Bullitt a Peter Yates Film

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'There are bad cops and there are good cops-and then there's Bullitt.'
Bullitt 1968/COLOR/126MIN/14A/WARNER

D Peter Yates
Cast
Steve McQueen
Robert Vaughn
Jacqueline Bisset
Robert Duvall
Don Gordon

Music
Lalo Schifrin

DP
William A. Fraker

Written by
Based on the noval Mute Witness by Robert L. Pike

Producer
Philip D'Antoni

Steve McQueen is BULLITT a cop given the unfortunate task of keeping a star witness under protection but when the witness gets silenced Bullitt sense somethings up and tries to get down to the bottom of it. The movie is so committed to realism that Bullitt only draws his gun one time in the movie and they use
a real hospital with mostly real doctors and nurses same with the airport scene at the end. The movie is known to have the greatest car chase in film history and what makes it so great is the fact that Steve McQueen did some of his own stunts including the full throttle, adrenalin pumping car chase and was one of the first movies to be shot entirely on location in San Francisco. Another intresting fact is the films stunt cordinator and driver Bill Hickman in the aposing car plays the actor in the film and also was an actor stunt cordinator and driver in the French Connection & the Seven-ups both which were produced by Philip D'Antoni.

* VHS, LD, DVD



Bullitt was an innovative procedural cop thriller when released in 1968, redefining the genre for the coming decade. The rightfully famous car chase up, down and over Frisco's remarkably steep streets gave birth to what would, unfortunately, become a tired cliche by the '80s. Lalo Schifrin's funky score also became the genre standard for years. Detective Frank Bullitt is undoubtably one of McQueen's most enduring star turns, and in his prime too. Bullitt made Peter Yates' career, which flourished (the highlights being Breaking Away, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, and The Hot Rock) until peetering out in the '80s. The supporting cast is fantastic, with the ever-beautiful Jacqui Bisset (still MADLY in love with her, myself), Robert Vaughn, Norman Fell, Vic Tayback and Robert Duvall.

Yet having said all that, I don't know how well Bullitt really holds up today. It's place in modern American cinema is forever secured, but as revolutionary as it was in genre terms back then, it's quite simplistic today. Yes, the chase remains The Chase...though honestly it was surpassed by what Friedkin did chasing that El Train with a dirty Chevy in The French Connection just three years later (and I think the freeway chase in Friedkin's To Live & Die in L.A. (1985) is even another step forward, and the chase that abruptly ends at the back of a truck in The Seven-Ups is great stuff). McQueen still exudes Cool to the Nth degree, to be sure. Bullitt is still a very fine movie. But the impact it made back in the late '60s is going to be completely lost on most audiences in 2001.

Bullitt paved the way, but I think it was surpassed fairly quickly. The French Connection is a much better procedural, a gritty flick and an envolving character study that I think remains as viable today as it did in '71. As for a police thriller, Dirty Harry (also released in 1971) is much more thrilling & stylish, and the Callahan character more iconic than Bullitt. Like The French Connection, I find the original Dirty Harry still stands on its own today, and their vitality and relevance is evident even when compared directly to the seemingly endless stream of procedurals and thrillers that have emerged in their wake the last thirty years. For me Bullitt doesn't have that same level of timlessness.

I still recommend Bullitt to any fans of police thrillers. Grade: B+

Other grades in the genre:
Dirty Harry (1971), A-
The French Connection (1971), A+
The Seven-Ups (1973), B
To Live & Die in L.A. (1985), A-
Year of the Dragon (1985), C+
Sharky's Machine (1980), B-
Lethal Weapon (1987), B
Cobra (1986), F
Nighthawks (1981), C+
The Laughing Policeman (1973), B
Madigan (1968), C
The Detective (1968), D
McQ (1974), D
Panic in the Streets (1950), B
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I get what you mean by it not holding up to a lot of people but to me it holds the last shot speaks volume the simple look in the mirrior at himself say a lot about his character. Seven-ups, The French Connection and To live in Die in L.A. I own all of them but I still think that Bullitt is a better car chase but that's me. Here's some more movies with good car chase RONIN,all of Smokey and the bandit and all of Canonball Run,the orignal Gone in 60 seconds and The Italian Job.

yeah cobra is pretty bad but as a kid I have to admit I loved it.

Year of the Dragon is super cool it's so in your face and Mickey is awesome Alex thomson was the cinematographer and the train at the end shows how good he is he also did John Boorman's Excalibur which I also think is a visual fest.

The Laughing Policeman was Quite good and Bruce Dern I've always loved and him and Walter do a great job together.

McQ could you tell me a bit about it buddy I haven't seen it yet but I do like John Struges and John Wayne I know you gave it a D but I'm still wondering thanks

A couple more I'd like to add that are my favorites
(in no order)

The New Centurions (1972)
Freebie and the Bean (1974)
Offence, The (1973)
Tightrope (1984)
Coogan's Bluff (1968)
8 Million Ways to Die (1986)
Nora inu (Stray Dog)(1949)
Serpico (1973)
Killer Inside Me, The (1976)
Homicide (1991)
Q & A (1990)



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
I saw it and liked it overall but I find it be oddly edited in parts. What was the point of the nightclub scene for example, where nothing seemed to happen, or the scene where it shows what his gf does in her job, even though that is not relevant? There is also a scene where it shows bullet park his car, get out, buy a newspaper, show for groceries, and then goes all the way back to his apartment and closes the door.

Was there a point to these scenes I missed?



I saw it and liked it overall but I find it be oddly edited in parts. What was the point of the nightclub scene for example, where nothing seemed to happen, or the scene where it shows what his gf does in her job, even though that is not relevant? There is also a scene where it shows bullet park his car, get out, buy a newspaper, show for groceries, and then goes all the way back to his apartment and closes the door.

Was there a point to these scenes I missed?
Bullitt is one of my favorite films. Ever. Ditto McQueen.

Okay. Nightclub scene: do you mean the scene when a group of them were at dinner in a restaurant? If so, the scene was needed to show how much McQueen likes Bisset without him being all over her, as it were. Also to show McQueen can laugh off a waiter accidentally hitting his head.

The scene at Bisset’s workplace is one of my fave scenes. Big-time detective, but he loses his place when she asks him to call off numbers. So cute.

McQueen doesn’t BUY the newspaper - he steals it. Amusing scene. The rest of the scene shows Bullitt as an ordinary man. He needs to eat & he needs to rest.
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Good review. But let’s not under-mention Bud Ekins “the guy on a motorcycle”. He was McQueen’s buddy & was his stuntman in The Great Escape. He was also one of the stuntmen for the car chase in Bullitt.