Bullitt

[tabs]

Originally Posted by dd74

Sucked? The movie was great. It was a thinking movie. When McQueen walked into the hotel room/apt. where the fake perp and cop were shot, and he sizes up the whole scene with nothing but background noise from the freeway, showed deeply into his character.

The whole procedural part of Bullit has only been outdone by "The French Connection," IMO.

The DA played by Robert Vaughn was an excellent political opportunist a-hole.

And the end scene at SFO with McQueen chasing the real perp on the runways and into the terminal was terrific.

There was more to Bullit than Bisset (who I thought was a weak character -- just eye candy) and the car chase.

Why of course we didn't see any of Jackies TATA's as in THE DEEP, we didn't see more shootem ups as in Dirty Harry or car chase scenes as in Diamonds Are Forever. All we got was a pouty Steve McQueen mumbling his lines. It sucked...I am a visceral kind O Guy and plot and dialog don't really excite me..those are Chick Flicks.

Now The Getaway with MCQueen and ALI that was a REAL MANS MOVIE or even The Ballad Of Cable Houge...with Stella Stevens...another stiff one,,

Or Frankenheimers French Connection was a REAL nitty gritty police movie...MADE FOR REAL MEN. The scene where Hackman is handcuffed to the bed...wow

Buillt was just typical Hollywood fare...

Another early Jackie Bisset movie is The Sweet Ride....stiffy time....she is in the surf in Malibu without a top....betcha havn't seen that one..HUH?

[dd74]

Originally Posted by tabs

....stiffy time....HUH?

[tabs]

Originally Posted by dd74

lol

[lyon]

Steve McQueen is in this film from 1971, its interesting.

[Brian 162]

Originally Posted by FastCarFan

I haven't seen the movie in years. At the end of the chase scene the car hits a gas pump & it explodes. If you watch closely you will see that the car actually misses the pump, but it explodes anyway. The guy with his finger on the "blow up" button hit it even though the driver was a little off. Once they blew it they couldn't reshoot the scene.

I read or saw in the behind the scenes that the gas station was special effects. The city would not allow an explosion within the city limits.
Still a great movie. I hope they don't do a re-make of it.

[Looking_for_911]

Originally Posted by dd74

I'm friends with the son of Lalo Schifrin, who wrote the music score for Bullit. His son told me when the director, Peter Yates, wanted music during the chase scene, Lalo refused, saying the engines, shifting transmissions and screeching tires was the music.

Schifrin was a genius!!!

You can tell his son I said so, this wanna-be music major from another time!

Best I remember he did music for most if not all Clint Eastwood's movies, also. Well, maybe a great portion of them?

[FastCarFan]

Originally Posted by Brian 162

I read or saw in the behind the scenes that the gas station was special effects. The city would not allow an explosion within the city limits.
Still a great movie. I hope they don't do a re-make of it.

I did a Google search & I found this from a Dec 1998 Motor Trend article. I don't think this is where I read it (I rarely read MT), but the story is the same one I recall.

http://www.classicmustang.com/bullitt_Motor_Trend.htm

"For the final crash and explosion, a dummy gas station was constructed. Lofton set up a tow-and-release stunt in which the Charger was hitched to the Mustang. Balchowski dialed in as much front suspension caster as possible to keep the Charger in line as Lofton drove the Mustang, towing the Charger alongside. When the time was right, Lofton pulled a cable release and the Charger was sent into the station while explosives were set off. The Charger went behind the gas pumps but the special effects team ignited the charges anyway."

[Steve Carlton]

Good video on the making of the chase scene. I'm glad McQueen had the power to get it done his way. The comments of the way he treated the studio execs was great.

[sc_rufctr]

Great video. Thanks Steve.

[yellowperil]

Bullitt didn't suck. Another good thing was the two bad guys in the Charger were perfectly believable bad guys. Perfect. Just my 2 cents

[yellowperil]

To me they really looked like hired killers, bad to the bone. Could never beat McQueen though.

[sc_rufctr]

↑↑ Back in the day when the crooks often burned up in a crash - Today some of them get away or they're somehow glorified.

This stood out when I first saw the movie "Heat". Do you remember Val Kilmer character "Chris Shiherlis"?
- How many people did he kill or wound and yet in the end he just drove away.