Who is today's Steve McQueen?

[V.C. Brunswick]

Very interesting thread. I've sat here in the middle of the night/wee hours of the morning and read most of it. I have the same cancer that McQueen had and my pain meds aren't letting me sleep.

I don't know much about the current crop of actors. On the whole, I fnd them less than inspiring. I think the 24-hour news and information cycle destroys the actors and others in the public eye. We know too much about them. There's no mystery left. In the past there was a little left to the imagination. Without that mystery we know too much. We see them on the screen, large or small, and if we want, we can go look up the details of their daily lives.

Even worse, the actors or their people will post every waking minute conveniently on Facebook and/or twitter. I think the mystery helped make McQueen and others cool. The actors of that era didn't have to try so hard. Cool isn't something that can be manufactured. One either is, or is not cool.

I agree with the previous posters that the lack of manliness is a huge obstacle for today's actors. Daniel Craig comes across as manly, but I don't care for him.. The guys from Duck Dynasty are also manly, although they really aren't actors.

On the whole, I believe that our society has degenerated to the point that true manliness and cool have been lost. Our actors and politicians cater to the homosexual crowd. It's all over TV and the movies. I have a 10-year-old son and its hard to find anything decent to watch on TV. I have Hulu Plus and my son has discovered the Lone Ranger and watches episodes of that and other old shows for his TV time.

Has the world gone mad? Is it going to get better? The world hasn't changed. The insanity that we see today has always been there, we just know too much about it. We didn't know every detail of Rock Hudson's or Raymond Burr's lifestyles. Now the actors and sports figures brag about it and are celebrated for it.

It would be nice if we could turn back the clock some, to the day where men were men, women were women, and both appreciated the differences. Unfortunately, those days are gone. With the formation of CNN, Ted Turner opened the Pandora's Box and to keep pace everyone else had to follow suit. They had to find stories to run. It is unlikely we will ever go back to what was and seemed a simpler time.

I wish there was a "Like" button here.

 

[Seb Lucas]

If Macqueen's apparent cool was so bound up in half-baked notions of "manliness", it's probably a good thing it's gone. Obsessing over what is and is not "manly" is really frightfully tedious.

Sure is. And so is the obsessing over what is cool.

 

[Edward]

Sure is. And so is the obsessing over what is cool.

Amen!

 

[Vintage lover]

The "cool" thing about McQueen in my eyes is this: knowing you thought he was cool wouldn't of changed his life. He raced cars and bikes because that is what he enjoyed. He wore the clothes he did because those particular clothes worked for him on a few levels. He didn't let the opinions of others run his life; he simply did what pleased him. Most people will try to sell you their bed of nails; but you will be the one that has to sleep in it. I think if you truly think for yourself, fight fear every day, and do what will make you happy, you will be cool; and if your not than it won't matter.

I admire Steve for the reasons above and because we have similar interests which he was genuinely good at. But if I were picking a modern Steve McQueen, the chosen nominee might not have anything to do with cars, motorcycles, or anything else Steve liked; and I don't know or care enough about the majority of actors to make that call.

@TAutry Homosexuality has nothing to do with it. I know lots of gay and bisexual people who are the exact opposite of the stereotype I think you are picturing. I think most of the people going their own way just aren't on Twitter or Facebook. They are too preoccupied actually doing things to bury their nose in a phone. As far as the shows that are being made today; good ones are still slipping through the cracks, but the majority of them just try to appeal to everyone by really lowering the standard. Do not worry, all is not lost. I hope your cancer goes into remission; my Grandpa (one of the coolest people I ever knew) passed last year from bone cancer. I imagine you are a strong man to fight it, and I wish you well.

 

[Sharpsburg]

I must respond to TAutry's "The guys from Duck Dynasty are also manly". As a female, I must say that "manliness" is clearly in the eyes of the beholder. I find the DD guys to be the anti-thesis of how I consider manliness to be. Knowing more about their past and political/religious beliefs make be see them as unmanly. Older pictures of them are far from the bearded hillbilly types they now portray, which makes them simple creations without genuineness, in my eyes. And their backward ideas place them in the horse and buggy era, mentally. A strong, manly may (IMHO) is honest, forthright and genuine, which the DD "gentlemen" are not.

Again, to each their own!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Yes to each their own...
I don't know about manly concerning DuckDynasty men...but honest, forthright and genuine are some of their best attributes..from my view.
HD

 

[Stearmen]

Lets quit playing games here, it was all about his looks. I did a lot of what he did, motorcycles, cars, biplanes, sweatshirts, T-shirts, but I get labeled as a freak. I still do it, and I am older then he was, so at least that is a point in my favor.

 

[Blackthorn]

Yes to each their own...
I don't know about manly concerning DuckDynasty men...but honest, forthright and genuine are some of their best attributes..from my view.
HD

I agree, well said.

 

[Edward]

Lets quit playing games here, it was all about his looks. I did a lot of what he did, motorcycles, cars, biplanes, sweatshirts, T-shirts, but I get labeled as a freak. I still do it, and I am older then he was, so at least that is a point in my favor.

I also wonder how much of it was down to being in an era when the elements of his character of which many in these parts would likely disapprove were not public property in the way the "private" lives of the famous often seem to be these days (both technological and cultural shifts involved there). That and him being dead and therefore not around to inconvenience his own legend by being mortal...

 

[Stearmen]

Would any of these guys fit the bill?