What kind of shoes did Steve McQueen wear in The Great
Escape?
A booklet that comes with
these shoes says they are Clark's
Desert Boots. McQueen also wore them off-screen, according
to Clark's.
(These can be ordered
from Amazon.com. Click on image below: )
Clarks
Desert Boot
The Clark's booklet says:
(Thanks to Paul Dezentjé for the above info)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
However, the boots McQueen wore in the movie do not appear to be Clark's Desert Boots. They are
standard
GI Issue M-43 Roughout Boots, which were worn by U.S. troops during World War
2 and would be correct for the character of Hilts.
Replicas of this WWII boot are
made by various manufacturers. Toys McCoy, a Japanese company
licensed to sell McQueen products, has replicas of McQueen's Great
Escape boots with the following description:
TOYS
McCOY JAPAN-The
Great Escape-Steve McQueen-Service Shoes
"
Toys McCoy scarce Steve
McQueen Legend Collection boots. These are the same style M-43 service
shoes that Steve
McQueen wore
in The Great Escape movie. They come in an attractive fully illustrated box. No
doubt will be a high-end collectible. Made with the best materials and detail
only a Japanese maker could produce. Wear or display them, you'll need to make
that choice." (these
replicas sell on Ebay for $649)
What were Steve McQueen's favorite shoes?
Neile McQueen, Steve's first wife, mentions in her book what brand
of shoes McQueen wore the most.
"He was featured in all the fashion magazines-mens
and womens-modeling the latest sportswear and also the Cardin and Brioni suits
he favored at that time-along with the Murray’s Space Shoes he insisted
on wearing. Steve had problems with his feet and knees and was almost always in
pain due to all the injuries he’d suffered in motorcycle racing accidents. The
Danny Kaye suggested Steve try these shoes and they’d save him a lot of pain.
He had several pairs made for him and very rarely wore anything else. They
looked a little odd under those expensive clothes and also gave the mistaken
impression that he wore lifts. Not true. At five feet ten and a half, there was
no reason to."
Murray's Space Shoes are really ugly.
From the manufacturers website:
MURRAY SPACE SHOES are truly custom made because our unique
process captures all the three dimensional measurements, all the top, side and
bottom contours of YOUR feet before shoemaking begins. We don’t pinch, squeeze
or distort YOUR feet to put them into some arbitrary shape.
Every shoe, boot and sandal is truly custom made for each foot
by a unique molding process. Many shoemakers claim “custom made” for
advertising purposes, but MURRAY SPACE SHOE really makes custom made shoes,
custom made boots and custom made sandals according to the shape of YOUR feet.
The inside of MURRAY SPACE SHOES are made
to fit YOUR feet. MURRAY SPACE SHOES are custom made
by molding them to plaster casts the shape and size of YOUR individual feet.
That is WHY they are the most comfortable shoes in the World!
Unbelievably these shoes are
still being made, and the Murray's Space
Shoes website is as ugly as the shoes.
It's true. McQueen really did
wear them.
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