Bullitt (1968)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Peter Yates

Writers:

Alan Trustman (screenplay) and
Harry Kleiner (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 October 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Steve McQueen As 'Bullitt'

Plot:

An all guts, no glory San Francisco cop becomes determined to find the underworld kingpin that killed the witness in his protection.

Plot Keywords:

Killer | Politician | Hotel | Chase | Lieutenant

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 9 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Steve McQueen	...	Bullitt
Robert Vaughn	...	Chalmers
Jacqueline Bisset	...	Cathy
Don Gordon	...	Delgetti
Robert Duvall	...	Weissberg
Simon Oakland	...	Captain Bennet
Norman Fell	...	Baker
Georg Stanford Brown	...	Dr. Willard
Justin Tarr	...	Eddy
Carl Reindel	...	Stanton
Felice Orlandi	...	Renick
Vic Tayback	...	Pete Ross (as Victor Tayback)
Robert Lipton	...	1st Aide
Ed Peck	...	Westcott
Pat Renella	...	John Ross

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:Atp | Brazil:14 | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1968) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:16 | UK:AA (original rating)

Filming Locations:

1153-57 Taylor Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Warner Brothers/Seven Arts

Trivia:

The chase sequence takes place over a number of non-contiguous streets in and south of San Francisco. The sequence apparently starts under Highway 101 in the Mission District. When the Charger does a U-turn on what is Precita Avenue to follow the Mustang, a storage tank on Potrero Hill, in the southeast part of SF, is visible in the distance. The next few scenes are in the Bernal and Potrero areas; you can see green hills to the southwest on the horizon in one shot. Twenty-one seconds later, Coit Tower appears in the Mustang's front window to the east (as can be ascertained by the buildings' shadows). They then come to a stop for a Cable Car on Hyde Street and Filbert. The twin towers of Sts. Peter and Paul Church are visible just to the right of Coit Tower. They turn hard left next onto a four-lane street with a concrete median, what might be Columbus. A F-type street car is seen coming the opposite direction. They top a rise and Angel Island comes into view slightly on the left, placing them on about Stockton and Chestnut. They turn north, then west, then south uphill. In the next cut, they are coming downhill, north towards the Bay. They turn west and the next few scenes are inter-cut, reused footage of the same street sequence, as shown by repeated presence of the same Cadillac and a Green Volkswagen Beetle. They drive downhill or north, towards the Bay, and turn west in front of the same Caddy, several blocks north of Van Ness. They turn left or south, going uphill. They then are headed north and turn from Larkin St. onto Francisco St. headed west. In the next scene the Dodge is going north, rounding Laguna onto Marina, having leaped six blocks. They turn from Laguna St., in front of Ft. Mason, onto Marina and in front of the Safeway. (The bottom of the store's name can be seen as the Dodge veers onto Marina.) They accelerate down Marina with the Marina Green and the Bay visible in the background. In the next cut, Ft. Mason is again visible in the background as they once again round the turn on Marina onto the Marina green. With the next cut they turn in front of the Safeway again. The next cut puts them eight miles away, back in the Vistacion Valley district, turning right from University St. on to Mansell St. From there they cut to the San Bruno Mountains three miles away, heading west. After spinning out in the dirt shoulder, both cars are now headed east, evidenced by the shadows, before the Charger crashes.

Goofs:

Continuity: The Charger hits a parked car and damages the left fender, yet it is undamaged in subsequent shots.

Quotes:

Captain Bennett: He let the killers in himself? Why would he do a thing like that?
Frank Bullitt: I'm waiting to ask him.
Captain Bennett: What about the setup? What do you make of that?
Frank Bullitt: Shotgun and a backup man, professionals.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill (1999) (V)

McQueen In The Driver's Seat

Steve McQueen was usually worth watching no matter what he was in, although he did a few stinkers like everyone else. This is not one of them; he's excellent here as an intense but low-key cop. It's a pretty solid police thriller which features a famous car-chase scene that supposedly set the standard (or maybe it did at the time of release.)

What's interesting to note, according to a documentary on the DVD, is that McQueen did his own driving! No stuntman for him, even at 110 miles per hour through the streets. Speaking of streets, San Francisco always makes for an interesting local.

Robert Vaughn, Don Gordon, Jacqueline Bissett, Simon Oakland and Robert Duvall complete the big-name cast, but this is McQueen's movie all the way.....and, for a film almost 40 years old, it's not very dated.