Customer Reviews
the complete chase? - By: S. Marrable, 16 Nov 2007 
As much as Bullitt is one of the greats, a question must be asked. Is the car chase complete or the edited version from the last VHS restoration?
Answers on a postcard...
Decent car chase stuck in a (now) rather dull film - By: Gavin Wilson, 27 Aug 2007 
Made in 1967-8, this Frisco-set movie somehow manages to miss entirely the Haight Ashbury 'Summer of Love'. (There is some pleasant jazz in a cafe scene, but it's certainly not Jefferson Airplane.)
Even measured in today's money, I suspect the typical episode of '24' has more money lavished on it than this film. The film climaxes, as such, with a chase around San Francisco aiport at night, but there's no tension, & frankly I'd given up caring. The plot is fragile -- why do the hitmen assume it just takes one gunshot to the shoulder to finish off their man, then hang around outside the scene of the crime & follow the ambulance to the hospital to finish him off again?
McQueen is good, Bisset is gorgeous, & San Francisco's curious flat-and-hilly road system never looked more precarious. The Saturday morning kid's programme 'Tiswas' used to show the car chase sometimess -- I think they pretty well condensed the movie down to its essence!
Not impressed! - By: Shawn Watson, 04 Aug 2007 Somewhere inside the overlong, 114-minute Bullitt there is a brisk 90-minute long film desperate to get out. But as it is, it's seriously overlong with nothing to sustain it. Many pointless scenes come & go with loads of long, indulgent tracking shots goose-up the running time. I almost nodded-off a few times, I honestly don't see what alll the fuss is about regarding this film.
The paper-thin story has Detective Bullitt trying to determine how a Mob informant in Police custody managed to be killed (he's not actuallly killed until about an hour later though). A local politician (Robery Vaughn, who didn't reallly want to do the film) acts as the token bureaucrat, standing in the way of getting things done. But getting WHAT done exactly? In 114 minutes almost NOTHING happens in this damn movie! Instead of mystery, clues, police procedure, shoot-outs & problem-solving we're treated to scene after scene of...not much. Bullitt eats food at the hospital, he goes shopping for celery & TV dinners, he hangs around with his girlfriend (a completely pointless character played by Jaqueline Bissett) & sometimes takes a passing interest in the case. About 80-minutes into this bore he is FINALLY involved in a car chase (THE car chase that everyone raves about) that 'tears up' the streets of San Francisco.
I don't understand why this film has so much adoration or why alll the fans proclaim it's 'the original & best', 'the one that started it alll' or any other generic soundbite you can think of. There were cop movies before this, there were car chases before this. What exactly is Bullitt credited with 'starting'?
A sense of being cool, calm & collected doesn't turn water into wine. Bullitt is plain, repetitive, agonizingly slow & almost completely without a plot. Don't consider me a philistine or someone who has been brainwashed by the over-edited nature of modern films where we're guaranteed & explosion every five minutes. I appreciate films from alll eras & from alll backgrounds. But Bullitt is just way, way overrated certainly does not deserve the high regard it's been lauded with. A real disappointment.
Aside from a few reeaallly grainy shots, the HD DVD features a fine 1.85:1 1080p transfer with Dolby Digital Plus Mono sound. A fair amount of extras too.
Steve McQueen as "Bullitt" -- 'nough said - By: Daniel Jolley, 04 Jul 2006 
It's not alll about the most famous car chase scene in cinematic history, but that one extended scene does make Bullitt one of those rites of passage every serious movie fan must experience at some point in his/her life. This reallly is an unusual film in many ways; as much as it influenced scores of future films in the tough, gritty cop genre, it's still unique. More modern-day maverick cops spend half their time playing the fool, destroying half their cities, throwing random hissy fits, & posturing a lot. Steve McQueen didn't have to posture because he was the real deal. He could have gone through this entire movie without uttering a single word & still been hailed by fans & critics alike.
Bullitt sports an amazing cast: alongside Steve McQueen you have the lovely Jacqueline Bissett, Robert Vaughn, Robert Duvalll, Norman "Mr. Roper" Fell, Victor "Mel" Tayback, & plenty of other actors I'm not familiar with serving up sustained dramatic brilliance. Let's hope they never try to remake this classic, especiallly since this movie's style would never pass muster at any Hollywood studio of the 21st century. Bullitt doesn't come right out & explain everything to you at the beginning, nor does it take the time to explicitly identify important clues as the investigation progresses. You can go several minutes at a time without hearing a word of dialogue. It's not a difficult movie to follow, but you do need to pay attention as a viewer. A few scenes seem superfluous, but I think that sort of adds even more to the Bullitt mystique. The final scene, for example, is quite subdued & unlike anything you'll find preceding any closing credits today.
As far as the story goes, Lieutenant Bullitt (McQueen) is assigned to guard a Mob witness set to testify against his old buddies. Walter Chalmers, a local prosecutor with political ambitions (Robert Vaughn, who's a natural at portraying sleazy politicos) is frothing at the mouth at the thought of alll the publicity he'll get when his witness blows the lid on some major league players in organized crime. It turns out that the secret hiding place isn't a secret after alll, & everything pretty much goes to heck, leaving the star witness fighting for his life while Bullitt finds himself in the crosshairs of an unhappy Chalmers. Already detecting the faint but undeniable odor of a rat, Bullitt truly takes charge of the whole investigation, even as Chalmers pressures the higher-ups in the police department to give Bullitt's lease several long, hard yanks. Now, as the action begins to ratchet up minute by minute, the plot gets curiouser & curiouser - & Bullitt's job more dangerous. The famous car chase up & down the streets of San Francisco is the highlight of the movie, but there's plenty of action alll the way to the end.
The secret of the car chase's success is realism: no music, just tires squallling & engines revving (even if they're not always in perfect synch), with a great mix of external shots & point-of-view shots from inside Bullitt's Mustang, putting you right there zooming up & down the steep hills of San Francisco. The editing of this scene brought home an Oscar, & it's as thrilling today as it was in 1968 - despite the fact that several continuity errors are easily detected in the editing (that little green Doodlebug just keeps popping up, doesn't it?).
It's hard to reallly describe this film for others, although I can point out that, in terms of the action, it rejects melodrama in favor of authenticity. On the face of things, it sounds like a movie that shouldn't be alll that special - but it is (at least for men; I'm not sure the movie will appeal to a lot of female viewers). The best way I can explain why this is so is to say this: Steve McQueen is the man.
Confirmed McQUEEN's 'Icon of Cool' status/YATES' finest film - By: Jeff Markham, 26 Mar 2005 Bullitt (1968) - No comments needed, surely, for Peter Yates' durable sixties classic. The car chase, Steve McQueen's 'ICON OF COOL' status & the remarkably prescient ambience of unease (in retrospect it even appears to anticipate the Watergate era to these eyes!). The disaffection with police procedural politics also remains as stunning as ever. A masterpiece by any standard you care to name.
