Viking Night: Bullitt
By Bruce Hall
January 18, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com

The Fast and The Furious of the 1970s.
Most consumers have no problem loving a huge budget blockbuster. Movies that are meant to appeal to the widest possible audience usually do just that. But some films have a narrower vision, or simply contain more complex meaning than meets the eye. They aren't always art, and they aren't always even very successful. But for a devoted and eccentric few, they're the best entertainment money can buy. Once, beginning with Erik the Viking, a group of dedicated irregulars gathered weekly in a dingy dorm room to watch these films and discuss how what pleases the few might also appeal to the many. Time has separated the others in those discussions so that I alone remain to ponder the wider significance of cult cinema. But while the room is cleaner and I no longer have to skip class to do it, I still think of my far off friends whenever I hold Viking Night.

Steve McQueen is easily the most awesome individual who has ever lived – which is why jealous naysayers occasionally refer to him as "overrated." It’s a common gripe leveled against those whose popularity crosses the border from fame into legend, particularly when it happens during their lifetime. Some celebrities’ reputation is only the result of the material they produce or the image they cultivate. But others are fundamentally the real McCoy or in this case – the real McQueen. Go ahead and report me to the Bad Pun Police if you’d like and I’ll gladly go without a fight.

Because McQueen was an orphan, a one time lumberjack and a former United States Marine. He raced cars and motorbikes at a professional level, knew his way around a gun, studied martial arts with Bruce Lee, ran five miles a day and performed most of his own stunts. When he was at his best, his acting style did not require him to act – the hard boiled tough guys he was famous for playing were almost always the same person McQueen saw in the mirror when he brushed his teeth every morning. Not everybody gets to be famous, and not everyone who is stays that way for long after their death. But 30 years on, Steve McQueen is still known as the “King of Cool” and if you ask me, it is no accident.

This is the persona McQueen brought to Bullitt, Peter Yates’ adaptation of a well reviewed but largely forgotten novel by author Robert L. Fish. McQueen plays Detective Lieutenant Frank Bullitt, an improbably named but hard working San Francisco police detective with a reputation for doing his job well. He is approached by aspiring D.A. Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) to guard a very important witness for a high profile government hearing scheduled to take place several days hence. Slick as butter mobster Johnny Ross (Vic Tayback) finds himself estranged from the Syndicate and to save himself, has agreed to testify against his bosses and bring down the organization.

Bullitt and his men are assigned simply to keep Ross safe until the deposition. But what seems like a relatively simple assignment goes bad quickly, as a pair of enforcers (Paul Genge, Bill Hickman) track Ross down, putting him and one of Bullitt’s men in the hospital. With the star witness and one of his best men now fighting for their lives, it quickly becomes clear that the killers had inside information and that Chalmers has been less than honest with Bullitt about what’s really going on. Eager to redeem his reputation, Bullitt takes his investigation outside the box and starts reconstructing Ross’s movements, putting the puzzle together piece by piece. Under pressure from his superiors and himself now the target of a vengeful Mob, the detective has just two days to uncover the conspiracy, solve the case – and save his career.

This is a deliberately paced and very procedural police drama that wouldn’t feel out of place as an HBO original movie today. Knowing this, it might be tempting to shrug off the film’s vaunted reputation and dismiss its star as oversold. But films are much like sports figures in that they are best judged within the context of their time. Notable accomplishments tend to inspire subsequent generations to do better and as the game changes, the bar is raised. So what is the context in which we should view Bullitt? Well, by 1968 the comic book sheen of film noir and the sanitized conservatism of television dramas such as Dragnet were no longer in vogue. At the time of its release, Bullitt was as forward thinking and realistic as any police story produced for film or television. It is groundbreaking but not gratuitous. It is surprisingly gritty but not overly graphic. It’s a film that effectively bridged the gap from one era to another, and ushered in a new way of crafting police drama that remains popular today. The '80s gave way to a rash of ironically named police detectives, and even now the renegade cop who plays by his own rules is a cliché that looks like it will never go out of style.

But Frank Bullitt is not quite a renegade. He’s a dedicated detective with a positive image, but when it becomes obvious that he’s been played for a fool and his competence has been called into question he isn’t above pushing boundaries and standing up to his superiors to get to the truth. And he's got no problem sacrificing personal comforts for work when necessary. In fact, a key element of the book was the grueling and often thankless nature of police work and the toll it often takes on the personal lives of those charged with protecting public order. The film toys with idea this a bit, largely unsuccessfully. Jacqueline Bisset is cast as Bullitt’s love interest, and the film pauses several times to acknowledge the strain the investigation is putting on their relationship. The subplot is not fleshed out well – Frank is with her at the time his witness is attacked, inadvertently making him seem shortsighted and foolish; later on her presence at a crime scene only serves to rob the film of valuable momentum. A minor quibble, but needless to say the invasion of police work into the lives of those who serve is better examined by later films.

With that out of the way, how long did you think I was going to go on without mentioning the most famous part of the film? In the unlikely event you don’t know what I’m talking about; Bullitt is principally remembered for the ten minute car chase scene two thirds of the way through the story. Often referred to as the “greatest” chase in film history, I’ve always felt that the overall significance of it gets lost, overshadowed by the visceral thrill of seeing two high powered muscle cars launch themselves through the streets of San Francisco at ludicrous speeds. For my money you can’t beat the car chase in 1998’s Ronin for sheer over the top eye candy. But as far as context, execution and overall relevance, Bullitt sets the bar pretty high.

Hunted by the same hit men who put his man in ICU, Bullitt discovers the two Windy City thugs tailing him in an impressive looking Dodge Charger. Armed with his own tricked out set of wheels and a superior knowledge of the city, Bullitt toys with them for a time and then turns the tables, with the hit men finding themselves being tailed instead. Determined to uncover the sinister plot that has put his career on the line, Bullitt isn’t about to let the two hoods escape – and they know it. They quickly flee in a panic, setting up the thrilling pursuit, as well as the film’s final act.

While not the first chase scene ever filmed, it was by far the most meticulously planned and executed one ever put to film up to that time. And of course, the fact that McQueen did almost all of his own driving was well publicized. It contributed to the draw of the film, the effectiveness of the scene, and McQueen’s over all reputation as Hollywood’s preeminent badass. It’s worth mentioning that this is not the film’s only chase scene, nor the most compelling. Taking into account the fact that CGI did not exist at the time, the last scene in the film contains an eye popping foot pursuit in a very unlikely setting with McQueen obviously putting himself in considerable danger to make it work. It caps off what I consider to be one of the most underrated movies of the 1960s – or should I say, most highly rated for the wrong reasons.

Often criticized for its dense and leisurely plot, Bullitt does demand a bit of the viewer but it is a genuinely gripping, well crafted thriller with few significant flaws. In fact, despite the plot’s final “twist” being something of a head scratcher, the movie served as inspiration for nearly every police procedural that followed it. A great deal of this credit should go to director Peter Yates.

And in light of his recent passing, it is fitting to note that Bullit’s DNA can be seen in a rash of imitators (some impressive, others less so) such as The French Connection, Dirty Harry, The Seven Ups and Gone in 60 Seconds. It is unfortunate that a gifted person with a long career must be remembered mainly for one thing, but if it has to be that way, Yates definitely deserves the praise he’s received over the years for his work on Bullitt. Also deserving of mention is composer Lalo Schifrin’s dazzling score – as with all of his work, Schifrin’s music is as much a part of the character and as much of a driving force behind the movie as Steve McQueen or his Mustang GT. His music lives and breathes, and from the film’s inventive opening credits to the surprisingly low key final shot, Schifrin is on top of his game.

If you’ve yet to see Bullitt, watch it not for the car chase, and not even for the King of Cool and his undeniably smoldering presence. Watch it because like all the best movies ever made, Bullitt is the coming together of many immensely talented people who share an incredibly focused creative vision. For true fans of film it is a powerful experience to witness history; it’s the very reason we love film. And for casual viewers, there’s really no better way to turn off your mind than to turn on your spirit with one of the greatest movies ever made.