Speeding Bullitt: The Life and Films of Steve McQueen

Go behind the scenes of HBO's documentary, Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind with director Laurent Bouzereau, a pioneer of "making-of" documentary film making and the director of Netflix's Five Came Back.

On this episode of Speeding Bullitt, Marshall Terrill and I look at McQueen's life immediately after The Great Escape, following the "King of Cool" to New York City as he films Love with the Proper Stranger with the Magnificent Natalie Wood. After that, Dr. Gretchen Sisson, PhD joins me to explore representations of abortion and reproductive decision-making in film and television.

Tyler Trafford joins me to share the emotional story behind his 2014 W.O. Mitchell Award, the Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Non-Fiction, and the Alberta Readers' Choice Award winning novel, Almost a Great Escape. It's an incredible story about his mother's love affair with Norwegian pilot Jens Müller, one of only three men to escape to freedom from German POW camp Stalag Luft III.

Film writer and critic Sheila O'Malley discusses her essay Not Caught, part of the Criterion Collection release of The Great Escape, after which film historian Steve Rubin explores how the film came together.

On this episode of the show, I am joined by writer and Steve McQueen expert Marshall Terrill to talk about McQueen's experience in England filming The War Lover, and by Matthew Burchette, Senior Curator at Seattle's Museum of Flight to explore the history of one of The War Lover's biggest stars, the Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress.

Bruce Lee: A Life author Matthew Polly joins me to discuss how his 2018 definitive biography of Bruce Lee came together, share stories about the martial arts legend, and to dismiss popular rumours about the Enter the Dragon star.

After watching Bao Nguyen's ESPN 30 for 30 documentary Be Water, I connect with the Steve McQueen expert Marshall Terrill to discuss McQueen's relationship with Bruce Lee.

In 1979, Alexander Hamilton High School student Rick Penn-Kraus had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Steve McQueen. It was the Hollywood icon's first interview in almost a decade, and the last formal interview he ever gave. This is Ricks's story about one of the most amazing moments of his life.

Episode 15B is my conversation with Steven Jay Rubin, an internationally recognized author, film historian, producer, screenwriter, and promoter. He has written nine books, including Combat Films: American Realism, 1945-2010.

Episode 15A is a conversation with Jeanine Basinger, founder of the department of film studies at Wesleyan University, a program that is considered to be one of the best of its kind in the world. She is the author of ten books on film including The World War II Combat Film: Anatomy of a Genre. Basinger is a trustee of the National Board of Review, a trustee emeritus of the American Film Institute, and a former member of the Board of Advisors of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers. She's also a huge Steve McQueen fan, citing Hell is for Heroes as her favourite "King of Cool" film. At the age of 84, Basinger is set to retire this summer, leaving behind an incredible legacy at Wesleyan University.