Bullitt (1968)

Bullitt
Directed by Peter Yates
Written by Alan Trustman and Henry Kleiner from a novel by Robert L. Fish
1968/US
IMDb link
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Chalmers: Frank, we must all compromise.

Bullitt: Bullshit.[/box]

Fairly solid film for fans of Steve McQueen, car chases, and San Francisco.

McQueen plays Frank Bullitt, a San Francisco police detective.  His soon-to-be-nemisis Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) hopes to boost his Senatorial hopes by producing a secret witness to a San Francisco hearing into the activities of the mob (here called “The Organization).  The man is the brother of the Organization’s boss.  Bullitt is ordered to protect the witness.  Within the first few minutes gunmen manage to talk their way into the witness’s hotel room and leave him in extremely critical condition.  Chalmers is not pleased and starts going after Bullitt’s job.

The rest of the movie is taken up with finding the bad guys, culminating in a car chase through the hilly streets of the City by the Bay.  With Jacqueline Bissett as Bullitt’s girlfriend.

I like McQueen’s charisma, Vaughn’s smarmy, evil performance, the San Francisco scenery and Lalo Schifrin’s great score.  I am less keen on the story, which is frankly slight, and even more with the ending that felt like a big let-down.  Frank P. Keller won the Oscar for Best Film Editing.  Bullitt was also nominated for Best Sound.