Bullitt (Special Edition) (DVD)

...12-minute long car chase when Bullitt pursues two of the aforementioned mobsters around the streets of San Francisco in his highly tuned Ford Mustang. The bad guys are driving a Dodge Charger, by the way, and so with two legendary American "muscle" cars pitting themselves against each other neither are short of horsepower!

Watching a repeat of the movie recently on Sky Movies, I was taken just how dated this car chase has ...
...the car chase scene in Bullitt is truly remarkable.

What's also interesting is that this car chase could never be filmed today. Warner brothers got permission from the Mayor of San Francisco to use the actual city streets, something that wouldn't even be contemplated in today's safety conscious society. And no insurance company would ever be prepared to carry the horrendous financial risk of insuring the actors, the cars, and the public ... more

FILM REVIEW ONLY
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It's very hard to believe that this classic cops and bad guys movie is now 40 years old. I remember watching it in the cinema (multiple viewings!) when it was released way back in 1968, and when the main star, Steve McQueen was so hot a star he was almost a super nova!

Bullitt's plot was simple enough. A bad guy has decided he's going to turn "rat", and dish the dirt on his fellow gangsters in the Mob in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Naturally enough, his erstwhile gangster buddies don't take too kindly to the prospect of frying in the electric chair or spending the rest of their lives in the pokey, and are determined he'll never live to give his testimony.

Enter Steve McQueen as San Francisco street cop Detective Frank Bullitt, who's remit from the state is simply to keep the said bad guy alive long enough to get his day in court.

What the film is most noted for is its absolutely outstanding, 12-minute long car chase when Bullitt pursues two of the aforementioned mobsters around the streets of San Francisco in his highly tuned Ford Mustang. The bad guys are driving a Dodge Charger, by the way, and so with two legendary American "muscle" cars pitting themselves against each other neither are short of horsepower!

Watching a repeat of the movie recently on Sky Movies, I was taken just how dated this car chase has now become with the passage of time. When you compare it to car chases and races in more modern movies like "Gone In 60 Seconds" or "The Fast and The Furious - Tokyo Drift" then it looks decidedly amateurish. But you must remember that when this film was made back in the late 1960's the computer aided images and sequences that are now available to today's movie makers simply weren't available, and when viewed in this context the car chase scene in Bullitt is truly remarkable.

What's also interesting is that this car chase could never be filmed today. Warner brothers got permission from the Mayor of San Francisco to use the actual city streets, something that wouldn't even be contemplated in today's safety conscious society. And no insurance company would ever be prepared to carry the horrendous financial risk of insuring the actors, the cars, and the public during the shooting of such highly dangerous scenes.

Another interesting fact about the car chase scenes is that there is no musical score used. A score was planned initially, but let's face it, what musical score could possibly top the ear-splitting roar from the engines of the Ford Mustang and the Dodge Charger?

It's a commonly held belief that Steve McQueen performed all his own stunts in his movies in keeping with both the on-screen and off-screen macho man image he so carefully nurtured. When Bullitt was being made he was adamant that he was going to do all the driving in the car chase sequences himself, as it had just been revealed in the media that he actually *HADN'T* performed the motorcycle stunts in his 1963 movie "The Great Escape". These had instead been done by stuntman Bud Ekins. This was a huge embarrassment to McQueen hence his decision to do all his own stunts in future movies.

However, although McQueen was responsible for most of the chase footage in Bullitt, he didn't actually carry out some of the hairier stunts, after writing off his Mustang by wrapping it around two parked cars (at high speed) in an early shoot. Instead, the aforementioned Bud Ekins once again took to the wheel, despite impassioned and furious appeals by McQueen to allow him to carry on driving! The average speed of the two cars during this chase sequence was an amazing 75mph to 80 mph, and at times (on the straights) speeds well in excess of 110mph were reached. Four cars were used during the making of the chase scenes, and three ended up total wrecks!

Anyways, notwithstanding who was the actual driver, the car chase sequence is simply brilliant and is what earned the movie its place in cinematic history.

What is also remarkable about the movie is that it was the one of the few times McQueen was ever cast as a cop. In real life he was renowned as a hell raiser, and had thus had many brushes with the forces of law and order ever since his childhood years. But Bullitt was the very first movie from his own production company and he was well aware that with himself as the main star the movie would have a far better chance of being a success and grossing big at the box office. So he swallowed his dislike of coppers and even went so far as to spend some considerable time with actual San Francisco detectives to get a better feel for the part.

The movie also had a strong supporting cast with Robert Vaughn as a sleazy politician who has aspirations towards high political office and is therefore as bent as a nine bob note, and Jacqueline Bissett as McQueen's architect girlfriend. Vaughn was later to state that he considers his part as Chalmers as one of his finest hours as an actor, which is a wee bit ironic given that he turned the part down several times, only eventually coming on board through the sheer bloody mindedness of McQueen and a large increase in his fee.

The director, Peter Yates, was a virtual virgin in making full length movies when he took on Bullitt, with TV shows like Danger Man and The Saint making up the bulk of his CV. But he does a terrific job with Bullitt.

Bullitt will never be a classic cop movie in the traditional sense. It's simply too weak on plot and dialogue, although both McQueen and Vaughn give a virtual master class in "method" acting, letting their facial expressions and body language do most of the talking.

The movie is currently doing the rounds on Sky (January 2008), so keep your eyes skinned if you fancy catching it. Alternatively you can buy various versions of the DVD at the likes of Amazon or eBay at very low prices. (From £3.45 at Amazon) I must get around to buying the DVD myself now I've been reminded of just how good this movie actually is.

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© KenJ

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