San Francisco has been the setting of a lot of exciting movie car chases over the years, but this 1968 police thriller is still the one to beat when it comes to high-octane action on the steep hills of the city by the Bay. The outstanding car chase earned an Oscar for best editing, but the rest of the movie is pretty good, too. Bullitt is a perfect star vehicle for cool guy Steve McQueen, who stars as a tenacious detective (is there any other kind?) determined to track down the killers of the star witness in an important trial. Director Peter Yates (Breaking Away) approached the story with an emphasis on absolute authenticity, using a variety of San Francisco locations. Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Duvall appear in early roles, and Robert Vaughn plays the criminal kingpin who pulls the deadly strings of the tightly wound plot. --Jeff Shannon
Product details
Aspect Ratio
:
1.78:1
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer
:
No
MPAA rating
:
Unrated (Not Rated)
Product Dimensions
:
6.5 x 5.25 x 0.3 inches; 0.01 ounces
Item model number
:
2231825
Director
:
Various
Media Format
:
Blu-ray
Run time
:
1 hour and 54 minutes
Release date
:
February 27, 2007
Actors
:
Various
Dubbed:
:
French, Spanish
Subtitles:
:
English, French, Spanish
Language
:
English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
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Bullitt was released in theaters on October 17, 1968 throughout the United States. Bullitt is a 1968 American thriller film starring Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset, and Robert Vaughn. It was directed by Peter Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. The story was adapted for the screen by Alan Trustman and Harry Kleiner, based on the novel titled Mute Witness (1963) by Robert L. Fish (aka Robert L. Pike). Lalo Schifrin wrote the original jazz inspired score, arranged for brass and percussion. The film won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing (Frank P. Keller) and was nominated for Best Sound. Writers Trustman and Kleiner won a 1969 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. Bullitt is probably best remembered for its car chase scene through the streets of San Francisco, regarded as one of the most influential car chase sequences in movie history. The scene had Bullitt in a dark "Highland Green" 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390 CID Fastback, chasing two hit men in a "Jewel Black" 1968 Dodge Charger R/T 440 Magnum. Robert Duvall has a small part as a cab driver who ferries McQueen around just before the chase scene. In 2007, Bullitt was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2008, Ford produced the Mustang Bullit model for the 40th anniversary of the film. The Bullit nameplate on the steering wheel honored the movie that made the Mustang one of the most popular cars of the 1960s and 1970s. The green color was also brought back for the anniversary edition.
Summary: Ambitious politician Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) is holding a Senate subcommittee hearing in San Francisco on Organized Crime in America. To improve his political standing, Chalmers hopes to bring down Chicago mobster Pete Ross (Vic Tayback) with the aid of key witness Johnny Ross, Pete's brother. Bullitt takes place the weekend before the hearing, from Friday night (during the opening credits) to Sunday night. Following his theft of $2,000,000 in mob money and subsequent escape from Chicago to San Francisco, Johnny (Felice Orlandi) is placed in the San Francisco Police Department's protective custody for the weekend. Chalmers requests Lieutenant Frank Bullitt's (Steve McQueen) unit to guard him. Bullitt, Sergeant Delgetti (Don Gordon) and Detective Carl Stanton (Carl Reindel), give Ross around-the-clock protection at the Hotel Daniels, a cheap flophouse near the Embarcadero Freeway. Late Saturday night, a pair of hit men (Paul Genge and stunt driver Bill Hickman), burst into the room and shoot both Inspector Stanton and Ross, seriously wounding them both. Bullitt wants to investigate who shot the pair and find the Mafia boss who ordered the hit. Upset, Chalmers attempts to shift blame on to Bullitt and the San Francisco Police Department. Ross subsequently dies of his wounds. Bullitt suppresses news of the death, asking Doctor Willard (Georg Stanford Brown) to misplace the chart and have the body placed in the morgue under a John Doe identity. Chalmers arrives at the hospital on Sunday morning and is angered that Ross has disappeared. He is further incensed when he and his police minder Captain Baker (Norman Fell) receive no help from Bullitt. Chalmers places pressure on Bullitt to produce Ross, to no effect. Bullitt reconstructs Ross's movements, finding his way to a hotel where he finds a woman registered under the name Dorothy Simmons (Brandy Carroll). With the hearing the next day, Bullitt suspects the dead mobster may not be who he seems. After picking up his Ford Mustang, Bullitt is tailed by the two hit-men, resulting in a famous car chase that ultimately kills the hit-men.
Questions: Why didn't Bullitt like Walter Chambers? Whom was Bullitt trying to protect? Why was Bullitt protecting this person? What did Walter Chambers have to do with the protected person? Who interrogates Bullitt? Why was Bullitt interrogated? Whose identity did Bullitt find out about? Why did Bullitt ask for a copy of a passport? Whose passport was it? Whom did Bullitt follow to the airport? Who was Bullitt girlfriend?
My thoughts: Much was made at the time, and over the years since, of Lt. Bullitt's stylish "casual" attire of a turtleneck worn with a sport coat, slacks, and suede-like shoes. Since the major portion of the story in the film takes place over a Saturday and Sunday, this was actually in keeping with some police department's traditions of a more relaxed dress code on weekends for plainclothes officers. Bullitt is first seen at work when meeting Chalmers on a Friday morning - wearing a traditionally conservative navy suit under his trench coat, with a white shirt, dark tie and dress shoes. I love this movie! Bullitt could have been another Dirty Harry series if they could have done it. Steve McQueen was great in his character Bullitt. I thought that Jacqueline Bisset was great as Bullitt girlfriend. She also looked great in Bullitt blue dress shirt. I love the car chase scenes through San Francisco. Especially the ones that went down the roads on the hillside, as they would jump from one road to another. This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the movie so I'm giving this movie 5 weasel stars.
"Bullitt" (1968) starring Steve McQueen....why it's a great movie and a few words about the history of it's 1968 premiere in SF CA USA.
"Bullitt" (1968) is tightly written (the script), well directed, well acted movie....a good cop chasing bad guys movie which works.
The script is very spare....unneeded words and scenes are not there. The movie moves from start to finish.
Steve McQueen's facial closeups are a very important part of the success of this movie. He was a true movie star, a magnetic personality always interesting to watch in all ways....no other movie he ever made has as many high quality closeups of his face, which is riveting.
The opening credits done by Pablo Ferro Films are notable, and one of the reasons the movie gets off to a good start and makes friends early with the audience.
The credits are creative, interesting, compelling, and a bit eerie in a good way.....they are truly part of the movie, and that is almost never true of most credits (which may explain why many recent movies dispense with credits at the start of the film almost completely and delay credits until after the story is complete.
The end of the movie outdoor chase at the San Francisco CA USA nighttime airport with Steve McQueen chasing the main villain under passing large planes doesn't quite work, and is the only major flaw in an otherwise very well done movie.
This is probably Steve McQueen's very best movie, and he did several movies of very high quality both as regards his actor work and other aspects of his movies.
Here is some information about the history of the world premiere of "Bullitt" (1968), which took place in San Francisco, California USA where the movie was shot during the Spring of 1968.....
I was hired in late Fall 1968 to assist the publicity team for the Warner Bros. field office in San Francisco, CA USA which premiered BULLITT (1968).
Warner Brothers HQ in NYC, NY USA (adminstrative offices for WB were in NYC, and NOT in Hollywood, where the studio was located....interestingly the studio had nothing to do with BULLITT (1968), shot entirely on location) set up a national "press junket" to promote BULLITT (1968) and invited major newspaper and other media reporters who covered and reviewed movies to San Francisco CA USA for the opening of BULLITT (1968) in November 1968.
Warner Bros. and other major studios traditionally did this for openings of major movies, and paid all travel and local expenses for invited media coverage guests.
Major Warner Bros. executives were flown to SF CA USA, and so were other employees working for Warner Brothers, especially regional publicity staff workers located in major cities around the USA, as well as the Warner Brothers publicity staff from the WB studio in Hollywood.
Steve McQueen flew up to SF CA USA from Hollywood where in late 1968 he was engaged in shooting THE REIVERS (1969), a movie where he starred in a famous William Faulkner authored comedy story set in Mississippi at the turn of the last century (c. 1900).
McQueen entered the movie house in the SF CA USA "cow hollow" area where the movie was premiered, and personally welcomed and addressed the gathered VIP visitors.
His hair was uncharacteristically shaggy due to the part he played in THE REIVERS.
He urged VIP visitors to pay particular attention to "our great chase scene" in the movie, and clearly regarded that as the high point of the movie.
"Bullitt" (1968) actually has three chase scenes....two on foot and one in cars....he meant the one in the cars (chases on foot occurred in a large hospital before the car chase, and also at the SF Airport after the car chase).
BULLITT (1968) was produced by a movie production Steve McQueen owned called "Solar Productions" which was headed by Robert Relyea, also present during the BULLITT (1968) premiere opening activity.
After the screening BULLITT (1968) for the VIP audience, several parties were set up in various sections of San Francisco CA USA to which official guests and others were invited.
The entire BULLITT (1968) San Francisco CA USA movie premiere event held during October 1968 was exceedingly and intentionally glamorous.
Many of the executives working for Warner Brothers who had organized the BULLITT 1968 SF CA USA premiere event were then old enough to have participated in "Golden Age" Hollywood movie glamor premiere events common in the 1930's and 1940's, but which had become far less frequent by the late 1960's as the studio system and power of the 1930's "Golden Age" lessened and became less impressive.
People in 1968 still dressed elegantly, men still wore suits and ties to work routinely, and the informal dress and grooming of the 1960's counter cultural revolution had not yet made its way into mainstream culture.
People were still formal, and especially during high profile social and cultural events like the BULLITT (1968) world premiere movie opening, regarded probably as the biggest single social event in San Francisco, CA USA during 1968.
Un délicieux classique de 1968. Le genre ? Un Polar ! Un des meilleurs. Ambiance froide et moderne pour Bulitt. La plus belle poursuite en voiture de l'histoire du cinéma. Parfait pour les petits garçons à partir de 5 ans. Attention, pas le reste du film. La B.O est un classique elle aussi. On pourrait comparer Bulitt au Pacha de Georges Lautner. Les deux films sont de 1968 et se ressemble beaucoup. Ils se ressemblent dans l'image, dans la qualité des comédiens mais aussi, dans cette ambiance froide minimaliste et tout les deux ont une bande original inoubliable, indémodable et inégalé. Il faut voir Bulitt au moins une fois.
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