Late Bloomers. Originally, he and his siblings worked in the Pennsylvania coal mines. He picked up pieces of different languages, but his Slavic countenance made him look forbidding.
His performances with European audiences were more popular than with Americans for decades. Bronson's quiet stance with deadly consequences was a hit worldwide by age fifty. The world became more concerned with revenge, violence, and danger in the streets -- and the quiet Charles Bronson was there to react. Bronson pushed the envelope on what audiences would accept on film in his 160 appearances over the years.
Both men were married multiple times and had children. Each earned a star in Hollywood. Steve died of cancer at the age of 50. Bronson lived to be eighty-one, dying of respiratory failure (pneumonia and Alzheimer's). Unfortunately, the eBook stopped without a tie-up of the two men's lives. Overall score = G+.
Steve has an interesting backstory. Born in the Midwest, his mother married multiple times to men who didn't like Steve. When Steve's mom and husband moved to California, he was sent to a juvenile facility. He learned some discipline and then joined the Marines. By 1951, he was acting in TV westerns. Before long, he hit it big on the Silver Screen. He acted naturally and became the King of Cool, although his greatest love was car racing.
Charles Bronson was the King of Late Bloomers. Originally, he and his siblings worked in the Pennsylvania coal mines. He picked up pieces of different languages, but his Slavic countenance made him look forbidding.
His performances with European audiences were more popular than with Americans for decades. Bronson's quiet stance with deadly consequences was a hit worldwide by age fifty. The world became more concerned with revenge, violence, and danger in the streets -- and the quiet Charles Bronson was there to react. Bronson pushed the envelope on what audiences would accept on film in his 160 appearances over the years.
Both men were married multiple times and had children. Each earned a star in Hollywood. Steve died of cancer at the age of 50. Bronson lived to be eighty-one, dying of respiratory failure (pneumonia and Alzheimer's). Unfortunately, the eBook stopped without a tie-up of the two men's lives. Overall score = G+.
