Bullitt (1968)

Director: Peter Yates

Starring: Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Vaughn, Don Gordon, Simon Oakland, Norman Fell, Robert Duvall

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Steve McQueen As 'Bullitt'

Plot: Frank Bullitt is selected by Chalmers, a politician with ambition, to guard a Mafia informant. Bullitt's friend is shot and the witness is left at death's door by two hit men who seem to know exactly where the the witness was hiding. Bullitt begins a search for both the killer and the leak, but he must keep the witness alive long enough to make sure the killers return. Chalmers has no interest in the injured policeman or the killers, only in the hearings that will catapult him into the public eye and wants to shut down Bullitt's investigation.

My rating: 8.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes.

Great flick. The car chase is classic but, after more than 40 years of car chases that built on this, it's difficult feel the impact that it had upon its release. I'd love to see this in a theater. Anyway, it's a no nonsense action crime drama that takes the time to show the tedious parts of police work. A modern film maker would probably chop a good 20 minutes out of it for fear of losing the audience to boredom but not Peter Yates. Hats off to sticking more closely to realism. McQueen is great as the titular character partly because he's so serious about the job. Cop movies these days have wisecracking detectives with something quirky about them. Not here. McQueen is a badass and one who is deeply focused on his job and seeing to it that justice is done. It's refreshing to watch a well-constructed action movie that doesn't rely on nonsense to earn its audience.