Circles of Life

I began watching Steve McQueen on TV in the 60s. He played bounty hunter Josh Randall in the series titled Wanted: Dead or Alive. McQueen was one of a kind.

There has never been another leading man before or since that could portray his depth of emotions with little more than a blank expression that conveyed more depth in silence than any other actor could summon forth with every word and gesture they have.

McQueen never appeared in a bad movie but my favorite is The Great Escape. He has the courage to defy the Nazi’s and escape from the concentration camp on a captured motorcycle. When he jumps the tangle foot wire, the evil Nazis in hot pursuit, you know that this is a man of substance. Hopelessly tangled in the wire, he awaits the hoard, still defiant, playing with a baseball, the silent symbol of American resolve.

Tonight I was listening to Dusty Springfield, my absolute favorite diva. She was singing her cover of Windmills of Your Mind from McQueen’s film The Thomas Crown Affair (watch the original and not the remake). The song is pure poetry.

Listen to Dusty’s version. If you’re not yet a fan, you will be. Hey, and please take my advice and catch a few old McQueen flicks and they will hook you too.

Fiction South