requim for a dream cruiser

The name of the movie was Somebody up there up there likes me. IT WAS A POPULAR FILM OF ITS TIME, THE MID NINETEEN FIFTIES.IT AND IT WAS A STORY OF A PRIZE FIGHTER WHO FIGHTS HIS WAY TO THE TOP. 
IT WAS BREAK OUT FILM FOR A YOUNG ACTOR,PAUL NEWMAN. FURTHER DOWN IN THE BILLING AND PROMOTION OF THE MOVIE WAS ANOTHER ACTOR NAMED STEVE MCQUEEN.THE LATTER HAD TO BE CONTENT WITH STARING IN A TV SHOW CALLED WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE.A NATIONAL MAGAZINE OF THE ERA DID AN ARTICLE ON THE SHOW WITH A PICTURE OF MR AND MRS. MCQUEEN STRUGGLING TO HELP HIM GET INTO COWBOY BOOTS.DESPITE SUCH EARLY STRUGGLES MCQUEEN VOWED TO HAVE EQUAL BILLING WITH PAUL NEWMAN SOME DAY.
 MCQUEEN MCQUEEN'S BREAK OUT FILM WAS A MOVIE CALLED THE GREAT ESCAPE IN WHICH MCQUEEN STUNT RODE A MOTOR CYCLE INTO FAME AND FORTUNE.THE POWERS THAT WERE IN HOLLYWOOD  BACK THEN LIKED HIM.HE WAS A FRESH FACE AND HIS FILMS MADE MONEY AND THAT WAS ENOUGH FOR TINSEL TOWN TO HAND OVER THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM.
MCQUEEN  HAD SHIFTED GEARS SINCE THE GREAT ESCAPE AND IT WAS NOW RACING CARS THAT FASCINATED HIM.MCQUEEN BELIEVED THAT HOLLYWOOD HAD NEVER DEPICTED WHAT MAN,MACHINES,AND SPEEDS OF UP TO 200 MILES DID FOR ALL CONCERNED.INSTEAD OF ACTORS MCQUEEN SURROUNDED HIMSELF WITH A CADRE OF RACE DRIVERS.WHILE HE HAD SOME HELP FROM PEOPLE HE WORKED WITH ON THE GREAT ESCAPE, MCQUEEN WAS DRIVEN BY A VISION OF PERFECTION.
THE 24 HOUR ENDURANCE RACE WOULD BE SHOT TWICE.ONCE AS RACE ACTUALLY OCCURED AND THEN AGAIN WITH THE FICTIONAL VERSION MCQUEEN AND TEAM OF DRIVERS WOULD PRODUCE.THEN THE FILMS WOULD BE MERGED.AS BILLS MOUNTED AND A TANGIBLE SCRIPT WAS STILL A WORKS IN PROGRESS HOLLYWOOD BALKED AND REPLACED MCQUEEN WITH ONE OF THEIR OWN INCLUDING A DIRECTOR  MCQUEEN CLAIMED KNEW NOTHING ABOUT RACING.
IT WAS SET BACK FOR A MAN WHO HAD FEW IN HIS ROAD TO THE TOP.Back in Hollywood McQueen returned to some of his best work. He STARED IN THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, PApION WITH DUSTIN HOFFMAN, GETAWAY WITH Aly Mcgraw, and the Towering inferno where he received top  Billing with Paul Newman.
HE even found time to appreciate the Russian 18th Century author TOLSTOY. In the end Tolstoy got a little preachy and wrote a tract entitled what must man do? McQueen played Tolstoy but the needless to say the film was not a big box office hit. We know that McQueen died of Cancer at an early age.
Very possibly it was the result it was the result of Asbestos treated masks the racing drivers of the era wore.
There is an excellent documentary film on the movie Mcqueen tried to make, and his quest for perfection. One of the drivers who was part of McQueen's, Brain Trust at Le Mans went on to win the the real race five times.
The documentary ends with McQueen telling a person off camera that if anything should happen to him on a particularly difficult stunt on the set of the  Towering Inferno, "If Anything should happen to me tell Alie she can have the pick up."Everyone Laughs.