bullitt

It goes without saying that Steve McQueen is one of the coolest and toughest dudes to ever swagger
onto the silver screen. His calm and collected competence and confidence silence made him a man’s
man on film. Famous for jumping motorcycles in “The Great Escape” and shooting bandits in “The
Magnificent Seven,” McQueen was already a Hollywood bad boy in the late 1960s when he filmed his cult
classic, “Bullitt.”

From what I understand, McQueen really wasn’t enthused about doing this movie because he, well, didn’t
like cops. If I’m not mistaken, it was the promise of a big car chase that compelled him to take the part.
McQueen loved doing his own stunts in vehicles. Heck, he loved vehicles period.

In the film, McQueen plays Detective Frank Bullitt of the San Francisco police department. He’s ordered
to watch out for a witness who claims he can expose major members of the mafia, known in the film as
simply, “The Organization.” Robert Vaughn plays a seedy district attorney, Chalmers, who is depending
on Bullitt to protect his witness, or is he? When the witness is unexpectedly murdered, Bullitt thinks the
whole thing stinks, and he doesn’t trust Chalmers any father than he can throw him. The rest of the film,
plot wise, I leave to your own curiosity.

What sets Bullitt apart is its almost documentary-like way of telling the story. There is very little music in
the soundtrack, and when it is there, it is very dated yet swanky 1960s jazz. Most of the sounds are
voices and ambient noises. All of the performances are somewhat surreal and yet completely realistic,
which possibly explains why they seem surreal. In movies, we are used to a heightened reality of sorts
and “Bullitt” provides none. As such, the performances seem surreal only because they are so
understated, especially McQueen, who does most of his work with looks that convey extremely complex
ideas and intricate emotions.

The centerpiece of the film is a crazy and now legendary car chase in which Bullitt first is pursued and
then pursues two suspected hit men. What makes this chase such a benchmark for action filmmaking is
that it was filmed virtually in real time without any camera trickery to speed up the vehicles.
Consequently, McQueen (who did most of his own stunt driving) and the hit man are jumping the hilly
streets of San Francisco at between 80 and 115 miles per hour! More amazingly, you can watch the
results as hubcaps fly off the hit men’s 1968 Dodge Charger R/T and McQueen’s 1968 Ford Mustang
GT390 fastback compresses so hard on its shocks after jumping a hill that its oil pan explodes!

This movie's chase is so dangerous it defies description as cars bounce off concrete barriers, wreck into
other vehicles and at one point, a shotgun blast rams into McQueen's windshield and believe me, it
doesn't look faked! This film tries so hard to be realistic it's insane.

The only drawback to the film is the pacing, and its very dated structure and editing styles. The film can
be somewhat slow and boring in places, make no mistake. However, McQueen, Vaughn and the lovely
Jacqueline Bisset more than make up for the movie's minor shortcomings. Besides, you’ll want to own
this movie simply for the chase alone. Yeah, it’s that amazing.

On top of that, this is a serious character study of a big city detective and the emotional distance he has
created from the world around him, including his girlfriend. The film carries some intelligent undertones
that are quite profound and take it beyond a simple cops and robbers story. A great movie.