Bullitt (1968)

How sad is this?

Absolutely Fantastic

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Known for having the best car chase ever, Ever, EVER, "Bullitt" is a triumph in editing (for which it did win an Academy Award). McQueen's expert handling of a properly equipped '68 Mustang chasing the Mopar powered Challenger is, without any argument, one of the best car chase scenes any car enthusiast will ever witness in film. The plot aside, with Bullitt ordered to protect a witness against the Mob, the movie's 10+minute chase is one for the books. So good that the Library of Congress added it to the collection in 2007.Fast and Furious? Nope....this movie DEFINED F&F.

You must be either a car enthusiast, or be willing to ignore the numerous errors in this movie, in order to fully enjoy it. The acting itself is quite ordinary, nothing great there. Music is okay, but nothing great. The rambling and unrealistic screenplay is a little confusing and some plot twists are unexplained. The over-rated car chase scene is too long and at times boring. It's not only unrealistic, but badly edited. A far better car chase scene can be found in the original French Connection movie. To think that this film won any awards for anything is ridiculous. There are numerous continuity mistakes throughout the film.

Steve McQueen is one of my all-time favorite actors, I rate BULLITT his best movie and performance, so this is one of my all-time favorite flicks.I like the way BULLITT begins rather slowly, picks up with a terrific attack on a star witness in a hotel, slows down again, then turns up the heat with a pacy chase inside a hospital, then quietens again as BULLITT gathers info, then the famous car chase with McQueen behind the wheel of the mean Mustang machine, and the equally famous gas station explosion. And so it carries on, with fluctuations in mood and pace, but all tightly held by highly credible stunts and action, and a superb screenplay (apart from the completely spurious segments with the beautiful Jacqueline Bisset, the inevitable female figure to keep the female gender interested and contributing toward box office).Best of all, Steve McQueen, whose eyes alone carry enough menace to keep the viewer riveted. He speaks seldom and then not very much, but he suffers no fools, is a pro, completely interested in his work, and not above stealing a newspaper. There is clearly a shady side to Frank Bullitt, but it only adds to the character's credibility.Peter Yates' direction is first class. Pity that he may have been forced by the studio to include the completely unnecessary character played by Bisset. Apart from that, the acting, photography, stunts. soundtrack and script all interweave extremely credibly.An example is the confrontation between McQueen and Robert Vaughn, preceded by the misuse of an ambulance, an example of institutional racism in relation to a black doctor, and disrespect for the work of police.The climax at the airport is one of the movie's best sequences, in particular the search for the baddie inside the aircraft. Again, McQueen's eyes alone tell more than any amount of shots or words. He is completely mesmerizing and definitely towers above the film, raising it to heights that I doubt any other actor would have managed. A word of praise for entire supporting cast, all of the highest quality, with particular plaudits for the highly convincing villains.Finally, the ending - McQueen returns home, and settles back to routine, as happens with everybody. I have now watched BULLITT some 10 times, and I have always enjoyed it more than the previous times. Definitely worth 9 stars.

Congratulations, it's a boy! And so we have "Bullitt," the grumpy film from 1968 that gave birth to the anti-hero and ushered in an era of scowling detectives and the women who sit around dutifully waiting for them to come home.Actually, anti-heroes existed well before "Bullitt," but Steve McQueen did manage to turn the anti-hero into a household commodity, and everything from "The French Connection" (which was produced by the same man who produced "Bullitt" by the way) to the "Dirty Harry" movies owes a debt of gratitude to this movie.The funniest thing about "Bullitt" is that Steve McQueen actually isn't even a very good detective. He's constantly one-upped and outsmarted by the men he's supposed to be keeping an eye on. But he looks awfully good being a bad cop, except for those moments when he parades around in god-awful pajamas. He's a helluva driver though, as the film's most famous set piece, an endlessly parodied car chase through the streets of San Francisco, makes plain.The film also stars Jacqueline Bissett as a nominal love interest, though good luck distinguishing her from the wall paper for all the film gives her to do."Bullitt" won the 1968 Oscar for film editing (see "car chase" above), and nabbed another nomination for its sound.Grade: B