As cited in Bruce Lee: a life by Matthew Polly, Lee visited Bob Smith’s Volkswagen-Porsche dealership in Hollywood to test drive the same car as McQueen. Once he was done, he called his friend and said, “Steve, I’m going to buy a Porsche like yours.”

Concerned that Lee had not considered the risk of purchasing such a hot rod, McQueen, who was close to becoming a professional racing driver, offered to take the actor for a spin in the Porsche, telling Lee: “It’s a attractive car, but if you don’t know what you’re doing you can get in trouble with this thing.”

While Lee waited to be encouraged to buy the flashy high-speed car, McQueen had other ideas, intending to scare the actor into not purchasing the vehicle. Using his impressive array of automotive skills, he gave Lee the scare of his life.

“Okay, Bruce, are you ready?” McQueen told him on the roads of the San Fernando Valley to Mulholland Drive before the Bullitt The actor revved the engine and began speeding down the winding roads of the Santa Monica Mountains. “What do you think of this power, Bruce?” He shouted over the roar of the engine as he continued to perform dangerous tricks on the hairpin turns of the Los Angeles hills.

Looking around to check on his friend, the driver saw Lee crouching scared in the footwell, shouting, “McQueen, you son of a bitch!… McQueen, I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you, McQueen! “I’m going to kill you!”

Seeing the anger on Lee’s face, McQueen returned home. The two were still fighting, and both were terrified of getting hurt as a result. “Steve, slow down,” Lee shouted. “You’re not going to hit me, are you, Bruce?” —McQueen pleaded. The two playfully discussed this until the driver finally stopped and Lee announced, “I’ll never drive with you again, McQueen. Never!”

With two Hollywood icons in an exciting and ridiculous movie situation, it’s a surprise that this genuine moment of real-life movie magic never made it to the big screen, although one could suggest that Quentin Tarantino offered a rough vision of what could have happened. it happened in your movie Once upon a time in Hollywood, that in the photo “Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth goes toe-to-toe with Lee”.

Of course, the reality of a real fight between the two men would likely see McQueen with as many black eyes as Lee could muster. However, the actor was not far behind; as Lee noted in an interview: “As a wrestler, Steve McQueen is good in that aspect because that son of a bitch gave him that toughness. He was like, ‘It’s okay honey, I’m here, man.’ And he will.”

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