12 Years a Slave [2013]

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup, a free black man born in the North and sold into slavery in the South, and he is as painfully brilliant as the beatings he endures. Steve McQueen directs, and he is black, so there is no saccharine — just filmmaking.

d: Steve McQueen | imdb.com | trailer | Charlie Rose
What’d You Say to Pats? | Wesley Morris [Grantland]

The Great Escape (1963)

Based on a true story, Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough and Charles Bronson lead 250 soldiers out of a German POW camp in World War II. McQueen is the heart of the epic, his cool under duress a symbol of the men’s indomitable spirit.

d: John Sturges | imdb.com | trailer | The Making of ...