Live Life Team
Genre: American Thriller
Director: Peter Yates
Starring: Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn
Bullitt famously depicts Frank Bullitt (McQueen) and two other cops who are given the task of guarding a mob witness by a corrupt politician. Each cop takes a shift in a small room overlooking the nearby freeway. Mid-second shift, gunmen shoot the witness and the guard, and the police realise the door to the room has been opened to the gunmen. The witness is hurried to hospital and Bullitt requests the shooting news be suppressed. After a fresh attempt to kill the witness at the hospital, the gunmen start to follow Bullitt. A fabulous car chase forms the exciting climax to the sequence, and Bullitt realises that the witness is not at all who he seems to be.
Often held as one of the best police movie dramas in film history, a large slice of Bullitt’s notoriety comes from “that” car chase scene. It is frequently referred to as one of the influential, possibly first and best example of the art of police/car pursuits. The film subsequently won an Oscar for its editing.
The film contains several interesting cameos to watch out for, and the movie is definitely blessed with more intelligence than many of its kind. Putting the car chase to one side however, the storyline is a little slow and slightly laborious at times; despite this Steve McQueen is absolutely magnificent playing the tough cop who stops at nothing in his pursuit of the truth.
