Bullitt

Rating:
Summary: Seen better movies...
Review: Car chase is not so good as told ... or maybe it was in 1968. Not worth of buying just because of the chase. But anyway - McQueen, cars and musics were pretty cool anyway...

Rating:
Summary: One of The Best Thrillers Ever
Review: Bullitt is a rare and complex film; a strange mixture of European style "cinema verite" and glossy Hollywood stylisation. Sure, it has a car-chase, but its a shame that that monumental sequence tends to overwhelm everything else that's good in it.

The opening title sequence which flips from color to monochrome accompanied by a loud jazzy score, indicates nothing but a brash late 1960s stylish thriller. But what we get is a thoughtful sensitive character study of a laconic, yet complex man; Frank Bullitt, his arty sensitive English girlfriend, and the pressures his job in the San Fransico Homicide division impose.

Englishman Peter Yates started his career directing advertisments and short films; his aptitude for the perfectly crafted scene is never better than here. Most scenes are shot from a distance giving a deliberately cold amoral feel. Several, such as the meal in the jazz club (no dialogue), Bullitt's trip to the grocery store (two words of dialogue), and the muder discovery in the motel near San Mateo are about as perfect as cinema gets.

There's also a little remarked but very subtle mood change that occurs; at the beginning of the film we feel excited, almost exhilerated, by the end (the best closing shot you'll ever see?) the mood is sombre and serious.

If you have the attention span of a goldfish, like lots of action and plenty of dead bodies and explosions, then this film is not for you.

If instead you like to care about the people you watch, and want to appreciate virtuoso film making (has any thriller ever been better to look at?) then buy this DVD. You'll watch it many times, and find plenty to enjoy and ponder each time.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Still the Best Car Movie Ever Made
Review: Forget "Gone in Sixty Seconds" it's implausible and terribly acted. "Ronin" (Robert DeNiro) is pretty good. But "Bullitt" is the best, gritty and real. It still has THE best chase footage. It's an intergral part of the story line, unlike most movies now that include chase seens out of habit. Steve McQueen is subtle and brilliant. Robert Vaugh is cool evil personified. It has it's technical glitches(How can a car loose 6 wheel covers?)that have added to it's mystique over the last 32 years.

Rating:
Summary: Cool star,the first and best elaborate car chase,good story
Review: Steve Mcqueen hit the bullseye with this movie. A character that he was seemingly born to play, a tough withdrawn,taciturn cop. The plot stems from a witness protection job gone awry. Nothing from then is as it seems. Robert Vaughn playing a slick oily politician is brilliant,the doctors and ancillary cops are actually doctors and cops[what a concept!],so they lend a feel of authenticity. The car chase, driven by the actors through the streets of san francisco is classic, and unfortunately spanwned a generation of lame imitators. A good buy, an excellent police procedural and Mcqueen at his best.

Rating:
Summary: Fairly dull and overrated
Review: Bullitt features a fine first half, but it just about all falls apart in the second hour. How such a well-crafted buildup could result in such a disappointingly dull conclusion is hard to behold but it happens here.

The film is mostly well known for it's famous car chase through the streets of San Francisco, and let me say this, it does deserve the acclaim it gets. The beginning is also quite riveting as it builds to a mystery that has to be solved. Steve Mcqueen, Robert Vaughn, and the beautiful Jacqueline Bisset (who, at this time, has an uncanny resemblance to Liz Hurley)-for the screen time she has-deliver good performances.

But the film's flaws outweigh the good. After the exciting car chase, the film all of a sudden becomes so dull I had to wonder if I was watching the same movie. There's also the fact that aside from the actors listed above, virtually everybody else is flat in their roles and look bored.

Worst of all is the plot twist at the end, which makes some sense when you find out what it is, but when it registers in your mind, you realize the film has numerous plot holes that make little sense.

Bullitt features some generally tense moments in an otherwise standard issue film that wouldn't have been much different than other cop thrillers if not for its renowned chase.

Rating:
Summary: Boring from start to finish
Review: Bullitt is an insanely boring movie. Boring, boring, boring.

I remembered watching parts of it -- including the famous car chase -- when I was a kid, and not liking it, and now that I'm older, with a better appreciation of classic cinema, I thought I would give it another try.

Big mistake. This film brings new meaning to the word dull. If you enjoy watching long stretches of bland actors doing absolutely nothing of interest, then this movie is for you. If interesting to you is watching five minutes of Steve McQueen driving home from the hospital, parallel parking, locking his car, walking across the street, buying some vegetables and TV dinners, walking down the sidewalk, climbing up the stairs to his apartment, etc ad infinitum... then don't let me stand in your way. But if you have a pulse, and expect one from your movies, don't touch this one with a ten-foot pole.

The only people I can see enjoying this are those who find the circa-1968 San Francisco locations inherently interesting -- and they are really only put to good use during that car chase -- or those who buy into the Steve McQueen mystique. Well, I don't. McQueen has the charisma of a sack of doorknobs. If his personality is best displayed here in this, his most famous role, then I have zero desire to ever see another one of his leading roles. He hasn't seemed quite so spectacularly irritating in ensemble films (The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape), but as a star he's a dud.

And about that car chase: BORING! I can't even imagine it being of interest to 1968 audiences, when such extended car chases were still novelties, and for audiences of today -- they have more exciting chases on Touched by an Angel. Best car chase ever? Ridiculous. It's as dull as the rest of this interminable film. If you want to see a real car chase, watch Ronin.

Bullitt is a relic. Its rep is built on the cult of McQueen. It is utterly lacking in appeal.

Rating:
Summary: Sit down, strap in, shut up and hang-on!
Review: You have to watch this movie for the car chase if for no other reason. And it is the car chase between McQueen's Mustang and the Dodge Charger that most people remember this movie for... But, there is more to it than that. Steve McQueen is just about perfect as the world weary but dedicated police Lt. Frank Bullitt. Out to get the killer who shot one of the police officers assigned to his detail to protect a mob informer. When politics and self-interest on the part of Bullitt's bosses in the department, gets in his way, he goes right ahead, bucking authority. Jacqueline Bisset is lovely as usual and is a fine plot point as well. Setting us up for some soul searching and to ask just what is the cost for dealing with killers and victims day after day. The soundtrack is very good. Never getting in the way of the story and propelling us along with it. The bass line at the beginning of the car chase gets you in the proper mood very well. A fair piece of the credit for this film has to go to Don Gordon as Frank's partner, Delgetti. Perfectly played in udertones. He looks more like a police detective than McQueen does. Also, this movie started a trend for turtle neck sweaters with blazers... After this movie came out, if you looked up "Cool" in the dictonairy, you saw McQueen's picture and a note to watch this movie.

Rating:
Summary: GREEN MUSTANG & PINK PORSCHE
Review: BULLITT is clearly an american film noir of the sixties. Members of the Organisation wear black hats, politicians are rotten and cops have the blues. Furthermore, the music of Lalo Shiffrin brings a cool jazzy atmosphere to the ensemble.

The scene which will stay in my memory isn't the long car chase in the streets of San Francisco but the face of Steve McQueen sitting in the passenger's seat of Jacqueline Bisset's pink Porsche. It's worth multiple viewings.

Warner did a pretty good jod with the DVD transfer, as for DIRTY HARRY, and bonus features are more than allright.

A 1968 DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Classic!
Review: One of the best cop films ever! This film set a new standard for suspense. Steve McQueen was just down right great as the cop with nothing to keep him from finding the bad guy. The best car chase ever filmed and a good supporting cast. Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Vaughan were casted in great roles. Peter Yates did a good jod directing. Grade:A-

Rating:
Summary: *The* classic car chase
Review: The classic car chase movie, featuring a speedy '67 Ford Mustang (British Racing Green!) and a comparable Dodge Charger. Steve McQueen works his auto-race magic, showing off some tire-burnin' spins and a total of 6 lost hubcaps in one scene. Although the plot is iffy, and the camera work was very 60s (and I don't mean 2001), the chase scenes were incredible; this movie established the definitional car chase for the rest of the century. For any motorhead, classic car enthusiast, Steve McQueen fan, or someone who just likes a solid action movie, it's as good as sold.