Bullitt

In last week's post about the Friends of Eddie Coyle, I mentioned that the director Peter Yates, had also directed Bullitt (1968). For a long time, I've meant to watch Bullitt, so I did.

Bullitt is a neo-noir cop drama about protecting a witness and solving crime. Story wise the plot is really nothing special. I found Steve McQueen as Lieutenant Bullitt okay but not that remarkable. Robert Vaughn as Senator Chalmers is amazingly nasty and slimy. So slimy in fact that when Vaughn tried to get into politics, his performance got in his way since people remembered how oily he was.

Beyond these two we have Jaqueline Bisset as Cathy, Bullitt's girlfriend and Robert Duvall as a cab driver. I don't think I've ever seen him in such a minor role before. All actors do a good job, the cinematography is great and the music is... 60's jazz. Good if you like the stuff. I think...

Where Bullitt really shines is in the influence it has had on the TV and cinema that came along afterwards. This movie became absolutely iconic in its time and I don't think it is unfair to say that Bullitt is the archetype for the cop who plays by his own rules and does whatever it takes to get the job done no matter who gets mad at him.

Bullitt's other huge claim to fame is the car chase that is still amazing to this day. Bullitt drives a 1968 Ford Mustang as he chases two killers in a 1968 Dodge Charger. Seeing these powerful muscle cars race around San Francisco is a treat. Keep in mind that there was no CGI at the time so the hairpin turns and jumps were performed for real. This movie is also probably the inspiration for multiple movies featuring car chases in San Francisco, with its twisting streets and many steep hills.

McQueen is credited as being the driver of the Ford but in fact some shots were filmed with a stuntman, the same stuntman who did the motorcycle jump in the Great Escape – Bud Ekins. When McQueen found out, he was furious as he had gotten quite a bit of flak for not doing the jump himself.

The driver of the Dodge was Bill Hickman, an experienced stunt-driver and racer. Hickman was a good friend of James Dean and was in fact the one who pulled Dean's body out of the crashed Porsche Spyder that killed him.

I could go on listing interesting facts about this movie like how there were no sets built. All scenes were shot on location. The Mayor of San Francisco was keen to promote his city as a film location and the crew got to shut down streets for hours at a time. They even got a hospital wing to film in. The only request that got turned down was to film on Golden Gate bridge.

I said I could go on, but why bother? Check the humongous trivia page on IMDB if you want to know even more. Okay, one more. Bullitt is often credited as being the first movie where the word “Bullshit” was uttered, but it is in fact the second. The first is In Cold Blood (1967).

Do I recommend this movie? Yes, I suppose so. It is a classic and there is nothing wrong with it. If all you care about is the car chase, you can see it on Youtube. Beyond that, movie buffs need to see it but I don't think it's any great loss if you skip it. Again, there is not anything really wrong with it, but I don't think it quite lives up to the enormous reputation it has.

 

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!