The Ultimate in Intelligent Cop Cool: Steve McQueen as Bullitt

Nearly forty years after its theatrical release, I’ve finally seen ‘Bullitt’ (1968), especially famous for Steve McQueen burning rubber on the streets of San Francisco. Well, I just couldn’t agree more with most everyone’s fulsome praise of the film – and not just for those exciting car chase scenes! There’s so much more to ‘Bullitt’ than a simple cop thriller.

The Robert L Fish novel on which the film was based was turned into a riveting screenplay by Alan Trustman. In the plot, whose layered structure might confuse at first, San Francisco’s Police Lt Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) has been selected by Senator Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) to take personal charge of guarding a star witness against the Mafia. The witness is one Johnny Ross (Pat Renella), just flown in from Chicago so that Senator Chalmers can present him to the Senate subcommittee hearing the following Monday in a bid to beef up his political cachet. Bullitt and his fellow cops do what has to be done as well as they can, but things go awry when firearm-bearing folks come a-visiting. One person ends up near-dead, and another, seriously wounded.

Having no witness to show off at the Senate meeting, the furious Senator comes down hard on Bullitt, who gets the heat for screwing up the job. Bullitt finds the whole turn of events highly suspicious and proceeds to investigate, all the while trying to keep the Senator at bay and making sure no one else gets hurt. Unfortunately, another murder happens before Bullitt and his colleagues finally uncover the ruse set up by some Mafiosi from Chicago. A few mobsters have returned to San Francisco to try to fix things some more, but Bullitt and his partner Delgetti (Dan Gordon) are now hot on their trail.

We come to the film’s justly renowned, hair-raising car chase, which would set the bar for all later movies with car action scenes. I enjoy watching this entire sequence, which was filmed in fairly straightforward fashion. Through expert editing, you feel the tension build slowly, and soon enough, car engines begin to roar, tires start to squeal and smoke. In a cleverly executed and sneaky shift, the hunter becomes the hunted, as Bullitt’s dark green Ford Mustang and the villains’ black, shark-like Dodge Charger have a go at each other up and down those hilly San Francisco streets, later spilling onto a nearby stretch of highway.

Bullitt’s dogged pursuit of the villains reflects the single-mindedness of our hero. A man of scant words, Frank Bullitt tends to be a loner who thinks a lot and quickly, and does things his way regardless of the rules. He’s become inured to the ugliness of much that he meets in his work, but it’s all part of the job. He commands respect from his captain and others for his commitment to doing it well. We also glimpse his tender side in the person of his girlfriend, Cathy, and in his sincere concern for a young detective wounded on the job.

Ostensibly working on the same side of the tracks as Bullitt, Senator Chalmers rubs the lieutenant the wrong way. Chalmers’ slick political patter, overbearing ways and arrogance making him less of an ally than a nuisance to Bullitt. Much later, when Bullitt has had it up to here with the Senator, he finally tells him, ‘Look, Chalmers, let’s understand each other…I don’t like you.’ Then there’s the more shocking-for-its-day use of an expletive by Bullitt in response to Chalmers’ statement, ’Frank, we must all compromise.’ The directness of his words encapsulates so well Bullitt’s no-bullsh!t manner that seems foreign to a slyly manipulative animal like Chalmers.

The gritty realism of the film strikes you at once. British director Peter Yates (taken on at the suggestion of Steve McQueen) shot nearly everything on location. The choice pays off well. At San Francisco General Hospital, the surgical team moves and sounds so realistic for good reason: real doctors and nurses appear in these scenes. Meticulously correct hospital and police procedures were followed. The superbly realized, authentic feel to ‘Bullitt’ makes you yearn for those days when non-union, non-actors could be used in films, and the director (Mr Yates), cinematographer (William A Fraker), editor (Frank P Keller) and special effects man (Sass Bedig) could create convincing visual effects with no help from those ubiquitous computerized enhancements of today.

Like director Peter Yates, Steve McQueen also demanded authenticity of the film and drove the fiery Mustang himself. (Also see Note 2 at below.) A stunt driver-actor (Bill Hickman) took the wheel in the Charger, with the gun-wielding mobster (Paul Genge) next to him. Later in the sequence, you’ll gasp at the near-miss thrill of a very dangerous stunt. For viewers who savour the adrenaline rush of close shaves and high-speed cinematic car chases (the cars often ran upwards of a hundred miles per hour), few films can beat ‘Bullitt’. Before and after the central car sequence, other chases also take place on foot at the San Francisco General Hospital and at the International Airport.

Many subtle details bring a genuineness to the characters. Note when Bullitt, just roused from sleep by his partner, Delgetti, raises a hand slightly as Delgetti walks towards him holding a glass of juice. Bullitt mistakenly thinks the drink’s for him, and when Delgetti walks past him with the glass, he quickly tucks his hand away. In the wonderfully filmed dinner scene with Bullitt, Cathy and friends, the soundtrack has no dialogue. Instead, we hear jazz music played by the restaurant band and see gestures, smiles, glances and looks from the actors. More effective than a conventional love scene, they’re all we need to know of Bullitt’s unspoken and deep affection for Cathy.

Steve McQueen couldn’t have been more perfect for the part. He plays it cool, can be steely to a fault, but we understand why that’s so. On the other hand, Cathy fails to see how Frank can remain unchanged in the face of all those grisly murders. Bullitt comes off as an admirable character who radiates a quiet, probing intelligence and honesty that make you believe in him and his cause. Acting mostly through his eyes with incredible concentration, Mr McQueen does more with those steely blues than most actors do with their entire bodies and speech. And, wow, does he really charm the socks (and, ahem, perhaps other garments) off this viewer with his smarts, his still presence, his silently smouldering sexual charisma and unquestionably macho ways, making an instant fan of her.

Doing a fine job as Bullitt’s reliable partner, Delgetti, is Dan Gordon, who shows the deep understanding that evolves between two men who’ve worked together for a long time. Sounding gruff and authoritative as ever is Simon Oakland as Captain Bennett, who trusts his rule-bending lieutenant completely. As Walter Chalmers, Robert Vaughan persuades as a slimy, smooth-talking, calculating politician who likes to toss his weight around and feels entitled to having his way – which often collides with Bullitt’s own credo. Underutilized, and more decorative than essential to the plot is the young and beautiful Jacqueline Bisset, who plays Cathy, Bullitt’s architect girlfriend. At the peak of her film career then, she’s third-billed after Robert Vaughn, despite her slight role in the story.

Everyone else puts in equally solid supporting performances. Well-known to older TV viewers for appearances in 70s shows such as ‘The Rookies’, Georg Stanford Brown plays Dr Willard, the surgeon at San Francisco General. Like Bullitt, Willard also gets a taste of Senator Chalmers’ arrogance and condescension. You can also spot Robert Duvall in a small but significant role as the cab driver, Weissberg. Carl Reindell as young Detective Stanton, Pat Renella as Johnny Ross, Felice Orlandi as Albert Rennick contribute their fair share to the hard-boiled tone of ‘Bullitt’.

Lalo Schifrin’s sparingly used, jazz-flavoured film score suits the urban setting to a tee. It occasionally augments the film’s continuing tension and its few moments of tenderness (some of which are shot sans music at all). Thankfully, it avoids that all-too-common sin today of rudely distracting you from the events on the screen.

In sum, despite a minor, production constraints-related continuity lapse involving a sluggish green Beetle, I’d still give this film the full five stars for its all-around excellence. Although the film runs to nearly two hours, slackness rarely sets in, and ‘Bullitt’ remains to this day as a taut and credible police thriller of a higher order. (William Friedkin’s ‘The French Connection’ made a few years later would clearly owe a debt to ‘Bullitt’ for its realism, and especially for the car chase shot beneath New York’s El train.) Such magical convergence of intelligent acting, an absorbing plot, exhilarating chases and convincing realism comes rarely to the cinema these days. Very highly recommended, and fine watching for all audiences older than 13. (See Note 1 below.)

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Note 1: A few realistic murder scenes appear onscreen, which, sad to say, are no more horrible than (or in fact, less horrible than) CNN’s tasteless showing of the actual post-autopsy state of the Hussein sons, and other gory scenes in video games and of real crime on the six o’clock news.

The two-disc special edition has the following add-ons:

Disc 1 has the movie itself in widescreen, with a choice of audio setups (English or French audio and English, French and Spanish subtitles available) and a running commentary by director Peter Yates (very enlightening bits from the British director about behind-the-scene trivia, and the technical and production challenges in making the film, many of which no longer pose problems to filmmakers today).

Disc 2 has new feature-length documentaries:
‘Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool’
[Note 2 - of warning: Statements made by Peter Yates in the above-mentioned commentary and by the interviewees here as regards Steve McQueen’s performing his own stunts in films like ‘The Great Escape’ and ‘Bullitt’ directly contradict the information currently on imdb.com! This discrepancy is disturbing, although I choose to believe what director Peter Yates says in his commentary on Disc 1.]
‘The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing,’
A vintage featurette: ‘Bullitt: Steve McQueen's Commitment to Reality’.