Quentin Tarantino on Steve McQueen's 'Bullitt'

[Otter74]

Like probably most people, I've seldom given much thought to Bullitt beyond the chase. I've seen it a couple of times, but don't remember much else about it. I enjoyed Tarantino's visual essay on why it's a good film:

[herr_oberst]

This is a really good essay. I've watched it a cuppla times and it makes a lot of great points, plus the visuals are really well cut together with a ton of classic movie scenes for illustration.

[Steve Carlton]

Quentin's observations are excellent, but not original, and his knowledge of cinema is outstanding. He can place actors in perspective. He does make himself a bit of a know-it-all, and I think he is prone to exaggeration, but that's his charm. I like his movies big time.

He's right about Neal McQueen being the key to Steve's success in picking good movies to do. I don't agree about the plot not being clear at all. It's a good story with the fake witness being used to draw the heat and getting killed for it. Bullitt's strategy to find the killers by provoking a second attempt on the (fake) witness' life is clever and original. The chase is so good that it displaces most of the movie by being so memorable. McQueen's minimalism is genius and he clearly had the confidence to know that would be more than enough. A couple of my favorite moments are when he gets ready in the morning and combs his hair with his hands, when he parks his car in one quick shot, and when he buys food by stacking the frozen dinners. Those things are just not important to him. He's focused on more important things and not distracted by anything else. That's the genius of his acting for me.

[LWJ]

That was interesting. I need to go watch Bullit now...

[berettafan]

Love Tarantino. Huge fan. I think he gets more out of good actors than anyone in the history of film. He's a genius working on a whole 'nother level from the rest of Hollywood.

[Brian 162]

HA
I watched it today on the plane heading home.

[LWJ]

And I checked in out at the library today. Not sure I have ever seen the whole film. Going to fix that any day now.

[LWJ]

Just watched it with Mrs. LWJ. Her comment? "Lots and lots of cleft chins." She isn't wrong.

[speeder]

It's an existential masterpiece. Tarantino speaks truth although he describes it a little differently than I would. Cool video.

[speeder]

In the new PTA movie, (One Battle After Another), the car chase is between a Mustang and a Charger, of course.

[Steve Carlton]

Simon Oakland, Norman Fell, and Don Gordon couldn't have been better cast. This scene couldn't have been written better.

[javadog]

The movie is decent but I'd sure like to go back and re-shoot some of it.

Many of the movies from the 60's and 70's suffer from the inclusion of crap that might have been intended to be "hip" but just don't fit in with the rest of the movie. Some of the dialogue in the Dirty Harry series, especially that of the bad guys, is just laughable.

They desperately needed a better continuity guy on this one and the car chase could have been mapped out a lot better. If you've ever spent any time in SF, it's nonsense.

I do like McQueen's treatment of the character, and most of the supporting acting.

Tarantino is an interesting dude and is a walking encyclopedia of cinema. I've watched a lot of his videos like this one and I'm amazed at how much effort must have gone into making them.

[Steve Carlton]

Yes, he goes "all in."