Steve McQueen specialized in playing tough guys. His role as Lt. Frank Bullitt a San Francisco police detective, is no exception. In this movie, he is tough, but cool when facing danger and political pressure.
Bullitt involves a mob witness, who is being guarded by McQueen’s character, and other police officers around the clock, until he can testify. Unfortunately the witness is wounded by a hitman, when he unlocks the door, and the policeman guarding him, seriously injured. A politician named Chalmers, played by Robert Vaughn, demands answers. McQueen isn’t intimidated, and goes about putting the pieces together. Bullitt finds finds out that a man was asking about his friend who was taken to the hospital, and what floor he is on. Bullitt races up to the floor and sees the hitman, who’s come to finish his job. A footrace ensues in the hospital, but Bullitt can’t catch the bad guy. He is later followed by a car, which has the hitman in it. Bullitt eludes the car, and starts following it. This leads to one of the best car chases in film history, which takes place up and down the streets of San Francisco. The chase gets to a two lane highway, with the villain firing a shotgun at Bullitt. He is undeterred, and begins running his Camaro, into the side of the other car, vaguely reminiscent of the chariot race in Ben-Hur. This strategy works because the driver loses control, and crashes into the pumps of a gas station, resulting in a fiery explosion that kills the bad guys. Chalmers and Bullitt’s superiors at the SFPD, are very unhappy. This unhappiness is intensified, when it is learned that the witness has died. McQueen’s character does some digging, and proves that the witness wasn’t the one they wanted, and they need to look for the mob boss, and bring him in. Bullitt finds out he’s on a plane bound for London. He manages to halt the flight and board the plane. His suspect sees him on the plane, and jumps off, followed by Bullitt. He pursues the suspect on the runway, dodging planes in the process. Bullitt finally chases him back to the airport, when the suspect shoots at him. Bullitt shoots back, and kills him, upsetting Chalmers and his superiors. The film ends with McQueen going back to his waiting girlfriend, Cath, (Jaqueline Bisset at his apartment, the next day.
Robert Vaughn plays Chalmers, the self absorbed politician. He is so focused on publicity for himself that he serves Bullitt’s boss, Captain Bennett, played by Simon Oakland, with legal papers, putting him in charge of the case. It shows his lack of character, because he serves Bennett with the papers, while he is going to church. Robert Vaughn does a fine job, showing a selfish, seedy politician. He plays very well off Steve McQueen.
Bullitt is another good character played by Steve McQueen. He shows an unyielding cop, doing his best to crack the case, and not yielding under pressure. He doesn’t care about the politics involved or direct orders from his boss, to back away. The car chase in Bullitt is what comes to mind, when talking about this movie. The impressive part is McQueen did the driving. He was not only a good actor, but an accomplished race car driver. Steve McQueen manages to give a three dimensional portrait to Frank Bullitt’s character. It could have easily been lost among the action, and somewhat thin plot. Steve McQueen is an actor, who could be considered the first modern action hero, paving the way for Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger years later.
Bullitt was directed by Peter Yates. He managed with this movie, to achieve a certain level of film immortality. This was the car chase. It is the car chase on which all others are judged. It has great camerawork, and focuses intently on McQueen’s face. You can almost feel the car practically flying down the hilly streets of San Francisco. He also has a thin storyline, with which to work, but the car chase and airport chase on the runway, overshadow it.
Bullitt could be just another run of the mill cop film, but because of the action scenes, and the presence of Steve McQueen, it’s not. The chase scene, set the bar for years to come. There are many films, with scenes, not to be missed. Bullitt’s car chase is at the top of the list, and should be required viewing.