As two of the finest American actors of all-time, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman dominated the often underrated classic films of the 1960’s and eventually starred together in the 1974 disaster picture The Tower Inferno. After the Inferno, McQueen who battled cancer, only made a few more films, with Tom Horn his final role before his 1980 death.
Although Newman is still alive and kicking, his glory days seemed to end when the 1980’s hit and although he has starred in many films none of them have come close to his performances in the prime of his career.
So this brings us to our first in a series debates pitting actors versus actors, McQueen versus Newman, with a focus on what we consider the prime of their careers, 1958 (the year Newman broke out in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) to 1974 (when the two shared the screen in The Towering Inferno).
Co-writer Pat Harrington will be taking the side of Newman, while I (Guy Stuller) will be defending McQueen on the matter.
In the timeframe we are debating, who made the better films and how much influence did each actor have in making those films great?
PH – I would argue that Newman made better films in the aforementioned timeframe based on the titles that still stand head and shoulders above most films made in the era. Cat On a Hot Tin Roof was only the beginning of a brilliant 16-year span that included such classic films as “The Long, Hot Summer,” “The Hustler,” “Hud,” “Hombre,” “Cool Hand Luke,” “The Sting” and “The Towering Inferno.
What has drawn people to Newman over the years is his ability to bring out a very human side to his roles, be they the hard-luck “Fast” Eddie Felson in the “The Hustler” or the destructively proud Brick in “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof.” He’s displayed the charm to make you root for a convict and the arrogance to make you despise the older brother. In a time when actors and actresses were portrayed as larger than life characters, Paul Newman came into your local theater as a guy you may have known for years, and thus helped redefine acting as we know it.
GS – I have to address what many McQueen haters argue, that the most successful movies that McQueen starred in were driven by ensemble casts and there is no doubt that The Magnificent Seven (TM7) and The Great Escape each rank high on the list. To those who think that, I say, “you’re right,” but within those casts McQueen shines brightest on both occasions.
As hard as Yul Brunner attemptted to rule the TM7, he failed; McQueen developed a much deeper character pretty much from the start of the film. There was a bit of mystery in McQueen’s character, something to be let up to the imagination, frankly both James Colburn and Eli Wallach even put on a better show than Brunner. McQueen was the driving force of the cast though, his scenes make you forget about how dull Brunner and how worthless Robert Vaughn were in the film.
Tack on “The Cincinnati Kid,” “The Thomas Crown Affair,” “Bullitt,” “The Getaway” and “Papillion,” in which McQueen dominated the screen in a starring role, I think we have ourselves a winner.
