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.
The Clark's booklet says:
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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 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 type of shoes did Steve McQueen wear in Bullitt?
A fan writes that if you freeze frame the scene at the end of Bullitt ( where he shoots the guy at the airport and kicks his gun away) it's clear that the shoes are definitely not TOD's. "They are a classic Sanders Playboy Lo Chukka Suede Boot with crepe soles like those pictured, made by Sanders & Sanders, a family owned Northamptonshire shoe maker."
On a retailer's website, the shoe's description says, "as worn by Steve McQueen."
It is confirmed by a recent article that the shoes worn in "Bullitt" are in fact Sanders Playboy Lo Chukka Suede Boots. Read it HERE.
Here was another answer many believed, but has been proven wrong.
They are (possibly) TOD'S Driving Shoes.
"Tod's Driving Shoe. Introduced on shoes made for Fiat magnate Gianni Agnelli. Diego Della Valle's signature pedal grippers altered the footprints of die-hard drivers and became a symbol of casual chic" Made in Italy by J.P. Tod's. These retail for around 450 dollars.
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. Then 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.
Here are some details on the airliners used in Bullitt.
If anyone's interested, here is some information on the MANY airliners which appear in the film's climax at San Francisco International Airport, as seen on the DVD release .
707-321B
Pan Am 707-321B "Jet Clipper Ann McKim" - Steve and the bad guy run around underneath it shortly after having jumped off of another airplane at the terminal. The tail number "N414PA" can be clearly seen.
Pan Am 707-321B number "409" - a close-up of the "nose" of this airliner is seen in the same scene described above. "409" was the "Jet Clipper Eclipse" N409PA. PSA 727-14 number "103" - bad guy runs underneath it. The number "103" can be seen on the forward landing gear doors and corresponds to aircraft tail number N972PS.
The following MAY have appeared but cannot be confirmed because of the limitations of the fim grain (even on the DVD version), or because it was out of focus:Pan Am 707's "Jet Clipper Glory of the Skies" (taxies back to the gate w. bad guy aboard), number "402"? (Steve runs under it just as it's taking off). The "402" can be seen only in the "making of" featurette on the DVD. Also, a -200 series (stretched) PSA 727 appears but is unidentified.
727-200
Observation: the production company must have struck a deal with Pan Am because, if you look carefully in the background of one of the outdoor airport chase scenes, the sign with white "FLY" and red "TWA" is strategically covered up. The typeface of the neon "FLY" also confirms that the second half must have been indeed "TWA".The black & white clock at the terminal seems out of place. Perhaps it was put there just for the movie (easier to reset the time everytime a scene is shot & re-shot). I know that they were filmed after 11:00 pm in what seemed to be chilly weather. (Special thanks to Louis Gonzalez for sending this in)
When did Steve McQueen put his hand and foot prints in cement at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood?
March 21, 1967
(Coincidentally, Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw's prints are the only two upside down)
When did Steve McQueen receive his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?
June 12, 1986
What was Steve McQueen's favorite kind of beer?
Old Milwaukee Beer.
Where was the motorcycle chase in The Great Escape filmed?
The chase was filmed around the medieval town of Fussen to the S.W. of Munich, near to the Austrian border.
What were McQueen's politics like?
He had conservative views and was a Republican.
What was Steve McQueen's favorite verse from the Bible?
John 3:16:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."
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