Steve McQueen is one of the most famous, talented, and eccentric actors from the 1960s until his untimely death from mesothelioma in 1980. His rise to becoming “The King of Cool” that we know today was an interesting road. It’s even been alleged many times that he intentionally crashed his car to get out of his TV show Wanted: Dead Or Alive in order to shoot The Magnificent Seven, and in addition to being stubborn, McQueen was also a fan of fast cars and motorcycles.
Whether his crash was intentional or not, his multiple-year break from acting, shortly after becoming the highest-paid actor in the world, was definitely intentional. His relatively young passing, paired with his eccentric personality, leaves us with a rather small list of feature films he starred in, and even fewer in the genre that helped make him famous, the Western.
The Hunter (1980)
Steve McQueen’s last movie is a comedic contemporary Western about a bounty hunter who finds himself on the other side of the hunting. Papa Thorson is the last bounty hunter who has a lot on his plate, difficult criminals, his pregnant girlfriend, the fact thjat he can barely drive, and on top of all that, a recently released criminal is seeking revenge on him. This is an average to an above-average action movie with Western tropes that is certainly elevated by McQueen’s performance.
The Reivers (1969)
At the turn of the century in Mississippi, Boon (Steve McQueen), a mischievous plantation handyman, convinces Lucious to steal his grandfather’s new car, the only one in the area.Boon heads toward Memphis, with an 11-year-old boy named Ned hiding in the trunk, to visit his girlfriend who works at a brothel. This late-period Western road trip movie was based on William Faulkner’s last novel and is an interesting classic starring McQueen.
Tom Horn (1980)
An infamous former army scout named Tom Horn (Steve McQueen) is hired by local ranchers to deal with dangerous cattle rustlers. Although he performs his duty to great effect, those around him find his methods distasteful and even see him as an obstacle to their own ambitions.
Things come to a dangerous head when it appears that Horn has killed a young boy while stopping some rustlers. Steve McQueen starred and was executive producer for this biopic about the real Western legend, Tom Horn, whose own downfall mirrored that of the Old West.
Nevada Smith (1966)
Steve McQueen plays the titular character of Nevada Smith in this classic Western tale of revenge and the lengths one man will go to for it. Smith is a young half-Native American, whose parents are brutally murdered for their gold. He sets out to find and kill the men immediately, but runs into some trouble with three men he mistakes as the killers.
With nothing but the clothes on his back, Smith takes up with a traveling gun merchant who teaches him the ways of the world, and the way of the gun. This is a classic Western with superior acting that shows beautiful American landscapes, from the deserts of California to the swamps of Louisiana.
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
A village of poor farmers is being regularly terrorized and robbed by an army of bandits, lead by the villainous Calvera (Eli Wallach). The bandits only leave them barely enough food to survive and many of the villagers have had enough. A pair set out to find gunfighters for hire. After witnessing Chris Adams (Yul Brynner) and Vin Tanner (Steve McQueen) heroically defend an Native American burial site, they manage to convince them and five other gunfighters to protect their village, each for their own reason.
Still outgunned, they must help the villagers prepare for Calvera’s return, or take up Calvera’s offer of a share in his spoils. This movie helped launch McQueen into the star fans know today and has inspired countless imitations, though it itself is a Western adaptation of Seven Samurai (1954).