Bullitt

December 11, 2004

Rated: PG Runtime: 96 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

DVD Quick Take

If you ask anyone who was a teenager or adult in the 60’s about car chases in movies, they’ll undoubtably refer to this flick as one of the best car chase movies of all time. It’s only one sequence, but what a sequence it is. Set during the peak of the muscle car era, there’s something quite gratifying about seeing two huge V8’s chasing each other around San Francisco.

We watch the movie for the chase, and the rest of the film can be a bit of an acquired taste due to Steve McQueen. He’s very low key and stoic and for those of us used to today’s film where the pace is a faster, this movie will definitely be a bit of a slow build. And it builds to a grand finale that by today’s standards is likely to be a bit of a let down. No big explosions or anything here.

The movie is your basic crime drama, but it deserves a bit more credit than that as Bullitt was the precursor to such cops as Dirty Harry. He gets the job done his way in a very insubordinate yet cool fashion. Without Bullitt, we might not have ever had Dirty Harry, Starskey and Hutch, Streets of San Francisco and many other similar films and TV shows.

If you’re a guy and can appreciate the sound of a big block V8, you need to see this movie for the chase if nothing else. If you’re a film buff or a Steve McQueen fan, you’ll appreciate it even more.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 3 Stars, Action, DVD, Jacqueline Bissett, PG, Robert Duvall, Robert Vaughn, Steve McQueen