Bullitt (1968)

The first time I ever saw Steve McQueen was when I saw The Blob when I was eight years old and, while I didn't know who he was at the time, years later, around the time I was starting to enter high school, I learned he later became a really big star. Through various sources, such as the documentary, Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool, as well as my dad, who's a big fan, I learned of his reputation as the "King of Cool" and some of his most well-known movies, like The Great Escape, The Thomas Crown Affair (though the first time I heard that title was when the remake with Pierce Brosnan was released in the 90's), The Magnificent Seven, and The Towering Inferno. I also did see a little bit of his last movie, The Hunter, on cable early one morning before school. But, of course, the McQueen movie I always heard mentioned was Bullitt, both for his performance and its famous car chase, which was always referred to as a classic, including in other movies, like Death Proof. So, in 2012, I figured I'd give it a shot and picked it up on Blu-Ray at a Barnes & Noble. But I have to be frank and admit that I wasn't a fan of it when I saw it... at all. It really came down to expectations: I thought I was getting a fast-paced action movie full of car chases but I instead got a fairly slow-paced detective story that had a few interesting and exciting moments but, for the most part, left me kind of bored. It also didn't help that I had a hard time following the story, which focuses a lot on actual police procedure, which I have no knowledge of, and is often just hard to follow in general. For someone dubbed the King of Cool, I found McQueen's performance to be downright dull and one-note. And I didn't even think the chase scene was all that special. Heresy, I know, but that is how I felt at the time. Now, I've watched the movie a few more times since then and I can say that I do appreciate the attention to detail and realism, understand why the chase scene is great, and that I enjoy some of the supporting roles, the production values, some of the suspenseful scenes, and the music score. But still, this isn't my cup of tea. There are still parts of the story I'm not that clear on (I'll admit that I'm likely just a moron and if you can clear some of it up, by all means), I still don't think McQueen's performance or the character are all they're cracked up to be, and all in all, it's not a movie I get much enjoyment out of.

In Chicago, mobster Johnny Ross barely escapes an attempt on his life at his office, one which his brother and business partner, Pete, is involved in. When Pete tells the higher-ups at the Chicago Organization that Johnny got away, a hit is put out on him. The next day, in San Francisco, a man fitting his description is spotted by a mob informant posing as a hotel doorman. Meanwhile, Sergeant Delgetti of the SFPD awakens Lt. Frank Bullitt, telling him they've got work. He takes him to the home of Walter Chalmers, an up and coming politician, who tasks him with guarding a witness for a Senate subcommittee meeting on organized crime that Monday. Said witness happens to be Johnny Ross, who's staying at the Hotel Daniels, a flophouse in the Embarcadero section of the city. Bullitt, along with Delgetti and Sgt. Carl Stanton, head to the hotel and meet up with Ross, who's extremely antsy about the situation. Bullitt assigns Delgetti to take first watch, followed by Stanton and then himself. He spends the evening with his architect girlfriend, Cathy, bringing her home and going to bed with her after dinner. Delgetti's shift goes smoothly, but after Stanton takes over, he gets a call from the front desk about two men claiming to be Chalmers and a friend. Suspicious, he calls Bullitt, who also feels something's wrong and rushes over there. During Stanton's call, Ross, unbeknownst to him, takes the chain off the door. Shortly afterward, two men burst in, one wielding a shotgun. Stanton is shot in the leg, while Ross, much to his shock, is blasted in the shoulder, slamming him up against the wall. The two men are taken to the hospital and, while Stanton is okay, despite his injuries, Ross has only a fifty-fifty chance of survival. Captain Bennett meets Bullitt there, warning him that Chalmers is furious over this, as he was counting on Ross' testimony to enhance his political career, and that he may try to lay the blame on the department, Bullitt in particular. Sure enough, when Chalmers arrives and confronts Bullitt, he threatens to ruin the lieutenant's career if Ross dies. Following another attempt on his life by the shotgun-wielding hitman, whom Bullitt tries to apprehend, Ross does succumb to his injuries. Desperate to keep himself on the case so he can find the killers, Bullitt conspires with one of the doctors to cover up Ross' death, moving his body to the morgue under "John Doe," and then proceeds to piece together what's happening.

Based on a book called Mute Witness, Bullitt was the American feature debut of British-born director Peter Yates, who started out as an assistant director to notable filmmakers like Terence Young, J. Lee Thompson, Mark Robson, and Jose Quintero. He directed episodes of British television shows like The Saint, as well as several features, the most notable of which was 1967's Robbery, which inspired Steve McQueen to offer him Bullitt, particularly because of the car chase sequence in that film. Afterward, Yates did films like Murphy's War, with Peter O'Toole; The Hot Rock, with Robert Redford; For Pete's Sake, with Barbra Streisand; The Deep, with Robert Shaw and Nick Nolte; and even the fantasy movie, Krull. Eventually, Yates' films began to fail at the box-office and he was getting less and less work, so in the late 90's, he moved back to London after living in the U.S. for over twenty years. His last couple of works were television movies, one of which was a 2000 adaptation of Don Quixote, starring John Lithgow (he'd attempted to make a film adaptation with Richard Burton back in 1970 but it never came to be), and a 2004 film titled A Separate Peace. Yates died of heart failure in 2011, at the age of 81.

I said it before and, as much as it's going to irk a number of people, I'll say it again: I don't understand Steve McQueen's moniker as the King of Cool from his performance as Frank Bullitt. Along with the car chase, the character of Bullitt himself is not only one of the most well-remembered aspects of the movie but also possibly the most iconic of McQueen's career, with he himself even rating it as his personal favorite. Though some have referred to his performance as "cool as ice," all I see is a guy who, while definitely a capable and intelligent cop, is not very charismatic and always talks in the same monotone voice, with the same nearly expressionless face. I will say, though, that there are hints of a likable personality here and there, like when he flirts with his girlfriend when he meets her at her architect studio and takes her out to dinner; how he's ready for Chalmers when he tries to blame him for what happened to Johnny Ross, calmly telling him with a slick smile, "You believe what you want. You work your side of the street, and I'll work mine,"; when a nurse brings him some food and asks him, "Are you the policeman who hasn't eaten?", he very happily says, "Yes, ma'am!", before taking the tray; and the way he deals with his girlfriend's interest in his work, telling her at one point, "It's not for you, baby," and when she's later horrified by a crime scene and asks, "What will happen to us, in time?", he answers, "Time starts now." I also like how, after he's covertly moved Ross' body from the hospital, he not only gives Chalmers the runaround on the phone but, when Captain Baker, who's on Chalmers' side, tries to reprimand Bullitt, he hangs up on him before he can say anything. But I think my favorite moment with Bullitt comes near the end of the movie when, after it's revealed that the man who was killed was a decoy and the real Johnny Ross is attempting to flee the country, he and Delgetti go to stop him at the airport. The ever slimy Chalmers shows up, intending to still have Ross testify at the Senate subcommittee hearing, and also suggests they exploit everything that's happened for their mutual benefit. Bullitt, however, isn't having it, telling Chalmers, "Look, Chalmers, let's understand each other. I don't like you... You sell whatever you want, but don't sell it here tonight." Then, when Chalmers says they all have to compromise, Bullitt responds, "Bullshit! Get the hell out of here now."

Another thing I can admire about Bullitt is how intelligent and driven he is. Though he fails, he tries his damnedest to catch the assassin when he attempts to finish Ross at the hospital, and when Ross dies, Bullitt, not wanting to give Chalmers the opportunity to destroy his career like he promised he would, as well as wanting to catch the killer, conspires with Dr. Willard to cover it up. He also doesn't want Willard to get in trouble for it, telling him that he'll take the responsibly for Ross' chart

being "misplaced." Thus, he has Ross moved to the morgue and listed as a John Doe. Later, learning the type of cab Ross took to the Hotel Daniels, Bullitt tracks down the specific cabby (conveniently for him, the cabby was putting his cab through a car-wash not far from the hotel) and has him retrace the route Ross took up to the hotel. He also learns from an informant that Ross is being hunted by the mob for stealing money from the Chicago Organization. And in the lead-up to the

famous chase scene, Bullitt knows he's being followed by the hitmen and uses his knowledge of the city to turn the tables on them to where they're now the ones being chased. Also, following the chase, despite being reprimanded for what he pulled with Ross' body and the two men in the car being burned alive when it was over, Bullitt decides to follow his one remaining lead: a long distance call Ross made to his apparent girlfriend, Dorothy Simmons, at a hotel in San Mateo. Though when he arrives, Simmons has been

murdered, a search of her luggage, as well as a check on Ross' fingerprints, leads to the revelation that the man Chalmers tasked them with guarding was a decoy. Finally, when Bullitt and Delgetti go to the airport to stop the real Ross from fleeing the country, Bullitt, on a hunch, realizes that Ross switched flights to one just about to leave for London. He has it stopped, leading to the finale.

But for the most part, I don't find Bullitt to be that interesting. I know the filmmakers and McQueen were really trying to go for realism, and most detectives probably are more like Bullitt than Harry Callahan (funnily enough, another San Francisco-based character) or any of the bigger-than-life, outrageous heroes we've seen in movies over the years. In fact, McQueen did say he based his character and performance on a true detective, Dave Toschl, who later became one of the lead

investigators of the Zodiac Killer (Mark Ruffalo played him in David Fincher's Zodiac). What's more, when we're first introduced to Bullitt, he's sleeping very late into the day, having gotten off a case that kept him up until 5:00 AM, and he's almost constantly on the go throughout the film's three-day timeline, so he's likely tired, which explains his low-key performance. But, like the film's attention to detail when it comes to actual police procedure, while I can appreciate their striving for realism, in the case of Bullitt himself, it

doesn't make him that compelling to me. He's definitely iconic in visual terms, with McQueen's natural look, clothes such as his blue turtleneck and brown jacket with the elbow patches, his holster, and, of course, his green Ford Mustang, but he's not at all one of my favorite action heroes.

Even though he doesn't do much in the grand scheme of things, I do like Bullitt's partner, Sergeant Delgetti (Don Gordon), or Del, as everyone calls him. While they don't have the expected moments where they trade jabs and banter with each other, there is a nice moment at the beginning where Del goes to fetch Bullitt at his house and, while Bullitt is trying to wake up, helps himself to some orange juice and the newspaper. He reads it aloud and casually, much to Bullitt's annoyance, who finally says, "Why don't you just relax, and have your orange juice, and shut up, Delgetti?" It shows they've been working together for a long time and are comfortable with each other, as well as that Del is so laid back and nonchalant that he can get on Bullitt's nerves. They also work very well together, with Del always having Bullitt's back and going along with whatever he comes up with, regardless of how rash and unorthodox it may be. He's there with him right up to the ending at the airport, as they try to arrest the real Johnny Ross. Going back to Del's easygoing attitude, I like how, when he's first assigned to guard the antsy Johnny Ross decoy, his biggest concern is, "We gotta get a fix on some food," adding, "I know Chalmers wants you to be happy, and we'll do the best we can." But I think my favorite moment with him is when he's interrogating the Hotel Daniels desk clerk about the men who came in and attacked Ross. While Bullitt is a bit impatient with the guy when he can't remember any details, telling Del to take him to the station, Del himself applies some patient but effective pressure on him. Just as he's about to take the clerk downtown, he begins to remember details and Del is then able to get more and more info out of him. The clerk asks, "Am I helping you, sir?", and Del answers, "I never had it so good."

Simon Oakland, an actor who I always think of as the psychiatrist who lays everything out at the end of Psycho, has a small but memorable role here as Bullitt's superior, Captain Sam Bennett. Though Chalmers tells Bullitt that Bennett recommended him for the job of guarding Johnny Ross, Bennett clarifies to Bullitt that Chalmers specifically asked for him, and that he did so because of the lieutenant's good reputation and publicity. Later, when Ross is attacked and mortally wounded, Bennett meets Bullitt at the hospital and warns him of how angry Chalmers is over this and that he may try to save face by laying the blame on the department. However, he also tells him, "All I'm interested in is results. Do whatever you think is best. I'll try to back you back up." On Sunday morning, when he's heading to church with his family, Bennett is confronted by Chalmers about Bullitt moving Ross out of the hospital to some secret destination. Ignoring Chalmers' surreptitious offer to help him move up the ladder in exchange for his cooperation, Bennett simply says that Bullitt likely had a good reason for what he did and that the investigation is his to proceed with as he sees fit. Chalmers then serves him with a writ of habeas corpus to make him responsible for Ross' delivery in time for the subcommittee meeting. And after the major chase that leaves two people dead, Bennett confronts both Bullitt and Delgetti, demanding they tell him what's going on. He also orders Bullitt to divulge what he did with Ross to Captain Baker, leading him to admit that Ross is dead and in the morgue as a John Doe. As shocked as he is by this, Bennett decides not to comply with the habeas corpus just yet, allowing Bullitt to follow up on the lead of Dorothy Simmons. This proves to be a good call, as it leads to the ultimate revelation of what's going on.

The only major female character is Bullitt's girlfriend, Cathy (Jacqueline Bisset), and even then, her role, for me, is so inconsequential that she may as well not even be here. Cathy works as an architect and, while she and Bullitt have a fairly close and loving relationship, he keeps her at arm's length when it comes to his job. When the two of them are in bed at his apartment after going out to dinner, and Delgetti calls to tell him that his shift of guarding Johnny Ross is over and Stanton is taking over, Cathy asks, "Something exciting?" He just tells her to go to sleep, saying, "It's not for you, baby," but Cathy counters, "Anything you do is part of me." Regardless, after the chaos at the hospital, she's there for him at his apartment when he comes home, has a shower, and changes clothes before going back out. She even offers to make him breakfast but he settles for some coffee before leaving again, as she sits at his table by herself. However, Cathy gets more than she bargained for when, with no other choice, Bullitt has her drive him to the hotel in San Mateo where Dorothy Simmons is. Though he leaves her in the car, she gets curious when a squad car pulls up with its lights flashing and siren blaring, and goes to check it out. She wanders into the crime scene, where she's horrified both by the sight of Simmons lying dead on the floor and Bullitt nonchalantly informing Delgetti of what's happened over the phone. Seeing her standing there, Bullitt tries to block her view, but the damage has been done. The two of them leave the scene, but when Bullitt pulls over, Cathy gets out of the car and runs to the other side of the road, unable to take it anymore. She then confronts him: "I thought I knew you. But I'm not so sure anymore. Do you let anything reach you? I mean, really reach you? Or are you so used to it by now that nothing really touches you? You're living in a sewer, Frank. Day after day." Bullitt counters, "That's where half of it is. You can't walk away from it," to which Cathy says, "I know it's there, but I don't have to be reminded of the whole thing. The ugliness around us. With you, living with violence is a way of life. With violence and death. How can you be part of it, without becoming more and more callous?" 

This is supposed to be a major emotional scene, not just with Cathy realizing that she didn't grasp how dark and horrific Bullitt's work is but also leaving her to wonder if the two of them have a future together. In the end, it is resolved, at least for the time being, when Bullitt comes home after it's all over and sees Cathy sleeping in his bed, waiting for him, while he goes into bathroom and washes up. He looks at himself in the mirror, clearly wondering if she's right about what his job might

be doing to him, and the movie ends there. However, for me, none of this means anything. For one, as I've already stated, I don't find Bullitt to be that compelling of a character, so I don't care what his job is doing to him. For another, the film devotes so little time to his and Cathy's relationship, with her appearing in only a few scenes before all this, that there's no major lead-up to it and thus, it doesn't have the emotional impact I think they were going for. And finally, you could take all the scenes with Cathy out and the movie wouldn't be affected at all. You could even still have the final scene, with him looking at himself in the bathroom mirror, and get the same suggestion of the thoughts that are likely going through his head.

Even though he's not the one behind Johnny Ross' killing or the attempts on Bullitt's life, Robert Vaughn's Walter Chalmers may as well be the villain, as he's the one whom Bullitt is constantly going up against. With an eye on running for public office, Chalmers intends to use Ross as his star witness at the Senate subcommittee meeting to make himself look good. He also hires Bullitt to guard Ross to that end, as Bullitt gets a lot of great press. But when Ross is mortally wounded by the hitmen, Chalmers, just as Captain Bennett predicts, attempts to save face by laying the blame on the police department. He confronts Bullitt about it at the hospital and, ignoring the fact that Sergeant Stanton, an officer with a family, was badly injured, as well as evading a question about the deal he made with Ross, tells the lieutenant: "In your... parlance, you blew it. You knew the significance of his testimony, yet you failed to take adequate measures to protect him. So to you, it was a job, no more. Were it more, and you had the dedication I was led to believe... I shall personally officiate at your public crucifixion if Ross doesn't recover during the course of the hearing so I can at least present his deposition. And I assure you, I shall not suffer the consequence of your incompetence. And even if there wasn't any... I'm rather certain I can prove negligence on your part." And Bullitt isn't the only one who suffers from Chalmers' vindictiveness. Despite doing everything he can to help Ross, Chalmers asks that Dr. Willard be replaced for being, "Too young and inexperienced," and for a surgeon in his employ to be put in his place. By the time Chalmers returns to the hospital the next day, intending to have his picture taken at Ross' bedside to compensate for his inability to testify, Ross, unbeknownst to him, has died and been secretly moved to the morgue. Trying to find out what's going on, Chalmers is intent on calling Dr. Willard at his home, as well as speaking with the supervisor, and is frustrated when he has to talk with someone other than the woman he spoke with hours before. He sends the reporters away with a mask of decency, acting like he cares about Ross' well-being, but when he learns that the medical chart has been "misplaced," he knows it's Bullitt's doing. When he finally gets him on the phone, Bullitt gives him the runaround, simply telling Chalmers that he has Ross.

In a truly slimy move, Chalmers speaks to Captain Bennett before church and presents him with a writ of habeas corpus when he refuses to intervene in Bullitt's actions. This is after he fails to ensure Bennett's cooperation by hinting at a better position and, by extension, a better salary to send his son through college. Before he leaves, Chalmers sneers, "I do not choose to have people accuse me of false promises for the sake of cheap sensationalism, or to be compromised by your

lieutenant. Or castrated." Eventually, Chalmers learns of Ross' death and confronts Bullitt again, demanding a signed admission that he died while in the lieutenant's custody. Bullitt ignores him and goes about his business, leading to the scene where it's revealed that the man Chalmers thought was Ross was a decoy, and that the real Ross is attempting to flee the country. Despite this, Chalmers is determined to twist the situation around to benefit himself. He arrives at the airport, meets with Bullitt and Delgetti as they prepare to

arrest Ross, and tells the lieutenant, "He's still my witness. I'll be delighted to let you have him after he testifies tomorrow." He even tries to get Bullitt in on it: "The Organization, a couple of murders. It could do us both a great deal of good." This is when Bullitt lets Chalmers know that he's had enough of him, responding to his claims of, "We both know how careers are made. Integrity is something you sell the public," and, "We must all compromise," with his simple retort of, "Bullshit!" Though he's ordered to leave, Chalmers sticks around long enough to see Ross get gunned down. He then leaves in disgust, driven off in his car, which has a sticker on its back that ironically says, "SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL POLICE." 

I, and I'm sure a lot of other people, always think of Norman Fell as Mr. Roper on Three's Company, which I did watch a lot on TV Land way back when, but he did have some notable serious acting roles, like in The Graduate (as a landlord, funny enough). Here, he has a very minor role as Captain Baker, who, unlike Bennett, is very much on Chalmers' side, to the point where he basically takes orders from him. He's also no fan of Bullitt, and when the lieutenant refuses to divulge Johnny Ross' whereabouts, Baker is intent on taking him down, per Chalmers' orders. The next time you see Baker, he and Bennett meet with Bullitt and Delgetti following the car chase, where he demands that Bullitt reveal Ross' whereabouts, telling the lieutenant, "A man like Chalmers could be a great help to the department. He could speak for us where it counts. He could fight for us in the legislature. Now, you have got to turn over his witness." But when Bullitt reveals that Ross is dead and he had his body anonymously removed from the hospital, Baker calls him sick, adding that the two men who died in the chase may have had nothing to do with it. He also says that Bullitt's assertion that he was chasing the men who killed Ross wouldn't hold up in court, and he doesn't think Ross' apparent girlfriend in San Mateo is much of a lead, but Bennett lets him check it out. And the last time you see Baker, he's shocked to learn that "Ross" was a decoy.

Other notable characters include Dr. Willard (Georg Standford Brown), the young surgeon who does what he can to save Ross' life after he's brought to the hospital, but tells Bullitt that he only has a fifty-fifty chance of living. As I said, like Bullitt, Willard runs afoul of Chalmers, with whom he's honest about Ross' slim chances of recovering enough to give a deposition, after which Chalmers attempts to have him replaced. After Ross dies, he helps Bullitt quietly remove the body from the

hospital and sees to it that Ross' medical chart goes missing. A young Robert Duvall has a small role as Weissberg, the cabbie who drove Ross around before taking him to the hotel where he was later killed, and who aids Bullitt in retracing his steps, including noting that Ross made a long distance call at a payphone. The Hotel Daniels desk clerk (Al Checco) is memorable in how, when Delgetti is questioning him about the two hitmen, he's initially uncooperative, but when they threaten to take him downtown, his memory suddenly gets really good.

And at one point, Bullitt speaks with Eddy (Justin Tarr), an informant who tells him of Ross' embezzling and that the mob is combing San Francisco, looking for him. After he gives Bullitt the information, Eddy asks if he can help out a friend who's in prison for receiving stolen property, and Bullitt says he'll do what he can.

By the end of the movie, the man whom everyone thought was Johnny Ross is revealed to have been Albert Renick (Felice Orlandi), a Chicago used car salesman who happened to resemble the real Ross and was used as a decoy. While it's unclear just how much Renick knew about what was going on, when you look back at the movie knowing the truth, it's kind of sad to see him being given the runaround by the real Ross. He sends him to a fancy hotel to pick up a message, only for Renick to be confused when the man at the front desk checks the mail and finds nothing there. Unbeknownst to him, he was sent there to catch the eye of a doorman who was actually a mob informant, who telephoned about the cab he was taking, allowing the assassins to track him down. Then, he goes to the shady Hotel Daniels after calling Chalmers and is very nervous and confused about why he was sent there. And finally, when the hitmen show up, Renick, likely thinking they've come to help him get out, unlocks the door for them, only to get blown away. Sadly, his wife, who was at a hotel in San Mateo during this time, falls victim to Ross, who murders her to keep her from talking and to use Renick's passport and flight booking to leave the country.

Since Chalmers is the film's actual antagonist, the real Johnny Ross and the mobsters pursuing him are faceless non-entities who act as little more than living MacGuffins to drive the plot forward (in fact, Ross doesn't have a single line in the entire movie). After the opening, where he manages to evade an attempt on his life in Chicago, Ross (Pat Renella) is at work behind the scenes in San Francisco, manipulating everything from the shadows. Having operated the Chicago

Organization's wire service, Ross is on the run after stealing $2 million and, somehow, manipulates Renick into posing as him, while also promising Chalmers that he'll testify at the Senate subcommittee. It's all a plan to throw both the police and the mob off his trail, and he intends to use Renick's passport and plane tickets to get out of the country on Sunday night. However, Bullitt figures out what Ross is up to, stops his flight from leaving, and guns him down after a long chase at the airport. And speaking of long chases, the two assassins who murder Renick are the center of the movie's most memorable setpiece. The actual hitman, Mike (Paul Genge), attacks Renick with a Winchester pump shotgun and later heads to the hospital to finish the job. However, Bullitt is warned about him and attempts to apprehend him, although Mike manages to escape. Later, he and his partner, Phil (Bill Hickman), follow Bullitt around town, looking for an opportunity to get him out of the way, but they, of course, end up becoming the hunted and get killed when they crash into a Brisbane gas station.

One thing I definitely can't deny about Bullitt is that it's a very well-made movie in just about every aspect. For one, it's very well-shot by Peter Yates and his cinematographer, William A. Fraker. You can tell the production values were fairly high, as it has that glossy look you often get with high-end movies made during this period, and the way it looks nicely captures the feel of a warm, sunny couple of days in San Francisco. It looks especially good when it's late afternoon, approaching sunset, with just a hint of light coming through the

windows, while the interiors are mostly, if not almost entirely, dimly lit. That's especially true of Bullitt's introductory scene, where all the shades are drawn as he's sleeping late into the day after getting off work at 5:00 that morning. Speaking of which, the nighttime interiors often make good use of shadows and darkness in tense or suspenseful scenes, like the attack on Johnny Ross in the hotel room, where the assassins' faces are kept off-camera or obscured by shadow, and when Bullitt chases Mike the hitman through the hospital. More

romantic scenes, like Bullitt and Cathy's date and their relaxing in his bed afterward, are shot in a low-lit, sensual manner. And the nighttime exteriors often have a cool, bluish tint to them, with lights like car headlights and those on the planes during the ending having a diffused quality to them. As for the camerawork, Yates never gets too showy with it, but I like the details in some shots. For instance, in the many driving scenes shot from inside the cars, I like that you can see the

passengers' faces in the rear-view mirrors, be it when someone's riding in the cab or when you can see Mike's face in the mirror while he and Phil are following Bullitt in the lead-up to the chase. Speaking of which, this close-up on the rear-view mirror when Bullitt begins stalking them is a very nice touch. And the chase, of course, is shot and edited extremely well (which likely cinched its winning the Oscar for Best Editing), something that I really appreciate in action scenes. Here,

there's no shakiness or rapid-fire cutting that makes you lose track of where everyone is or what's happened. And going back to the camerawork, there's a nice moment where Bullitt finds the cab that Ross took to the hotel hours before he was killed. Bullitt pulls up in his Mustang, gets out, and water drips down the screen, revealing that he's being photographed through the back window of a car that's going through a car wash. The camera then pulls back to reveal a distinctive, nodding dog

decoration sitting in front of the back window, revealing that it is the right cab. It holds on this shot as the car goes further in, behind the automatic brushes, and the window is scrubbed with soap. When it goes all the way through, the shot of Bullitt watching the car quickly adjusts from blurry to clear as the water on the window dissipates. And when he approaches Weissberg the cabbie, it's shot through the watery windshield.

Unlike the rest of it, the film's opening sequence, depicting Johnny Ross evading the attempt on his life in Chicago, is very stylized. Your first look at the mobsters waiting outside the office to kill Ross is revealed to be a reflection in a small bit of glass in a control room, a close-up of them is done either in black-and-white or sepia tone, and in one section, the camera is constantly moving throughout the offices, coming off like the POV of someone just wandering around in there, before focusing on Ross, hiding and waiting for the killers

to make their move. We also get our first taste of car action, as Ross drives away and a mobster attempts to nail him as he does. The most eye-catching part of this sequence is the credits themselves courtesy of Pablo Ferro. The big ones, like Steve McQueen's name, those of the main supporting actors, and the film's title do this thing where they appear in white text, then slide or drop away, leaving behind a trace of themselves that come at the screen, revealing that the next cut is

within them, including a close-up of the hitmen. I'll admit, I haven't seen anything like that in other movies. The other credits don't sit idle either: they separate from each other in different directions, scroll in from the bottom or the sides, often passing by each other, and sometimes one part of a credit, such as the person's role, will scroll by while their name remains fixed. But, as well-done as they are, these credits may be a little too fancy for the movie's own good, as I'll get into later.

Another thing that Bullitt is often complimented for is its realism, notably in how it was shot just about entirely on location, as opposed to sets or soundstages. Save for the opening in Chicago, which was actually shot there, the movie was filmed almost entirely in San Francisco, both in various establishments and the streets, including the car chase, pieces of which were shot at a number of locations throughout the city and in Brisbane, San Mateo. Though this would've normally been just as difficult as it was costly,

Peter Yates and his crew made use of new lightweight Arriflex cameras that proved very beneficial. It also didn't hurt that the city's mayor was eager to have more movies shot there and thus, the filmmakers were basically given free reign. Notable settings in the film which we only see a couple or so times include Bullitt's apartment, which is a small, typical low income sort of place, with a lever that he uses to open the door for Delgetti during his introductory scene; Chalmers' large, fancy mansion, where he's throwing a big

soiree when he's introduced; the crummy, low-class Hotel Daniels, where Johnny Ross stays, which has some narrow claustrophobic hallways and rooms that are so small there's almost nowhere for two or three to move around; the studio where Cathy works; the nice jazz club and restaurant where she and Bullitt go on their date; the Grace Cathedral Episcopal Church, where Chalmers serves Captain Bennett with the habeas corpus; and the small motel where Dorothy Simmons is found murdered.

There are three major settings, the first of which is the San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center, where much of the latter part of the first act is set following the attempt on Ross' life. Not only do we see a lot of the operating and emergency rooms, as well as the waiting room and the hallways, but the basement area is the setting for an extended cat-and-mouse sequence between Bullitt and the hitman, Mike. The second major setting is the San Francisco Police Department, specifically

Captain Bennett's office, the evidence room where the contents of Dorothy's luggage are examined, the morgue, and the room where they receive the information that "Ross" is actually Albert Renick. And finally, San Francisco International Airport, where the finale takes place. Not only is just about every inch of the airport itself used but so is the runway and even the interiors of one of the planes (I can't find any info to the contrary, so I think they did actually shoot onboard one).

True police procedure is also followed quite closely, particularly in how evidence is processed in the scene where Dorothy Simmons' luggage is examined. Before he and Delgetti open up the cases, Bullitt deposits some items of jewelry he found at the scene of the crime, and when they do go through the luggage, they look through everything, bagging notable items as they go and having them examined for fingerprints. We also see fingerprints taken from "Johnny Ross'" corpse, as the autopsy report is being made, and Bullitt asks

for Albert Renick's passport applications to be wired from Chicago, the latter scene featuring an early version of telecopier or fax machines. In addition to police procedure, when Ross and Sergeant Stanton are brought to the hospital after being attacked, medical and emergency room procedures are followed to the letter, right down to real doctors and nurses appearing in the cast during many of these scenes. And finally, one example of realism that I personally like is the natural

ambience that's created by not having wall-to-wall music throughout the movie. While it does have a memorable music score, it's used very sparingly, instead mostly resorting to the use of diegetic sound, and in notable sequences, too, like the famous chase scene and most of the climax at the airport. But what I like best is when they just use the sound of the city itself, like the traffic, the sound of people talking, the trolleys, etc. My favorite example is when Bullitt goes back to the hotel where the hit took place and looks around the crime scene, which is totally silent, save for the sounds outside the window.

One thing that's quite shocking about Bullitt is how violent it is for the time. Granted, it came out the year after Bonnie and Clyde, which was also quite brutal for its day, but there's a lot of surprisingly bloody gun violence and the like to be found here. When Ross and Stanton get attacked at the Hotel Daniels, Stanton gets shot in the left leg, leaving a big, bloody wound, while Ross gets blasted in the shoulder with a shotgun, the impact of which slams him against the wall behind his bed, splattering blood on it and the back of the bed, as well as

leaving him with a bleeding scalp. You also see the aftermath of it when Bullitt re-visits the crime scene and it's fairly bloody, too. The operation and emergency room scenes aren't terribly graphic, but you see enough in them, as well as those in the ICU, to make you wince, especially if you're like me and hate hospitals and the idea of surgery. The same also goes for the glimpses of Ross' corpse after he dies, like when they take his fingerprints. At the end of the car chase, you get a pretty grisly

sight of the hitmen's bodies burning up in the fire, and when Dorothy Simmons is found dead in the motel room, a nasty, bloody scar on her neck alludes to her having been garroted. And finally, when the real Ross is gunned down at the end of the movie, he falls through a glass door and then lies there in a bloody heap on the floor.

While the car chase is the sequence that gets all the attention, there's one earlier in the film that I also think is well-orchestrated. After Chalmers and his entourage leave the hospital following his confrontation with Bullitt, the hitman, Mike, arrives. He asks a doctor where he can find a "relative" of his suffering from a gunshot wound and he's pointed to the emergency room. On a hunch, the doctor calls upstairs and warns Bullitt about him. When he fits Stanton's description of the man who shot him and Ross, Bullitt, in turn,

warns Delgetti, telling him to guard the ground floor. He then tells a police officer to get inside Ross' room and stand guard. Mike arrives on the second floor and, scoping out the hallway, ducks back through the door to the stairwell. He pulls up his pants' leg and removes a screwdriver taped to his leg, when a nurse walks in on him and screams, sending him running downstairs. The nurse runs and tells Bullitt and he chases after Mike. Mike reaches the ground floor, but when he sees Del and

another cop across the hall, he heads down into the basement. Bullitt follows him and, reaching the door into the basement, opens it and looks down either corridor. He heads down the one to his left and, after some walking, comes to a locked door. He then heads further in, walking quietly through an area filled with gym equipment over in a corner. Unbeknownst to him, Mike is hiding behind a pillar, which he walks right past. Bullitt reaches the end of the room, when he hears a soft clank behind

him. Said sound is Mike attempting to very quietly go through a door with a lever in the back. He makes a break for it and Bullitt runs after him, down a long corridor and through a door that leads into a room with a laundry chute. He finds an open window with bars on the other side of the glass, and after being startled by some laundry dumping onto the floor, he sees Mike runs past the bars outside. He tries to cut him off, but is forced to smash a fire extinguisher through a door's window in order to get out and onto the street. But by this point, Mike is long gone.

But, of course, the car chase is the movie's seminal setpiece, though it makes you wait until over an hour for it. After driving around with Weissberg the cabbie, and getting some info from Eddy, Bullitt gets into his Mustang, then sees a Dodge Charger sitting across the way from him. Knowing there's something fishy, he drives on into the city, and the Dodge begins following him. Mike and Phil, the latter at the wheel, follow Bullitt through the traffic and up a hill past a turn onto the right. But when they get to the top of the hill, they look

both ways and see that they've seemingly lost him. Phil drives up along this shoulder to his left and they begin heading downhill, through a small neighborhood. That's when they see Bullitt come up behind them in the rear-view mirror and realize they're now the ones being chased. Despite a pickup truck driving along his path, he manages to keep up with them, as they're stopped by a pair of passing trolleys. They continue pass them, making a left turn at the end of the street and keep up this cat-and-mouse bit for a little longer. But then, Phil

stops and buckles his seat-belt, and speeds off at top speed to the left, heading uphill and burning rubber as he does. Bullitt, despite getting momentarily blocked by some cars passing in front of him, follows suit, chasing them uphill, swerving around corners, with Bullitt, at one point, overshooting a right turn back up a hill and having to quickly go in reverse (a mistake Steve McQueen actually made that they decided to keep in the film), and up and down various streets, at one point

bouncing up into the air due to the hills, often coming very close to hitting other cars. Eventually, the chase leads out of the city and onto the highway, the two of them going dangerously fast and dodging other cars as they do. They then head up a hill and down a freeway leading into the countryside. At one point, Bullitt goes off-road and into the dirt in order to miss a guy on a motorcycle who wipes out in the middle of the road. Seeing the big dust cloud he creates when he swerves around, Phil smiles, thinking they've lost him.

However, Bullitt quickly drives out of the dirt and back onto the road, flooring it in order to catch back up with them. It doesn't take him long to do so, and when they see that he's after them again, Mike grabs his shotgun and loads it. The road becomes full of traffic, both ahead of and coming at them, and while trying to get around the vehicles, Phil clips the side of a truck, then scrapes along the guardrail. Bullitt is able to dodge the other cars more effectively and, with the two-lane highway pretty much clear as they head to

Brisbane, he attempts to get alongside them. Seeing Mike climbing into the backseat with his shotgun, Bullitt rams the side of their car. Mike rolls down one of the back windows and Bullitt pulls back when he points his gun's barrel out the window and starts firing. He swerves back and forth to avoid the shots, although one of them goes through his windshield, and then gets back up alongside them and slams into them. The Dodge hits a section of railing and careens out of control

towards a gas station up ahead. They hit the fuel tanks, causing a massive explosion, while Bullitt flies down the highway and across the width of the road, narrowly avoiding falling into a ditch on the other side. He looks back and sees the entire station explode into flames, which completely consume Mike and Phil's bodies.

Although I appreciate it now, like I said in the introduction, I didn't think much of the car chase when I first saw Bullitt. I was expecting a lot of slamming into and through obstacles, the cars crashing into each other, and more of Bullitt and the hitmen firing at each other, but instead, the chase focused on pure speed, the driving skill, and near misses. However, I got more of an understanding of what they were going for when I watched the documentary, Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool, as Peter Yates said that he and

McQueen wanted to show off the skill of the drivers, with Yates commenting, "How do you have a chase where everyone crashes the whole time? You don't get anywhere." What's more, you have to appreciate the fact that they were really flying through those hilly streets, around those sharp turns, and amid other cars at speeds well over 110 mph, instead of cranking the camera in a manner to where it would look faster than it really was when played back. A major aid in this sequence was that Phil, the hitman driver, is played

by Bill Hickman, who was a professional stunt driver. McQueen, as per usual with him, tried to do the whole chase himself, but while he did do a great deal of it, including, according to stuntman Bud Ekins, who did the motorcycle wipe-out in the midst of the latter part of the chase, the moment where Bullitt flies off the road and does a 180 in the dirt, stuntmen did double for him during the most dangerous moments, although McQueen didn't want the public to know. Basically, it's

McQueen when you can see his face, and a stuntman when the mirror is down to where you can't see the face. And finally, the fact that the chase is as coherent as it is is a testament to editor Frank Keller, as he had to fit together footage shot across three weeks, in multiple locations, from both inside and outside the cars, and often with the same takes done from multiple angles, which did lead to some continuity errors, although you really have to be looking for them.

But while everybody knows that action sequence, if I were to ask many to describe Bullitt's story, I guarantee you that most probably wouldn't be able to answer me. I'm not insulting them or saying they're stupid; rather, I'm saying that this movie isn't exactly known for its great plot. In fact, in re-watching the Essence of Cool documentary, I'm glad and relieved to hear some people involved with the movie admit as much, with Robert Vaughn saying he sent the script back to McQueen several times, telling him, "This movie doesn't make any

sense. I don't understand the plot." He later admits he only did it because they offered him a large sum of money to do so, adding, "It's still very hard to follow in terms of the story. But it's not important, obviously." Peter Yates also admits in the documentary that he almost didn't do Bullitt because he thought the script was bad, and Robert Relyea, the executive producer, comments, "You can't look at Bullitt and look for a great story structure. You have to look at what you're seeing

visually." Now, having watched a number of movies, particularly European horror movies, where the onscreen visuals are more important than the actual plot, I get what Relyea means by that and, in certain instances, it can work. But for me, it doesn't work here, especially since plot is usually crucial for a detective story like this. It's also why I don't emotionally connect with Bullitt himself or feel anything for his relationship with Cathy and the turmoil that occurs when she's horrified by what he deals with in his line of work.

The movie's opening title sequence is so visually dynamic that I find it, several times, distracted me from realizing that the man we see escape his office is Johnny Ross, even with the close-up of his and Pete's names on one door. In fact, because it's all visuals, I wasn't sure what was even going on the first few times I watched it. In any case, I didn't realize that the man Bullitt and Delgetti are hired to guard is a decoy who looks like Ross, and thus, the intricacies of the plot confused me further. I thought Chalmers may be in on it somehow, given

how Bullitt asks if anyone else knew where Ross was and could've tipped off the hitmen, as well as inspire them to use Chalmers' name in order to get in. Chalmers asks, "Are you suggesting I disclosed his whereabouts?", and Bullitt responds, "Well, somebody did. And it didn't come from us." I thought maybe this was part of a complex scheme to make the San Francisco Police Department look bad and it would eventually benefit Chalmers himself, but, as it turns out, the real Ross was playing both the police and the mob for fools.

However, I didn't grasp any of this until I read some plot synopses on both Wikipedia and IMDB, and even then, there are still parts of the story that don't make sense to me. How much did Albert Renick know? Did he know he was being used as a decoy? And if so, how was Ross able to talk him into it? I assume he had some knowledge of what was going on, seeing as how he wasn't expecting to be gunned down at the Hotel Daniels, but me suggesting earlier that he likely thought they were

there from Ross to help him escape was nothing but guesswork. But my biggest question is why Ross didn't just flee the country from Chicago. Why come to San Francisco and play this chess game with the police and the mob, even going so far as to make Chalmers think he's going to act as a witness at a Senate subcommittee meeting, if he was just going to escape to Europe? I guess maybe he needed Renick's passport and money, but why not just kill him and his wife and take it, instead of

going through this elaborate ruse? I even went into the IMDB FAQ section on the film to try to get some answers, but some of them tended to be contradictory. Again, if you can answer any of these questions for me, then go right ahead. Maybe there's an obvious answer and the movie's nature makes it hard for me to grasp... or Vaughn and everyone else were right about it being a difficult movie to follow.

Even with an idea of what's going on, for me, the climax is overlong and lackluster. Realizing that Ross is leaving the country using Renick's passport and plane tickets, Bullitt and Delgetti race to San Francisco International Airport to intercept him. Running to the gate for the flight leaving for Rome, they wait around for Ross to come through and have his passport checked, only for him to never appear. On a hunch, Bullitt makes a call and learns that, at last minute, Ross changed his flight to one heading for London. He then calls flight control

and has them tell the plane, which is taxiing onto the runway, to return to the gate. During this time, Bullitt has his tense, final confrontation with Chalmers, and is led aboard the plane when it arrives. Moving amongst the passengers as they disembark, he spots Ross sitting near the back. It doesn't take Ross long to realize who he is and he gets up, moves farther back, then escapes via the emergency exit. Bullitt chases after him, jumping onto the runway, and follows him to the edge, into the grass. He loses sight of him in the dark and

tries to find him, while inside, Del calls for security. There's a long bit where Ross hides in a large ditch, while Bullitt searches the edge of the airfield. Ross takes a couple of shots at him but misses, and takes off back across the airfield. Bullitt chases after him amid the planes that are taking off, at one point having to drop to the ground and covers his ears as one lifts off above him (something else that Steve McQueen actually did himself). The chase heads back to the airport,

with Ross taking another shot at Bullitt and then running back into the building through the baggage area; at the same time, Del and a security guard rush to help apprehend Ross. There's another protracted section where Bullitt scans the crowd for Ross, then begins slowly moving among them, with Ross doing the same thing amid the crowd, trying to keep his gun hidden. He then finds himself trapped and, after loitering around, makes a break for it when someone asks him for his 

ticket. He rushes to the doors leading to the outside, shooting a security guard on the other side, but when he goes to open it, the shattered glass cuts his hand. He tries to run back in, but Bullitt shoots him twice and he crashes through the glass, dying instantly. The film lingers on the horrified expressions of the witnesses, while Bullitt walks over to Ross' body and kicks the gun away from him. Making sure he's dead, he covers the body with his coat, while the crowd is ordered to disperse, and Chalmers leaves without his star witness.

While it is used very sparingly, I do actually like the music score composed by Lalo Schifrin, with its distinctive smooth and oftentimes melancholic jazz aesthetic. The main theme is one you first hear during the opening scene, in its richest and most exciting version, and is heard in various variations throughout the film, including over the ending credits, often mirroring Bullitt's own mindset and mood. Specifically, the version that plays over the ending credits fits with the downbeat and contemplating mood he's in after what happened and the airport and when sees that Cathy has opted to stay with him. When he's chasing Mike through the hospital basement, Schifrin comes up with a fairly exciting bit for the start of it that then turns very soft and low-key when he's searching for him, and then goes at full speed again when the chase starts up once more. Speaking of chases, while the lead-up to the car chase is scored in a slow but suspenseful manner, the actual chase is done entirely through sound effects, something that Schifrin himself suggested. And the latter part of the climax has a tense-sounding feel to it, although it doesn't make things any more thrilling to me. Finally, when Bullitt and Cathy go out on a date early in the movie, there's a band there called Meridian West, which had come to Steve McQueen's attention when he saw them at a restaurant in Sausalito. They're playing a mellow little number that is officially called A Song for Cathy, fittingly enough.

Sometimes I like to go outside my comfort zone and try something I normally wouldn't watch. There are times when it works well, and other times when it doesn't; Bullitt, I'm sad to say, is the latter. There are most definitely things to like about this movie, like some great actors in the cast, the skillful filmmaking, the high production values, very well-done sequences, particularly the car chase, the almost complete use of real locations, and a nice, catchy music score. But, for me, that doesn't make up for a story that's hard to comprehend and is a case of style over substance, a lackluster finale, and a protagonist who, despite being played by a much beloved actor, and some moments here and there, isn't all that compelling to watch. I'm sure this review is going to rile some people up and, hey, if you're a fan of Bullitt and think it's one of the best movies ever, you're more than welcome to it. But I don't see myself going back to it now that this is done.