Bullitt (1968) DVD / Blu-ray

By: Oberst Von Berauscht (Two Beers) –
How many beers do you recommend for this movie?

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Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) is a police Lieutenant assigned to guard a mob witness in preparation for a Senate Subcommittee hearing.  While home from his shift, assassins break into the hotel room and shoot both the witness and Detective Stanton, who was filling in for Bullitt.  While neither one is killed outright, the witness later dies in hospital. Desperate to find the killers, Bullitt conceals the death, and ramps up an obsessive and very personal investigation.

A Toast

This police procedural drama from the late 60′s was massively influential, with a dark storyline, brutal violence, and cynical themes of dejection which gave the film grit.  Prior to Bullitt, most crime dramas focused on heroic cops and evil gangsters, or Robin Hood-like criminals.  This was the first time that the grey areas of crime and punishment were so heavily explored.  Themes developed in Bullitt directly influenced everything from the Dirty Harry, to The French Connection, to Heat and many other classics.

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The movie is perhaps most well known for the unabashedly tense car chase, which is definitely a highlight.  (Steve McQueen did all of his own stunt driving), but this great sequence can often make the rest of the story, which is far lower key, easy to overlook.  The performances are solid, and Director Peter Yates’ direction keeps things moving at a steady pace.

Beer Two

The weakest part of the film however are the sequences involving Bullitt’s love-life.  The scenes starring Bullitt’s girlfriend Cathy (Jaqueline Bisset) drag the pacing of the film down, and seem to have been put in the film simply to have a female character.  While I’m not against having a strong female character in films, this subplot just doesn’t work well, and in fact is abandoned pretty unceremoniously near the end anyway.

 Not in this movie you can’t…

Verdict

Slight flaws aside, this film is a solid piece of genre filmmaking.

Drinking Game

Bodycounter: drink for each death

Take a Drink: when Chalmers gets angry with Bullitt

Have a boilermaker: during the car-chase scene