Standard meter of gender, harbinger of crystal trap, The Infernal Tower, broadcast this Sunday, April 30, 2023, at 8:50 p.m., on Arte, was one of the biggest worldwide successes of the year 1975, nominated 8 times for the Oscars. It also brought together an unrivaled cast of stars with, in the front line, two actors with ‘revolver’ eyes… one of whom did not shoot blanks! Namely the hero of Butch Cassidy and the KidPaul Newman, and that of Bullitt, Steve McQueen. Accomplices on the screen, the two men had, in life, a more complex relationship…
The imaginary rival
“One day, you’ll see, I’ll catch up with this Paul Newman headlining!” 1956. The warning was issued to be heard. Appearing a thug in Marked by hate, which tells the story of a little striker who became a boxing champion, Steve McQueen has rage in his heart. “This film is almost the story of my life. I should have had this role”, he says. “I didn’t really like Steve the first time I saw him, admettra Newman. He was a cheeky kid who wanted my part and did nothing to hide it.” McQueen is mostly a sharp skinned. Unhappy child and small delinquent, he nourishes, since he is an actor, a frenzied ambition. Whether Marked by hate launches the career of Paul Newman, Steve McQueen will have to wait six years, and The great Escape, before exploding. But jealousy, fuel and poison, is still in him. “I couldn’t stand being Paul’s friendhe confided in 1970. He was ahead of me and I had to catch up. Now that I’ve succeeded, I want to be bigger than him.”
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Ego trip
McQueen proves it eighteen years later on the set of The Infernal Tower. Where Newman, devoid of vanity, does not intend to fight on everything, Steve does not let go. Paul leaving him the choice, he prefers, even if he appears late, to interpret the heroic fireman rather than the architect of the tower. Learning that he has twelve replicas less than him, McQueen demands that this injustice be repaired. After hesitating, he decides that his name should be on the left in the credits, but slightly lower than his partner’s, thinking that the audience would read it before Newman’s. Is it the consequence of an ego finally satisfied? Sharing a passion for Formula 1, they will end up getting closer, even teaming up within a production company. But McQueen will only shoot a handful of films. As if the appeasement of this rivalry had dried up his desire to play.
