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Bullitt (Two-Disc Special Edition)
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| Editorial Reviews: | | |  | | 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 | | | | Peter Yates's 1968 cop drama has its existentialist pretensions, but there is something seductive about its strained seriousness and Steve McQueen's intentionally stoic performance as a San Francisco police detective on the trail of a murderer. A couple of key action sequences boost the film's stature, the most memorable of which is a vertiginous car chase that Yates almost approaches as a dance. Jacqueline Bisset provides window dressing as Bullitt's girlfriend--worried about how much his job strips away his humanity--and Robert Vaughan is almost reptilian as an opportunistic politician. --Tom Keogh | |
| Custom Reviews: | |
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| | Steve McQueen being just too cool for words, but actually putting in a totally convincing performance. Despite one of the most adrenaline fuelled car chases in cinema history, there is some great acting in this film. If you love classic 60s cinema then this is a must.
| | | An absolute classic that is worth the watch. The HD transfer is top quality. You feel like you are watching a film from just last year, not 1968. The special features are little light on this movie. The HD DVD version does include two very long documentaries, one of the career or Steve McQueen and a must see HNK production about film editing that shows clips from almost every Oscar winning movie (for editing) from the early 40's to present. The clips presented in beautiful 1080p, and the included interviews with legendary Directors makes it a standout.
If you own a HD-DVD player, don't skip this title just because it's an old movie. Bullitt is a must watch, edge of your seat action movie, that stands the test of time.
| | Steve McQueen as "Bullitt" -- 'nough said | |
| | It's not all about the most famous car chase scene in cinematic history, but that one extended scene does make Bullitt one of those rites of passage every serious movie fan must experience at some point in his/her life. This really is an unusual film in many ways; as much as it influenced scores of future films in the tough, gritty cop genre, it's still unique. More modern-day maverick cops spend half their time playing the fool, destroying half their cities, throwing random hissy fits, and posturing a lot. Steve McQueen didn't have to posture because he was the real deal. He could have gone through this entire movie without uttering a single word and still been hailed by fans and critics alike.
Bullitt sports an amazing cast: alongside Steve McQueen you have the lovely Jacqueline Bissett, Robert Vaughn, Robert Duvall, Norman "Mr. Roper" Fell, Victor "Mel" Tayback, and plenty of other actors I'm not familiar with serving up sustained dramatic brilliance. Let's hope they never try to remake this classic, especially since this movie's style would never pass muster at any Hollywood studio of the 21st century. Bullitt doesn't come right out and explain everything to you at the beginning, nor does it take the time to explicitly identify important clues as the investigation progresses. You can go several minutes at a time without hearing a word of dialogue. It's not a difficult movie to follow, but you do need to pay attention as a viewer. A few scenes seem superfluous, but I think that sort of adds even more to the Bullitt mystique. The final scene, for example, is quite subdued and unlike anything you'll find preceding any closing credits today.
As far as the story goes, Lieutenant Bullitt (McQueen) is assigned to guard a Mob witness set to testify against his old buddies. Walter Chalmers, a local prosecutor with political ambitions (Robert Vaughn, who's a natural at portraying sleazy politicos) is frothing at the mouth at the thought of all the publicity he'll get when his witness blows the lid on some major league players in organized crime. It turns out that the secret hiding place isn't a secret after all, and everything pretty much goes to heck, leaving the star witness fighting for his life while Bullitt finds himself in the crosshairs of an unhappy Chalmers. Already detecting the faint but undeniable odor of a rat, Bullitt truly takes charge of the whole investigation, even as Chalmers pressures the higher-ups in the police department to give Bullitt's lease several long, hard yanks. Now, as the action begins to ratchet up minute by minute, the plot gets curiouser and curiouser - and Bullitt's job more dangerous. The famous car chase up and down the streets of San Francisco is the highlight of the movie, but there's plenty of action all the way to the end.
The secret of the car chase's success is realism: no music, just tires squalling and engines revving (even if they're not always in perfect synch), with a great mix of external shots and point-of-view shots from inside Bullitt's Mustang, putting you right there zooming up and down the steep hills of San Francisco. The editing of this scene brought home an Oscar, and it's as thrilling today as it was in 1968 - despite the fact that several continuity errors are easily detected in the editing (that little green Doodlebug just keeps popping up, doesn't it?).
It's hard to really describe this film for others, although I can point out that, in terms of the action, it rejects melodrama in favor of authenticity. On the face of things, it sounds like a movie that shouldn't be all that special - but it is (at least for men; I'm not sure the movie will appeal to a lot of female viewers). The best way I can explain why this is so is to say this: Steve McQueen is the man.
| | Mustang makes it worth it. | |
| | The movie should be seperated into 2 parts, the actual movie and the historical car chase scene. This movie (with the exception of James Bond) redefined what a car chase scene should be all about. The fastback Mustang it worth watching the movie for, but when you sit down and watch it you also have to gasp at how good the story and the performance of the actors. Would recommend this movie for anyone and a must for any DVD collection. Long live the Mustang.
| | | This detective drama aimed to be the essence of cool, and succeeded, in fact it's a little too cool, can somebody turn up the thermostat? Barely anybody in the picture is allowed to show any genuine emotion, although one of the hoods looks a little upset before he's shotgunned. Director Peter Yates apparently planned to tell the whole story with action and came up with a near-classic. In fact his spectacular staging of McQueen's car pursuit of two Mob assassins is usually blamed for the countless imitation car chases that have blighted American movies ever since. It's certainly one of McQueen's signature roles, but why give him a hokey name like Bullitt?
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