Bullitt

Plot synopsis:
Ambitious politician Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) is about to present a surprise star witness in a Senate subcommittee hearing on organized crime. The witness, Johnny Ross, a defector from the Organization in Chicago, is put under San Francisco Police Department protective custody for the weekend, 40 hours until his Monday morning appearance.
To improve his own image, Chalmers requests SFPD Lieutenant Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen), who is well-liked by the local media. Bullitt and his team, Sergeant Delgetti (Don Gordon) and Inspector Carl Stanton (Carl Reindel), put Ross (Felice Orlandi) under around-the-clock protection in a cheap hotel selected by Chalmers. Late Saturday night, while Bullitt is with his girlfriend Cathy (Jacqueline Bisset), a designer, Stanton is on solo duty when the desk clerk unexpectedly calls to announce that Chalmers wants to come up. While Stanton checks by phone with Bullitt, Ross unchains the hotel room door. A pair of hitmen (Paul Genge and Bill Hickman) burst in and shoot Stanton and Ross, seriously wounding both.
At the hospital, Chalmers holds Bullitt responsible. Later, a second assassination attempt is thwarted by Bullitt, but Ross soon dies of his original injuries. Helped by a sympathetic doctor (Georg Stanford Brown) who had been snubbed by Chalmers, Bullitt delays news of the death by sending the body to the morgue as a John Doe.
Bullitt and Delgetti investigate. The cab driver (Robert Duvall) who drove Ross to the hotel remembers stopping to let Ross make a long-distance call from a pay phone. A confidential informant reveals that Ross was caught stealing $2 million from the Chicago Mob and fled to San Francisco after escaping an attempted hit in Chicago. Meanwhile, Chalmers serves Bullitt's captain (Simon Oakland) with a writ of habeas corpus to force him to make Bullitt give up Ross, but the lieutenant does not cooperate.
While driving his 1968 Ford Mustang GT, Bullitt spots the Ross hitmen tailing him in a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T. He maneuvers to get behind them, they attempt to flee, and a high-speed muscle car chase ensues through the hilly streets of San Francisco's Russian Hill and out onto the highway, ending when the Mustang forces the Charger off the road and into a gas station, causing a fiery explosion that incinerates the hitmen.
Bullitt and Delgetti face their superiors. They reveal that Ross is dead and that their only lead is phone records showing that Ross's call was to a Dorothy Simmons in a hotel in nearby San Mateo. It is Sunday; the detectives are given until Monday to follow up the lead. With his car out of commission, Bullitt gets a ride from Cathy in her Porsche 356. The detectives find Dorothy Simmons strangled to death. Cathy sees police rushing in and follows, fearing for Bullitt. Afterwards, horrified by the crime scene, she confronts him about his violent world, wondering whether she even really knows him.
Back in San Francisco, Bullitt and Delgetti search Simmons's luggage, discovering men's and women's clothing, empty ticket and passport folders, a travel brochure for Rome, and thousands of dollars in travelers' checks made out to Albert and Dorothy Renick. Bullitt requests passport information for the Renicks and a fingerprint check for the dead Ross.
Chalmers again confronts Bullitt, demanding a signed admission that Ross died while in his custody. Bullitt refuses. A facsimile of Albert Renick's passport application arrives, showing the man they thought was Ross was actually Renick, a used car salesman from Chicago with no criminal record. Bullitt realizes that Simmons was Mrs. Renick; the real Ross had used Chalmers to fake his own death by setting up Renick to die, then murdered her to complete the cover-up.
Delgetti discovers reservations for the Renicks on an evening flight to Rome. Bullitt and he head to the airport to look for the real Ross (Pat Renella), who must be traveling as Renick. They stake out the Rome flight gate, only to find that Ross has switched to an earlier flight to London that is already taxiing toward takeoff. Chalmers shows up to lay claim to the real Ross, though he is now wanted for murder, and is again rebuffed by Bullitt.
Bullitt has the plane stopped, but Ross escapes. A foot chase across the busy runways ends in a tense pursuit inside the crowded passenger terminal. When Ross bolts and shoots a security guard, Bullitt shoots and kills Ross. Left behind, empty-handed, is Chalmers, who is driven off in a Lincoln Continental with a "Support Your Local Police" bumper sticker.
Early the next morning, Bullitt drives home. As he walks up to his apartment, he spots Cathy's car. He looks in and sees her sleeping in his bedroom, but he does not wake her. He takes off his gun and balances it on a banister. As he begins to wash up at the bathroom sink, he looks up into his own reflection and contemplates himself for a long moment.

Tags: neo noir, realism, murder, cult, violence, suspenseful

Review:
Calling your hero Bullitt might seem an unsubtle way to emphasise his macho qualities, but in fact Steve MacQueen plays him as a quiet man, not some wise-talking maverick: he does what he has to do, but takes no pleasure in his actions; and survives the roughness of his work not by becoming a monster, but simply by becoming a little less human.
It's a believable portrait, and the film as a whole has a procedural feel: there are action scenes, but these are kept in their place in the overall design.Today, the film is most famous for its celebrated car chase, which makes excellent use, as indeed does the movie as a whole, of the bay area locations, but is not actually shot that excitingly: the conclusion at the airport is more original, though it roots the film in the time when it was permissible to take a loaded gun onto a plane.
You may not like him very much, but you have to respect his dedication to duty and you'll quickly share his absolute contempt for Chalmers."Bullitt" is best remembered for its spectacular car chase in which McQueen reportedly did most of his own driving.
In today's over-blown and effects laden (for better of for worse) era, people often forget that all those films began with movies like this one.The story has Lieutenant Frank Bullitt receiving an assignment to protect a star witness in a high profile case that could bring down a powerful crime organization.
The resulting mystery is both Grade-A Hollywood entertainment (rare these days) and a believable character portrait of a man engulfed by his work in a cruel world.Of course one cannot talk about his movie without mentioning the legendary car chase, which is one of the best out there, but is not the main part of the movie as many make it out to be.
Unlike today's crap action movies there is no 37 car pile up, no cars flipping over simply because the bad guys are driving them.Also the finale of the film, a foot chase at an airport, has our hero firing two shots from his pistol and that is the only time he uses it in the movie.
It's a pretty solid police thriller which features a famous car-chase scene that supposedly set the standard (or maybe it did at the time of release.)What's interesting to note, according to a documentary on the DVD, is that McQueen did his own driving!
Speaking of streets, San Francisco always makes for an interesting local.Robert Vaughn, Don Gordon, Jacqueline Bissett, Simon Oakland and Robert Duvall complete the big-name cast, but this is McQueen's movie all the way.....and, for a film almost 40 years old, it's not very dated..
The film is of course most renowned for the spectacular (even by today's standards) car chase in which star Steve McQueen famously did his own stunt driving (I wonder what the insurance policy was like?!) Although McQueen didn't really have to stretch beyond his already established screen persona, he is perfect in the role.
The location photography in beautiful San Francisco, the to-the-letter accurate procedural dialogue, the political infighting with the smarmy D.A. Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) and the brutally violent action scenes all complement the fine performances to create an entirely engrossing authentic crime drama.
Steve McQueen stars as Frank Bullitt, a tough San Francisco police lieutenant assigned to protect a mob witness.
He holds Bullitt responsible for the death of his star witness, and it is up to the super cop to bring the killer down, while showing Vaughn that he is nothing but a gussied-up sissy-boy.McQueen's performance in this all-time classic is the archetype for not only anyone who aspires to become an actor, but also for the proper way to live like a real man.
If she were a "real-life" girlfriend, she would probably cry and nag McQueen all day, preventing him from engaging in really cool activities like speeding through the streets of San Francisco, chasing after lowlife scum.) And as a bonus, Robert Duvall appears briefly in the greatest portrayal of a cab driver of all time.
Lalo Schifrin's song is the perfect jazz tune to accompany this and you just know that this movie is something special.The title character (Steve McQueen) is a Lieutenant with the San Francisco police and he and his partner (Don Gordon) are assigned the task to protect a mob informant.
I could say more about the plot, but would rather not--as there are a lot of mystery elements about the film and I'd hate to ruin the surprises and twists.The most famous part of this film is, of course, the great car chase scene--featuring a Ford Mustang playing 'cat and mouse' with a Dodge Charger up and down the hills of the city.
Then Bullitt must find the hitmen, as well as deal with an identity twist concerning the witness.However, the music score, tight direction, the car chase, McQueen's performance, and especially Robert Vaughn's performance as a ruthless politician make "Bullitt" worth watching.
In fact the performances are excellent all the way through the cast (with the exception of Jacqueline Bisset, who's there only for eye candy and brings nothing special to her role).Of course, the car chase is the most famous aspect of the film.
*****SPOILERS****** Even though the movie "Bullitt" is known for it's legendary car chase scene, this in 1968 when everything was done for real not in a studio with computer enhanced imagery, the movie is also a very fine crime/drama straight out of todays headlines and has a very good and brainy plot too.
Terrific police/action/drama with an ending at the airport, thats as good as the great car chase seen earlier in the film, that left everyone gasping.
This is emphasized in the last scene when Bullitt is washing his hands is kind of a metaphor for him kind of cleaning up and trying to stop spiraling into violence; anyway, I've rambled too much.The plot goes something like this; Bulllitt is assigned to protect mob wittiness Johnny Ross for 40 hours by big shot politician Walter Chalmers, Ross is killed by two mob hit men and bullitt goes on a vendetta to hunt them down.The greatest scene in the movie is unquestionably the chase through the Streets of San Fransisco and the other place, I didn't breath once during it.
Nice detective story makes great use of San Francisco streets and features one of star Steve McQueen's best screen performances.
Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen who based his character on San Francisco Homicide Inspector Dave Toschi, made famous for his work on the Zodiac killings) is an antihero police detective , he is an instinctive cop with his own methods operating in San Francisco .
Exciting action scenes , especially in now-classic car pursuit , it lasts 10 minutes and 53 seconds, one of the screen's all-time best , being still a corker , including academy Award winning editing by Frank Keller.
Traditionally, car chases are filmed by second units but Peter Yates insisted on doing it himself , this was partly because he knew that Steve McQueen would be performing a lot of the stunts himself .
Bullit (1968) enjoyed a freedom of movement around the city that would be hard to come by today, including giving up an entire hospital wing for filming, closing down multiple streets for three weeks for a car chase scene and taking over San Francisco International Airport at night.
Director Peter Yates was personally selected for this movie by Steve McQueen because Yates had filmed a realistic car chase a year earlier through the streets of London in Robbery (1967).
The first lone-wolf cop story plays by the rules of the genre it spawned, featuring a charismatic, outsider type who carries a badge and an attitude directed just as much against the egos and hubris of his superiors as against the criminal element.Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) is a detective lieutenant on the San Francisco police force who gets handed a "babysitting job" looking after a would-be Mob informant by ambitious politico Chalmers (Robert Vaughn).
The hoods Bullitt chase look like insurance salesmen, but of course they were really stunt men, and with McQueen doing a good deal of his own stunt driving as well, there's a validity to the sequence that makes up for some slackness in the composition."Bullitt" is a better film for the things that occur around the car chase, not so much with the central mystery of Johnny Ross as with the scenes of Bullitt in his element, like making coffee, talking with his superiors, eating a sandwich.
McQueen's acting was showcased better in films like "The Sand Pebbles," "The Cincinnati Kid," and even his final film "The Hunter," but his star power was never more in evidence than it was here, especially in the scenes he shares with Vaughn, who plays the role of a preppy hardass to perfection and gives both McQueen and the viewer a foil more evil than the real crooks in this picture.Seeing Bullitt handle Chalmers' baiting is a real lesson in how less is more.
Throughout there's Bullitt as only McQueen could play him, saying the right line the right way, jumping in an ambulance to fix a problem, telling his gorgeous girlfriend (Jacqueline Bisset) "It's not for you, baby" in a way that comes off utterly cool rather than gratingly sexist.I couldn't figure out what was going on with the crooks  "the Organization" as they are dubbed since calling them the Mafia was seen as demeaning to a particular ethnic group not yet known for creating films like "The Godfather" or "GoodFellas"  not until I watched "Bullitt" a second time, at which point I realized that wasn't so important.
Arnold, Stallone, Van Damme, they all owe their careers to Steve McQueen.Forget that he was the original "Jackie Chan" (McQueen did the vast majority of his own stunts, including all the stunt driving in Bullit and the motorcycle riding in The Great Escape), McQueen is the original hard boiled cop.The classic car chase alone is worth the price of admission and if you live in SF, you'll see tons of SF landmarks back in the late 1960s (amazingly, most of the noticeable landmarks look the same today).One of the best action movies ever made.
What I like the most in this hard-boiled film is the stylish opening credits with the gangsters; the mood of the restaurant with the jazz band and the look of Mc Queen/Bisset; the violent murder of the fake witness in the cheap hotel; the hospital scene with the killer chase in the basement; the well-known hectic car chase scene in the streets of San Francisco; the airport final scene with the killing of the real witness, re-used for the film "Heat" in 1996; the last close-up of the Steve Mc Queen's cool face before the end credits.
It seems to come from different movie!There are some good things here--it's well-directed by Peter Yates who makes beautiful use of San Francisco locations; the now-famous car chase is still exciting and well-directed and edited; McQueen isn't as bad as he usually is (his face actually changes expression once or twice); Bissett is badly used--but at least she's there; Simon Oakland gives a good performance as a police chief and Vaughn is excellent.
The film's initial sequence sets the tone, followed by an effectively filmed attack on the star witness; the chase in the streets of San Francisco is justly famous, with a purring V8 Mustang engine, and an abrupt and chancy ending.The final sequence in the airport is top notch even though the main criminal naively takes long distance shots in the dark, making his position known to Bullitt.
I watched this movie for the first time.For one reason only that is good.It's because know I can compare old thrillers with new ones."Bullitt" is everything but old movie(only by year).That car chase is brilliant and the whole plot is great too.Director Peter Yates had luck when big star like Steve McQueen decided to join in project.McQueen with Robert Vaughn,Jacqueline Bisset and other stars shines in this movie.Vaughn is good as usual and it is interesting to mention small role from great actor.I'm talking about Robert Duvall as taxi driver.So Yates had good script,good actors and with his talent he made an excellent movie that will last forever.Today,modern generations don't want to spend their time on watching some "prehistoric" movies.Children today rather watch stupid action movies,like all Seagal's ones.One advice:take a look on past movies cause you may find some excellent works.Excellent like "Bullitt".Today,there are few thrillers like this.Smart,sharp and action packed;with excellent actors too.That's why I liked this movie that much."Bullitt" isn't boring,not for a minute.McQueen and Vaughn are great,script is great and all together we've got good thriller.Two thumbs up for "Bullitt"..
Pike), and in quoting critic Leonard Maltin, "{A} Now-classic car chase, one of the screen's all-time best."Yes, "Bullitt" also makes for a hell of an action movie, with one of the most intense and exciting car chases in cinematic history.
Again, by today's standards this wouldn't amount to much, but it's classic simply because of the pace, editing, Yates' direction, the fact that audiences had seen nothing like it in '68, and let's not kid ourselves here: it's a chase between McQueen's Ford Mustang and two henchmen driving a Dodge Charger (which is MY personal favorite muscle car).But "Bullitt" does have a plot, and it concerns McQueen as the intrepid, no-nonsense San Francisco cop of the film's title, who's given a routine assignment of safeguarding a witness who's been set to testify against a notorious criminal syndicate known only as "The Organization." When the witness, along with Bullitt's partner, are gunned down by unknown assailants, he goes to work to track down those responsible and this culminates not only in the aforementioned car chase sequence, but also a pretty bloody shoot-out and foot-chase in an airport.While all of this going on, Bullitt must also balance his commitment to his live-in girlfriend Cathy (Jacqueline Bisset) and must also tangle with a mysterious government agent named Chalmers (Robert Vaughn), whom Bullitt is very suspicious of.
But McQueen did it as one of the first and best.As a movie, though, the success of "Bullitt" may baffle some viewers today, being that this movie is best remembered for a car chase and not much else, since there aren't many action scenes.
"Bullitt" is one such great, classic police thriller that's stood the test of time, and should be remembered as one of Steve McQueen's greatest movies.10/10.
Pressure from his captain, and a local political candidate looking to make a name for himself, Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn, who always played a great bad guy) The rest of the film is all McQueen.
They said the goal of this film was reality...the reality is I got real bored with Bullitt.Car Chase: 9/10 (classic) McQueen Rating: 7/10 (cool as always)Overall Rating: 6/10.
If your viewing this page then you'll probably know that this film is most famous for the legendary San Francisco car chase so I'll start there - yes all you've heard is true it's amazing and oozes class and cool (Steve McQueen did his own driving).
All in all this film is worth seeing for the car chase alone what you think of the rest is very much to personal taste, in my opinion an interesting but flawed classic with the king of cool and one all time great scene.
Not long after, San Francisco homicide detective Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) is handpicked by ambitious politician Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) to protect Ross, a star witness who is about to bring damaging testimony to a subcommittee against a criminal Chicago syndicate (but in California?).
He had a one-word response for Chalmers when the latter says, "Frank, we must all compromise." In only the silver screen's first or second use of the word: Bullitt replies, "Bull****!"Steve McQueen's character is modeled after real-life San Francisco Homicide Inspector Dave Toschi.
Bullitt was one of the first films in this tread.Lieutenant Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) is a hero cop in the San Francisco Police Department and he is assigned the case to protect a major informant for 40 hours by Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn).
If the action is limited to a footchase early on, a long car chase in the middle (of course, this is a Steve McQueen movie), and another footchase at the end, they are perfectly placed, and come with increasing anxiety and originality.
The problem was that for being nominated they had to bring the movie into the theaters and let at least some people watch it who would then go out and say: What a great car chase!` and maybe: I like Steve McQueen`.The result is boredom and the irony is that you may happen to fall asleep before the good scene.
But that's not all that the movie has going for it.The legendary Steve McQueen plays Frank Bullitt, a no-nonsense San Francisco cop whom an ambitious politician tasks with guarding a star witness.
In one of the most renowned crime films of the 60's, Steve McQueen (The Great Escape) stars as detective Frank Bullitt, a man assigned to protect Pete Ross, who is due in court in a few days.
Pike's book "Mute Witness" becomes snazzy-looking crime drama propelled by chases, screeching tires, the hilly streets of San Francisco and, of course, Steve McQueen as a police detective so inherently cool he doesn't need to do much but walk toward and away from the camera (it isn't exactly acting, but he does cut a presence).
I saw Bullitt when it came pout and I thought it was great- Steve McQueen, car chases, sleezy politicians, and the beautiful city of San Francisco.
An all guts, no glory San Francisco cop (Steve McQueen) becomes determined to find the underworld kingpin that killed the witness in his protection.Could this film have the best car chase prior to the "French Connection"?