Bullitt (1968)

I've been a little under the weather the last few days, which usually means relaxing on the sofa and mindless watching movies. (OK, I'm not sure how this is different from when I'm feeling fine!) I recently picked up "Bullitt" on Blu-ray and thought I'd see how a 1960's film comes through in high definition. I've seen a few Steve McQueen movies ("The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape"), but this might be the iconic role of his career. The story is somewhat simple, an ambitious and somewhat questionable California District Attorney has a key witness who he hopes will bring down a powerful Mafia figure. He asks to have Steve McQueen and his detective unit watch over the witness for the weekend. Several police and the witness end up shot and it is up to McQueen to figure who did it, and what's truly happening.

Many times going back to view a movie like this it becomes difficult to grasp the importance of the film upon it's initial release. This was quite cutting edge at the time. Yates, the director and McQueen, both wanted it to have a realistic feel to it. Most of the movie was shot on location throughout San Francisco, and the city really becomes it's own character in the film. Scenes in the hospital also used real doctors and nurses in key roles. McQueen's role as the rebellious and insubordinate police officer/hero (with cool car), would influence "Dirty Harry", "The French Connection", "Starsky and Hutch" and "Miami Vice" to name just a few. But with all of that said, it's also difficult to try and erase the past forty years of other directors stealing all of these elements, improving upon them and releasing "better" films. As one blogger wrote, "When originally released it set the bar for many a subsequent cop thriller, but viewed from a distance of forty years, it seems dated, confusingly plotted and poorly paced. And, it has to be said, rather dull!" I must admit, I agree with that statement, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't see it. It has some important, and very watchable elements to it.

First and foremost are the actors, and leading the pack is Steve McQueen. I'm not saying that McQueen is a great actor by any means, in fact even he would say he's not an actor but a re-actor. Some of his lines he would give to the other actors because he didn't want to talk to much, only react to what was being said. This would work quite well for him throughout his career, and bring an aura of "coolness" to his persona. Being "cool" is one of those hard aspects to really explain, but when you see it, you know, and Steve McQueen is pretty damn cool. In once scene, McQueen is in a hospital eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and drinking a glass of milk, and I don't know what it was about it, but he even made that look cool. His character of Lieutenant Frank Bullitt doesn't give off the cool sophistication of Sean Connery's James Bond, but there are similarities. Both have the beautiful girl and the hot car, but Bullitt is much more of the streets, as he works in the trenches of a tough city. He wouldn't be found in a tuxedo unless he had to, and than he would feel extremely uncomfortable. Even his short encounters with the political upperclass seems to be one of disgust. Bullitt would rather be in his black, mock sweater, shoulder holster and trench coat and sitting at a small jazz club with a drink and his girl.

Speaking of his girl, Jacqueline Bisset radiates on the screen. As with most of the female characters in movies like this, there isn't too much for her to do. She does have a job as an architect, which McQueen can't quite completely understand, so she is portrayed as being more schooled than he. But she is there basically as someone to come home to and to question if this job of crime fighting is not destroying who he is. Other notable actors are Robert Vaughn (famous as the Man from U.N.C.L.E.) playing the somewhat corrupt District Attorney. Ironically, Vaughn hated the script when he read it and said it didn't make much sense. He ended up taking the role just because he needed the money. Luckily, he didn't phone in the role, and the scenes with him and McQueen really seem to have great tension. Robert Duvall appears in an early role as a cabbie, and Norman Fell (famous as Mr. Roper on Three's Company) plays a very serious Captian Baker.

Besides from the actors, the main reason to catch this flick is "the chase". The car chase through the streets of San Francisco has become legendary, and it deserves its recognition. When I think of classic movie car chases, 3 come to mind immediately and the rest are far behind; "The French Connection", "The Road Warrior" and "Bullitt". Very few current films come close, mainly because the use of CGI and over the top stunts, defying the laws of physics, although exciting, make them completely unbelievable. (A nice exception goes out to the "Deathproof" section of "Grindhouse".) This is one of the first movies to film a chase scene through the actual streets of a city and pushed the speeds between 70 and 120 mph. What makes it even more amazing is the fact they are doing it in San Francisco, a city that can be difficult to drive through at 30 mph because of it's steep hills. Yates, the director, also put the camera in the car with McQueen for part of the chase which made the audience feel like they were in the chase as well. This technique gets lost on the smaller T.V. screens and the fact that every cop film and television show does this now. Even though it's been copied hundreds of times, it still holds up exceptionly well, and rightly earns its landmark status.

The last comment I'd like to add is the historical feel of the picture. Movies can go through a interesting time span. When they are first released they can be current, modern, hip, and cutting edge. After a short period of time (a few years to maybe 10), they can seem dated, like someone who's still wearing a certain fashion even though it's no longer in style. After a decade or two passes it can become a time capsule of a specific era. This is one of the reasons I enjoyed getting lost in this High Def version of this film. I truly felt like I was hanging out in the late 60's/early 70's. It didn't force it on you with the hippie culture, but just gently placed you into a city to get a glimpse of what it was like. The soundtrack, filled with "one of the best jazz flute compositions ever on celluloid" adds to the beatnik like atmosphere.

This disc also contains 2 very good documentaries. The first, "The Essence of Cool" is a 90 minute look at the life of Steve McQueen. It covers quite a lot including a film by film analysis of his career, his hobbies, his women and the cancer that took him, using vintage interviews of McQueen throughout his life, as well as current clips of the people who knew him. The second documentary is titled "The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing", which has nothing to do with "Bullitt" itself. It is a 1 hour and 40 minute look at the history of film editing from the silents to recent films such as "The Matrix" and "Gladiator". For those interested in the process of filmmaking it's quite interesting. Ironically, I was a little bothered by the editing of this particular film. It just had a confusing sense of jumping back and forth through time.