The incomparable charisma of screen legend Steve McQueen is fully recognized in this collection of films spanning from 1960, with John Struges’ “Seven Samurai” inspired “The Magnificent Seven,” to 1972 with Sam Peckinpah’s “Junior Bonner.” “The Great Escape” teams then newcomer Steve McQueen with James Garner, Charles Bronson and James Coburn in a WW II POW escape movie famous for McQueen’s unforgettable fence jumping motorcycle stunt. Norman Jewison’s “The Thomas Crown Affair” plays like a sophisticated James Bond movie with McQueen and Faye Dunaway locked in a romantic pas de deux that tests their opposing professions as an elegant thief and a sanguine insurance investigator. Sam Peckinpah’s trenchant family drama “Junior Bonner” is about a rodeo cowboy reconciling with his troubled family in the face of a shrinking western landscape. Special features include English, French and Spanish subtitles, audio commentary by Norman Jewison, Walter Mirisch, Eli Wallach, James Coburn and Sam Peckinpah, a making-of documentary about “The Great Escape,” and a making-of documentary about “The Magnificent Seven. Aspect ratio is 16×9 Widescreen, with uniform sound presented in Dolby Digital. (Movies – Four Stars, DVD features – Two Stars) Titles range from no rating to R. Over 480 mins. (MGM Home Video)
