Steve McQueen is ultra-cool as ‘Bullitt’ on TCM
“Bullitt” is legendary for its midpoint car chase through the streets of San Francisco, but there’s also plenty else to recommend about it.
The Peter Yates-directed 1968 crime drama gets another of its frequent Turner Classic Movies showings Friday, Jan. 12, as part of a “Guest Programmer” night of selections made by “John Wick” franchise director Chad Stahelski. The picture remains most famous as one of the best examples of title star Steve McQueen’s particular brand of screen cool, as he plays a self-styled police detective who’s chosen to protect a witness for an ambitious politician.
Robert Vaughn (who also shared screen credit with McQueen in “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Towering Inferno”) also is great as said politician, who’s outwardly charming but covertly cold-blooded in seeking to advance his own agenda — so he isn’t very pleased when an assassin gets to the witness before the latter can testify, leaving both him and one of Bullitt’s colleagues in very bad shape.
With tenuous support from his boss (Simon Oakland), Bullitt and his partner (McQueen pal and frequent co-star Don Gordon) seek those responsible ... leading to the car chase referenced earlier, for which auto enthusiast McQueen spent quite a bit of time behind the wheel himself. That’s much of why the result is so exciting, since one clearly can see it’s actually McQueen doing the driving.
Another terrific chase caps “Bullitt,” set near and across the runways of the City by the Bay’s airport — and one only can marvel at the shots of McQueen ducking under moving planes, at a time when it had to be done for real without inserting an actor via computer-enhanced imagery. (Almost 30 years later, a similar pursuit between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in “Heat” served as something of a homage to that sequence.)
Jacqueline Bisset’s role in “Bullitt” is somewhat thankless, as the actress has said herself, the girlfriend who tries to prompt the cop to rethink his career choice. Two co-stars who fare much better: Robert Duvall as a cab driver who proves helpful to Bullitt in retracing the witness’ earlier steps; and Georg Stanford Brown, later a regular on television’s “The Rookies” and a director of note, as a doctor whose skills are questioned by Vaughn.
Though it’s moving toward its 60th-anniversary mark, “Bullitt” remains much fresher than many movies of more recent vintage in its genre. That’s one of the true tests of a classic, and “Bullitt” passes it. And then some.