In Focus... Bullitt (3)
In Focus is a new collection of articles focussing on an important film appearing on Sky Movies Classics that month. In-depth, analytical and revealing, In Focus aims to shed new light on old films. To get a seat at the table, all we ask is the film be one of the finest examples of its genre.Focus No.3 casts an appreciative eye on Steve McQueen's superstar making vehicle, Bullitt (1968).
Prior to Bullitt, there had been car chases, but these often relied on undercranking the camera to speed up the footage (see early James Bond), were shot in controlled environments (Grand Prix (1966)) or were messy automobile equivalents of a custard pie fight (It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)).
McQueen and Yates wanted it on location and with the two muscle cars smashing speed limits for real. Yates had requested the cars reach 80mph, but McQueen and the stunt drivers regularly exceeded the 100mph mark and this red-zoning is there on screen.
For insurance reasons McQueen was not permitted to perform the motorbike jump for The Great Escape (1963), and the actor was bruised by the extended coverage his not doing the jump for real received. For Bullitt, Steve was going to do his own driving.
Or that's the legend. But, much like Jackie Chan and Jet Li frequently employ stunt doubles, McQueen used his Great Escape stand-in Bud Ekins for the riskier manoeuvres, but this should not detract from what the actor himself accomplished. Wisely, he kept his face visible as possible during the sequence so audiences could see he really was the star (as quick reference, when the Ford Mustang's rearview mirror is low Ekins is driving, when raised it is McQueen).
Although a continuity nightmare (everyone knows about the reappearing VW Bug, but check the hubcaps for some real goofs) Bullitt's chase is a remarkable tour-de-force that has lost little impact forty years on.
Watch the car chase from Bullitt here
Travelling shots, wide angles, match cuts, telephoto zooms and driver's seat POVs, Yates and McQueen decided early on that the audience was going to experience the horsepower and danger, and it's not too much of an imagination stretch to suggest that Paul Greengrass was one director who took their lead from Bullitt.
To capture the excitement Yates was canny enough to leave in mistakes that would shake up an audience: McQueen missing a corner and spinning out his tyres and a car slamming into the camera set this chase apart from anything that had come before. On the advice of composer Lalo Schifrin Yates also eschewed music for the chase, instead ramping up the sound of gunning engines and squealing tyres.
Voted the best filmed car chase of all time in Sky One's 2005 Greatest Ever Screen Chases, Bullitt deserves the crown. The French Connection and The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
ramped up the realism by populating the streets with passers-by and the original Gone in 60 Seconds (1974) made its second half one long chase, but Bullitt wins because of McQueen, the realism, the cars used, the complete lack of dialogue and the build-up.
Often overlooked is the pursuit's extended foreplay, with the two hitmen nonchalantly tailing Bullitt's Mustang and the cop casually giving them the slip, before re-appearing again in their rearview mirror.
Leisurely paced, yet underscored by Schifrin's rhythmic, anticipatory score (track title: Shifting Gears trivia fans), this preamble is a perfect calm before the storm, and the shiver down the spine appearance of Bullitt in the mirror is the moment Steve McQueen became a superstar.
No discussion of Bullitt can omit Lalo Schifrin's score, a jazz-blues fusion heavy on percussion, as magnetic and memorable as its star, that must have been instrumental in landing Schifrin the Dirty Harry job (and another score to savour) and must be very lucrative in residual payments. But, money well spent as the score is the final piece that when placed down makes Bullitt an all-time classic.
