Cinema Revisited: Bullitt (1968)

Directed by Peter Yates. Cast: Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset, Don Gordon, Simon Oakland, Norman Fell, Robert Duvall, Georg Stanford Brown. Released October 17, 1968. Running time: 114 minutes

As 1960s American cinema began to transition into the 1970s, maverick filmmakers investigated new ways to present established ideas.

With “Bullitt,” director Peter Yates, making his first American film, takes a cop movie’s standard conflict about a determined officer relentlessly pursuing a mobster who killed an important character witness, and casts Steve McQueen as the contemporary cool central character. In its time, "Bullitt" extended beyond the similar styles of Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, or James Cagney (each of whom played both good guys and bad guys) and redefined it for the modern era. It is this central character, and McQueen’s bravura performance, along with the now legendary chase sequence that sustains “Bullitt” as still relevant cinema over 50 years later.

Assessing a film from this far back allows us to overview its director’s entire career, to see where “Bullitt” might fit. Although it was Peter Yates’ first major directorial achievement, it can be argued he never topped it. When he tried to revisit similar ideas (e.g. “Mother, Jugs, and Speed”) it was hardly as successful. He directed some pretty impressive films after “Bullitt” (“The Friends of Eddie Coyle,” “Breaking Away,” “The Dresser,” “Eleni”) but ended his days doing TV movies (he died in 2011). McQueen hired Yates to direct "Bullitt" (made for McQueen's own production company), after seeing his previous movie "Robbery" (1967), a UK film that also includes an exciting chase sequence.

With “Bullitt,” Yates approaches each scene by framing the action in a manner that demands our attention. This is most effective in the many close-ups of actors listening to what’s being said by others, focusing not on the people engaged in dialog, but by a more important character who is nearby. It is an unusual approach, and works quite well.

Steve McQueen had scored with defiant performances in films like The Cincinatti Kid, and the ensemble pieces The Great Escape and The Magnificent Seven before getting an Oscar nomination for his work in The Sand Pebbles. Bullitt was made at the height of McQueen's career. He was in The Thomas Crown Affair that same year and would appear in The Getaway and Papillon as he entered the 1970s. By 1974 he was the highest paid movie star in the world, but didn't act in another movie for four years, and only appeared in three more before his death in 1980.

Along with director and star, it is fun to see the veteran supporting actors during an important period in their career: Robert Vaughn, Simon Oakland, and Robert Duvall; along with very pretty Jacqueline Bisset

Despite it being a good movie on several levels, "Bullitt" is best known for the car chase, in which McQueen did his own stunt work (carefully keeping his head near the window so the camera could reveal just that). Running in excess of eleven solid minutes, it effectively enhances the narrative and does leave a lasting impression. It has since redefined how similar scenes are filmed, inspiring the chase scenes in "The French Connection" and "To Live and Die in L.A."

"Bullitt" was the fifth-highest grossing film of 1968 and was considered one of the year's best films. Today it is often cited as helping to define Steve McQueen's iconic status.