Steve McQueen Inspires Us To Escape the Routine

We seem to go in batches when we see movies. Weeks of good films followed by weeks of bad ones. But lately, without fail, every time we go to the movie theater we leave knowing we wasted our hard-earned dough. Oddly, the best run we ever had were three weeks of free movies we checked out from the public library. Hit after hit after hit! We chalked it up to lowered expectations and the knowledge that we didn't waste a dime to see the flick.

To break our recent movie rut we enlisted the help of TiVo and Steve McQueen. I'd seen Papillon a half dozen times, and finally gotten Jim to watch it a few months back. I just love that film. So this time we decided to embark on what will further be known as McQueen Week 'o6. So far we've seen The Great Escape (Jim still whistles the theme from the movie), Bullitt (featuring the mother of all car chases) and as of last night The Hot Rock (an awesome heist film). For the uninitiated, it must be noted that the legendary McQueen is able to carry a film with very few words. His "I've got a secret" demeanor and expressive face do most of the work for him. We're hooked - and we're not even done with our TiVo'd movies.

What humored us was knowing that we'd taken to Steve (we feel we can refer to him on a first name basis now) for an escape from the ordinary. An escape from work. An escape from subpar entertainment. An escape from daily life. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that Hummer is borrowing a page from the same book for their latest campaign.

Designed to inspire you to break free from your routine, "Escape" is for anyone who's ever worked on an office and daydreamed about breaking out to have some fun. The spot is a perfect tribute to The Great Escape, and even features an appearance by McQueen's son. This is all in an effort to spice up the appeal of the H3 and encourage us to "Escape Greatly." Hummer hopes to overcome consumer misconceptions about their brand. With Escape, they hope to let us know that the newest Hummer is fun to drive, fuel efficient and affordable - and as it just so happens, the perfect escape vehicle for your adventures.

So here's our advice for the week: watch the The Great Escape, view this terrific Hummer commercial and do something new and different. Break out of your own routine and go have some fun. Trust us, the office will be there when you return.