Steve McQueen - Marc Eliot [44]
Time would be good to the film, and, because of the appearances of Darin, Newhart, and, above all, Steve, it became something of a cult favorite, so much so that decades later, an episode of the series Deep Space 9, “The Siege of AR-558,” was loosely based on the plot of Hell Is for Heroes, right down to the characters’ names. And it remains among the most frequently requested screenings at Steve McQueen film festivals.
When it was first released, one young director Steve did not know personally took the time to send him a telegram congratulating him for his work on the film: “Dear Steve, I want to congratulate you for your performance in Hell Is for Heroes. It’s the most perceptive and realistic performance of any soldier in any war film I have seen. Best regards, Stanley Kubrick.” Years later Kubrick would make his own homage of sorts to the film, his 1987 ensemble-cast war picture Full Metal Jacket.
But at the time, neither The Honeymoon Machine nor Hell Is for Heroes failed to propel Steve’s career. According to Hilly Elkins, “Hell Is for Heroes benefited from Siegel, no doubt. But it was the same deal as far as Steve’s career went as The Honeymoon Machine—a neutral.”
EVEN BEFORE Hell Is for Heroes opened, Steve signed on with Columbia Studios for $75,000 to star in yet another war movie, his third in nine films (his fourth if you count The Magnificent Seven), in a role that Warren Beatty had just turned down. In September 1961, he and Neile packed their bags and with their two young children flew to London, England, where production was set to begin on The War Lover, based on the novel by John Hersey and adapted for the screen by Academy Award winner Howard Koch, with British-born Philip Leacock (famed documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock’s brother) set to direct.2
The film’s producer, Arthur Hornblow Jr., arranged for Steve and his family to stay at 80 Chester Square, in fashionable Belgravia, a six-floor town house complete with a Greek butler, a full staff, and a private key to the park in Chester Square. The manse belonged to Lord and Lady Russell, who leased it to Columbia Studios for the McQueen family at $300 a week for the duration of the shoot.3
It was intended as a great perk, a welcoming gesture by the studio for the McQueens, but Steve was far more excited about the close proximity of his living quarters to Brands Hatch auto racetrack. London was, after all, the home of Stirling Moss, one of the most famous Grand Prix racers in the world, and an old friend from the Wanted: Dead or Alive years, when Steve first seriously got into racing. No sooner had Steve arrived than he looked up Moss, who was more than happy to show Steve the track and offered to teach him some of the championship-level intricacies of high-speed racing, an offer Steve enthusiastically accepted. Recalled Moss, “Steve and his wife were living in a funny little house at the back of Hollywood when I first met him, he had hit the high spots. He had a D-type Jag, among other things, and a fantastic house. I considered him a cool type of guy.… I can remember that night we had together in London around that time. I think Sammy Davis came into it at some stage. If you ask me the kinds of things we talked about, that’s fairly simple—girls and cars. Yes, in that order.”
STEVE HAD arrived in England in August, a month before Neile and the kids and his co-star, Robert Wagner, to be able to get in some racing time with Moss before The War Lover went into production. Rather than check into the mansion without his family, he quietly took a suite for himself at the Savoy, visiting the Brands Hatch racetrack every day with Moss, getting friendly with several other racers, and