Steve McQueen Le Mans Two-finger Salute Poster

Steve McQueen Le Mans Two-finger Salute Poster

Posters of Steve giving the “Two Finger Salute” taken by Nigel Snowdon on the set of the film “Le Mans” are available as an 18″ x 22″ lithograph on heavyweight matte paper.

As the story goes, hundreds of years ago when the English and the French were doing battle, the unfortunate English longbowman who fell into the hands of the French often had the two fingers of his “string pulling” hand lopped off. Should he escape, this would prevent him from plyin his trade as effectively. The English longbowmen would taunt the French by raising the two fingers across the lines to show they still had them. Through the years this gesture has remained a very English expression. In the last scene of Le Mans shown above, Steve McQueen, as Michael Delaney, salutes Ferrari driver Erich Stahler, played by Siegfried Rauch.

Photo by Nigel Snowdon