I can't recall whose book it was I was reading on the ol' Kindle when an offer for My Husband, My Friend: A Memoir by Neile Adams McQueen popped up. It's running for a "can't not buy" price of $2.51 and was well worth the money. I'd seen Neile Adams in plenty of interviews about her late husband Steve and knew she was instrumental to his career and there from the start. The book gives you equal shares of biographical accounts of her and her world famous husband. She was doing quite well for herself as a dancer based out of New York City, making 10x what Steve was and got her agents to give the unconventionally handsome actor a shot. It's interesting to see how their lives changed as McQueen became more and more famous thanks to TV show Wanted: Dead or Alive and hit movies The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Thomas Crown Affair and Bullitt among many more. From a small, cramped apartment to multiple homes around California, the two shared a crazy 15 years together.
Neile really highlights the not so glamorous side of being married to a movie star, especially one from a broken home with insecurity issues and a drug habit that included weed, LSD and cocaine. McQueen fell into the trappings of fame, feeling the need to prove his manhood and show the world that he was as sexy as they thought he was. Infidelity plagued the relationship but the one tryst Neile indulged in with Maximilian Schell nearly unraveled her philandering, movie star husband. Neile paints McQueen as funny, caring and adventurous but at the same time extremely insecure and vain as evidenced by his obsession with working out, staring in the mirror and keeping up with all the latest trends in youth culture and fashion. As the years went by and drug use continued, McQueen began to grow extremely paranoid, unable to keep many friends or get excited over movie projects.
References are made to co-star and neighbor James Garner as they were good social friends whose social relationship crumbled after Garner accepted a role McQueen passed on. It would take two years for McQueen to forgive Garner for the inane grudge. Paul Newman served as an early inspiration and mental rival to McQueen but the two eventually became friends over racing and cars then co-starred in mega hit The Towering Inferno after a team up in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid faltered due to McQueen's ego. Dustin Hoffman gets an interesting shout out as McQueen and Neile enjoyed The Graduate but McQueen couldn't believe such a non-handsome guy would ever challenge the dreamy ruggedness of himself or Newman. There's also several amusing references and examples of Steve McQueen's hippy speak that included quotes like "see where this kid's head's at" or "getting clean" as in making amends and personal favorite, "I needs mah time to howl, woman!". As Neile was with McQueen for Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape, it would have been nice to hear more about those sets or co-stars like Charles Bronson and James Coburn. Besides that, a quick and informative read with a somewhat sad behind the scenes look at living in the spotlight.
This past weekend marked the end of the Summer Movie Season as Labor Day is generally pretty quiet at the box office. Newcomers The Transporter Refueled and A Walk in the Woods were no match for faith based holdover War Room. Woods stars Robert Redford and Nick Nolte as old writing buddies and hell raisers as Redford's aging, semi-retired author Bill Bryson decides to hike the Appalachian Trail to see America after living abroad for a couple of decades. The trailers made the film out to be a coming of old age, heart warming, odd couple style adventure comedy and it didn't disappoint. It's not great and there's no career defining performance from either actor but it's a fun flick that makes you want to hit the road, see some nature, meet strangers and eat some deliciously heavy food.
Bill Bryson (Redford) is living a nice life in suburbia with his loving wife Catherine (Emma Thompson, who I thought was his daughter at first, whoops). Having only written forewords and overseen re-released past works for years, Bryson is getting a little bored and one day sees a sign for the Appalachian Trail while on a walk. Feeling like he needs to see more of his own country, Bryson decides to devote six months to becoming one with nature but Catherine is afraid he'll be eaten by a bear or get lost and die out in the woods. Wanting him to find a hiking buddy, Bryson reaches out to old friends who think he's crazy until one night, a grizzled voice from his past calls up, wanting to join. Said grizzled voice belongs to Stephen Katz (Nick Nolte), a woman chasing, booze swilling son of a gun that Bryson knew in his younger days. The two haven't spoken in decades and Katz still owes him $600 bucks. Katz shows up looking like he's on his last leg, for real, Nolte is perennially red faced and seemingly struggling for breath, overweight, limping and has some wild hair. Either this is some real good acting or art simply imitating life. The duo hit the trail and encounter a slew of fellow hikers and small town folk played by a litany of familiar faces including Nick Offerman, Kristen Schaal and Mary Steenburgen.
Of course the two discuss life and love, missed opportunities, who they were, who they are and the like while enduring heat, rain and snow while surviving treacherous trails, falls and maybe a bear or two. I wasn't quite sure where the film was going because they weren't going to reach the end of the trail at the pace the flick was moving and I wasn't sure if it was gonna get real by killing off one of them. There's justifiably long sequences of beautiful landscapes set to soothing music and by the end, there's a touch of being at peace with oneself not being justified by accomplishments or titles. There's a quick photo of both leading men in their primes and hot Damme, was Redford a handsome devil. Still dignified if a little frail, Woods was easier to watch than the overrated All Is Lost while Nolte couldn't top his excellent performance from Warrior. Director Ken Kwapis directs from a script by Rick Kerb, Bill Holderman and Bill Bryson that was originally meant to be a third vehicle for Reford and Paul Newman after mega-hits Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. Sadly, the project languished since being optioned in 1998, Newman's health declined and the actor, race car driver and philanthropist died in 2008. Only a few years younger than Redford, Nick Nolte was then lined up to co-star. To date, A Walk in the Woods has grossed a not shabby $13 million bucks in it's first week. Not bad for a surprisingly tame R rated (Nolte's potty mouth) flick starring two 70 something year olds. Zach Efron would kill for those numbers.
