Shifting gears.

In the 1968 police action film Bullitt, Steve McQueen plays Lieutenant Frank Bullitt who works as a detective in the San Francisco Police Department and, along with his team, is assigned to protect an important witness against the mob that is supposed to be presented to the anti-crime commission by up-and-coming U.S. Senator Walter Chalmers, played with arrogant menace by Robert Vaughn.

The witness is set up in a motel with the policemen as guards. There should be no problem. Yet two mob hit men manage to crash in, wound a policeman and kill the witness. Bullitt is told of this and goes to the hospital. He has little use for Chalmers, despite being threatened by him, as his sole interest now is to find the killers and figure out what happened. He does so by hiding the fact that the witness died, and spreading the word that the police are now redoubling efforts to protect the witness.

The resulting mystery is both Grade-A Hollywood entertainment (just about impossible to see 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 it’s not the main part of the movie as many make it out to be. If you see this movie just for some pedal to the metal action you will be let down. The focus of the movie is on Bullitt, and the car chase, while incredibly exciting and brilliantly assembled, is one of the many scenes that show his near obsession to work.

The car chase sequence, starts with us being aware that the cab and then Bullitt’s car are being followed by a Dodge Charger with the two hit men in it. The beginning of the sequence is low-key, as we see them driving after Bullitt in his Ford Mustang, but the turning point is when they have apparently lost him, and he reappears following their car. Then they go into the outskirts of San Francisco, and the roads from the city, with the added threats of other vehicles and a twelve gaged sawn-off shotgun one of the hit men uses.

Also the finale of the film, a foot chase at an airport, has Bullitt firing two shots from his pistol and that is the only time he uses it in the movie.

This film demonstrates that action is best when it is the result of a character’s emotions and not a director’s ambition to blow stuff up. Bullitt wants to get the bottom of the case; he wants to find out who’s been following him around town and that is the result of the action scenes. In the end the film is a true classic and Frank Bullitt is a character to remember.

I do not think any other crime and cop thriller ever hit the notes so naturally and perfectly together. The cast helps from McQueen down to the two hit men (silent roles for stunt men). Witness too that perennial heavy Simon Oakland plays a decent character for once (as Bullitt’s superior), and does well with his part – look at the scene between him and a threatening Chalmers outside the church as his character is taking his family to on Sunday. Robert Vaughn is also terrific as the oily, selfish politician who sees people as pawns to play with for his own benefit. Bullitt finally tells him off, but does it effectively and without histrionics.

This is one of those films that just never ages.

Bullitt is an extraordinary film, memorable, powerful, and absolutely riveting. The plot has twists and turns that are believable and lack any pretence of being forced or artificial.

The film as well captures the feel of gritty detective work in a form that has been copied frequently since, but rarely, if ever, equaled. The tension between the cool, vaguely anti-establishment Bullitt and the straight-laced local officials and department heads that he finds himself compelled to work with. 

The films also introduces a number of memorable newcomers – Robert Duvall as a sharp taxi driver, Georg Sanford Brown as an overworked doctor, and Jacqueline Bisset as Bullitt’s architect-girlfriend Cathy. Lalo Schifrin also contributed a superb, memorable score, just the right mix of jazz and brass and percussion.

Frank Bullitt is a loner, dedicated to his job, living an otherwise uneventful life in a modest apartment, except for one thing, his girlfriend Cathy. His other contacts are distant or perfunctory. His relationship with his partner is defined in the first few minutes as strictly professional, nothing more. He’s respected but not loved until Cathy appears in his life. Cathy is important to the plot because she represents the possibility of his returning to the human race as a person capable of warm and deeply emotional relationships, however clumsy his expressions of warmth may still be. 

The conflict between Bullitt and Cathy involves her inability to accept the gruesome aspects of the life he leads, a common device. Cathy finally yields and accepts the conditions. And as far as that goes, the movie ends ambiguously. Cathy has come back to him, but as Bullitt puts his gun aside and washes his face in the bathroom he looks up and stares in the mirror, expressionless. If he doesn’t change, the relationship with Cathy is in jeopardy. 

When Steve McQueen died in 1980 of lung cancer, it signalled the end of an era of his specific brand of coolness, but not before he’d left a remarkable legacy. He was certainly one of the most beloved actors of his time, and Bullitt is one of McQueen’s best, and one you do not want to miss.

and the tease for my next post . . . Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.