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.
…..you forgot to mention……(perhaps on purpose?) the iconic car chase which, at the time, was revolutionary, and still stands up pretty well 50 years later – those growling engines sing LOL
Too true. How was that possible? Sure enjoyed it while I was watching it in the movie.
I loved that score. To me that was the best part of the movie. Groovy, jazzy and perfect for the setting.
I was beginning to think that Schifrin was robbed of his Oscar nomination but I see he was nominated that year for “The Fox”, a movie I have not seen.