 Steve McQueen scorches the streets of San Francisco |
| Review Date: November 20, 2000 |
| Reviewer: P. Ferrigno, Melbourne, Victoria Australia |
Arguably the best crime film of 1968, and certainly one of the most influential films of the genre...."Bullitt" established new directions in the mood and style of crime thrillers, and firmly established McQueen as one of the key anti-hero stars of the 60's. Based on the gritty novel "Mute Witness" by Robert L. Pike, this was the first, and only, time McQueen portrayed a police officer (albeit a maverick one) in his movie career. In 1968 Steve was then riding high on the success of his previous heist film, "The Thomas Crown Affair", and "Bullitt" just propelled his star even higher into the cinematic heavens !
The plot is tight, economical and well crafted....taciturn, moody Detective Frank Bullitt (McQueen) is charged with the protection of a key witness vital to an upcoming trial involving Mafia connections. Whilst hidden away in a supposed secure location, the witness and his police guard are brutally gunned down by unknown assailants. The heat is turned up on Bullitt by his tough Captain (Simon Oakland) and the manipulative, opportunistic politician Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) to come up with the right answers fast ! Between the draining investigation, Bullitt struggles to maintain his relationship with his cultured, sensitive girlfriend, Cathy (Jacqueline Bisset)
Primarily coming from a TV series background, Englishman Peter Yates (directing his fourth movie) did a commendable job as director on "Bullitt"...producing a complex, intense crime thriller with a unique style that would ultimately influence many other films. Yates would later to go onto direct tough guy Robert Mitchum in the excellent 1973 "sleeper" crime film "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" !
And of course "Bullitt" is reknowned for it's now legendary car chase between Frank Bullitt's 390 GT Mustang and the two hitmen in their black, Dodge Charger 440 Magnum barrelling through the city streets and highways of San Francisco....just don't pay too much attention to how many times they pass that slow-moving, green VW Beetle !!
The DVD transfer is excellent in both sound and picture quality, and the Limited Edition Collectors Set with the additional goodies (Single sheet poster, shooting draft, lobby cards etc.) is a real bonus for keen film fans !!
One of my favourite cop thrillers....McQueen sizzles on screen !! |
A Few Thoughts ... about an American Style Icon
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| Review Date: September 11, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Curtis Chambers, Clearwater, FL USA |
I have read GQ and other men's fashion magazines for the last 20 years. No single person is mentioned as a men's style icon more often than Steve McQueen, and this movie defines his style most clearly. What I think that is not often understood, is why his style is so beloved. It is minimalist, yes, but also, this is someone not playing the middle class America game.
1) He lives in a small apartment. The furniture is ordinary, with a few hip 60's touches. (Watch for the picture over his bed, his paisley bathrobe, the cool paper hanging lampshade, and a couple of hippie style items on the walls). You get the impression he owns about six pairs of clothes at most. He eats cheap frozen dinners (except for the occasional date at the cool San Fran Restaurant). He is not wasting this time and life keeping up with the Jones's.
2.) He is not climbing the career ladder. On this case, he doesn't give a thought to politics. He is not chasing the American ideal of success.
3.) Look closely and you will see his car, the most famous in any movie ever, is a olive drab color. Not candy apple bright red. It is a Mustang, a symbol of blue collar America. It is dusty, and he parks it in the street, not a garage. He does not inspect it for door dings every time he goes out to it. It has dents in it. You get the impression he doesn't spend his free time polishing and waxing it.
4.) He doesn't spend his time chasing money. He spends it on his job, trying to do what he thinks is right, not what is good for office politics and promotion.
5.) His clothes are 60's pre-hippie fashion perfection (look for the extremely tapered legs, the suede loafers, and of course the famous tweed blazer and blue turtleneck).
In summary, I think it is funny that people idolize McQueen's personal style in this movie and yet they don't realize why. It is not just the stoicism, or minimalism. It is the old fashion American values (think Old West). Just something to think about as you watch one of my favorite movies of all time. |
A classic
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| Review Date: March 24, 2007 |
| Reviewer: W/O permission, Amazon setup a Profile!!, 1 |
I have read some of the reviews and what is with all the plot and history stuff.
Maybe short on plot, a little confusing, but a great action film for its time.
No CGI, no fake this or fake that. I later read that they went through several cars to complete the scenes, but it was real or as real as it could be. No green scenes.
This is a movie from the era where muscle cars were being made and Detroit Heavy Metal was King. The Heavy Metal was wrapped with a plain jane body, but there were guts there. Like Steve McQueen.
Maybe I am recalling the visceral feelings I got from watching the movie.
It was Fall in the outskirts of Tacoma Washington at one of several Drive-Ins, and the movie started around 10 - 10:30 on a Friday night. It was damp and there was a low fog that had rolled in. My date and I were in a Fastback Mustang that had a small V-8, we very were close to Screen having arrived late - so the whole movie filled our field of vision. In the chase scenes in the hills of SF, it felt like we were right there in the vehicle. To this date I still can feel my stomach going up and down.
So get the movie, turn down the lights, turn off the cells, unplug the phones and watch the movie on the largest screen possible and as close as possible. Recreate a movie making era and experience that does not exist today and could not be recreated today. Enjoy actors just entering their craft. Do not over-analyze it.
Enjoy it for its rawness and utter power.
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Iconic
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| Review Date: July 11, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Olukayode Balogun, Leeds, England |
Cool never goes out of fashion and this movie remains amazingly watchable almost 40 years after it was made. Steve McQueen did better work than this in his tragically shortened career but this is one of the movies that helped make him a screen icon. He's at his thousand-yard-ice-cool-stare best as the maverick cop assigned to protect a key government witness against a crime syndicate. Robert Vaughn lends great support as the oily politician keen to see the witness kepts safe - or at least so it would seem. McQueen, as Lieutenant Bullitt is forced to resort to unorthodox methods when the assignment goes awry.
This is the movie that introduced me to one of the great loves of my life: the city of San Francisco and in my view, the city is indeed one of the iconic characters of this movie. Director Peter Yates does a great job of using the real urban setting to make more of the movie than the otherwise predictable script might have allowed. Jacqueline Bisset is gorgeous as Bullitt's typical 60s model-like girlfriend and there are notable appearances from the likes of a young Robert Duvall, Norman Fell and, especially interestingly from a black man's perspective, Georg Stanford Brown as the quiet but capable ER doctor.
The hill-jumping car chase scene (for which Frank P Keller won a well-deserved Oscar for editing) is now legendary - and actually the most popular car chase in Hollywood history - and whenever I watch the scene involving Bullitt's beautiful green Mustang GT 390 (and whatever the other car was), I am transported back to my teenage years when I just used to sit and stare.
And dream.
The extras on this two-disc special edition DVD make it a must for anyone who loves this movie. |
Its Quiet, Its Brooding, Its Mc Queen All the way
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| Review Date: December 22, 1999 |
| Reviewer: T. Girard, |
| When I first saw Bullitt in 68, I didn't have a clue about the plot. I just waited to see the car chase. Seeing it now, Especially being a San Franciscan, Made it a real Classic. The Jazz, Enricos Restraunt, The embarcadero freeway, All brought back memories of an earlier time. The best part besides the chase is the cinematography and Dialog. Sparse, Obtuse, Very fitting for the time in SF. It's nice when a film tells a story quietly and Steve Ma Queen is King. Also, this was the first time that a detective is in fashonable clothes. In fact Keven Costner credits a lot of his style to Steve Mc Queen's Characturiaztion of Bullitt. If that doesn't get you then the Camera scenes from inside the cars going down Hyde street will make your stomach rumble. See it on a Big Screen |
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