A French Kiss with Death: Steve McQueen and the Making of Le Mans

This book is for anyone that likes Steve McQueen, vintage sports car racing, or the movie Le Mans. Of course there's everything there is to know about the movie itself, but there's also a Steve McQueen bio, a history of that era's race cars, AND a history of the Le Mans race too! It's a big book that takes a while to read and once you're done with it, you're gonna want to read it again.

OK, I was half way to enjoying this book before I opened the cover...1) I'm a big motorsports and Le Mans fan, having been fortunate enough to attend the 1999 and 2001 races so far.2) I loved the film Le Mans.But the book certainly got me through the other 50%...What you get in this book is a fabulous scene setting of the history and significance of '24 Heures Du Mans', which is critical to show the importance of the event to Steve McQueen when he was preparing for and making the film - this was definitely a labour of love.Also there is a brief but by no means lightweight biography of the man himself, again helping to build up an image of the actual person who was making the movie.Then, in meticulous detail, you get the story of the build up, preparation and filming of 'Le Mans', with plenty of interesting anecdotes and events, particularly on how the fantastic crash sequences were filmed.In my opinion you will enjoy this book if any of the below apply:You are a motorsport fan with an interest in the history of the sport.You are a Steve McQueen fan.You enjoyed the movie and want to know how it was made.If you fit into two or all three categories you will definitely be on to a winner!

I'm giving this book five stars, not because it's perfect or couldn't have been much better, but because I'm very happy I bought it. One of the auto magazines had a review that said "a horrid title for a great book" (as close as I can remember). I agree with both. The title is childish and unfortunate, and probably will turn off people who would have bought the book otherwise. That's a shame. The book could have been even better if it didn't use up a lot pages on the history of the LeMans race, and about the various teams competing in the race the year the movie was made. The authors seem to have thought they needed to "set the stage" for people not familiar with the event. But I think the people who will want to buy this book are already familiar with the event as well as the movie. Some of those pages could have been spent on even more detail about the making of the movie -- that's how the book could have been better. But I really enjoyed reading the book as it is, so what might have been is academic.If you're the kind of person who's watched the movie multiple times, you will like this book. On the other hand, if you're the kind of person who thought the movie was lousy, you don't want to buy this book. You know who you are. If you liked the movie, but were put off by this books title, my advice is to ignore the title and buy the book anyway. (About 300 pages into the book I finally found out that the title wasn't just plucked out of some marketing idiot's nether regions. A fellow writing a proposal to do a documentary about the making of the movie used that bit of purple prose as his punchline in an attempt to make it sound sensational. But it's still an unfortunate title.)

This book is first of all an absolute must read for all Steve McQueen fans because it's the most detailed ever story about the one film Steve always wanted to do for himself and which was finally completed against all odds. But it is also a must read for everybody who has seen the movie 'Le Mans' and became fascinated by the subject. Both authors are very qualified to write about the race as they have participated as drivers and Jonathan Williams even drove the camera car for the movie at race speed during the real event! The pictures printed in the book are priceless and come mainly from private collections of people who were involved in making the film and have therefore never been published before. But everybody who didn't like the movie 'Le Mans' or who didn't understand Steve McQueens obsession about cars, motorbikes, speedevents and sportcar racing in particular will most likely also dislike this book! But if you, like me, can hardly stop reading it and cannot put it down before finishing with the last page will probably want to see the next '24 hours of Le Mans' live and travel to all the places in this area of rural France described in the text of the book, preferably driving a black Porsche 911 like Steve did. This book is definitely one of the top five in my collection of 160+ motorsport books. See you at Le Mans in June!

Michael Keyser's A French Kiss With Death has succeeded in capturing every bit of Steve McQueen's enduring love affair with motorsports. Keyser and Jonathan Williams have assembled a wonderful collection of over 700 photographs that blend nicely with the text to provide a detailed account of the events leading up to making the Le Mans film...with many behind the scenes photos which have never, heretofore, been published. Devotees of the movie, Le Mans; the race itself, and of actor/racer Steve McQueen will appreciate all the energy that went into this publication. A French Kiss...is much more than just another coffee table book...this one is special... and it goes into my motorsports archives along with Keyser's first book, The Speed Merchants, and next to Jesse Alexander's At Speed, and Karl Ludvigsen's Excellence Was Expected! Heroes are hard to find. Steve McQueen was certainly one of mine...and perhaps one of yours too. A French Kiss With Death will bring back all those great memories!