Robert L. Pike's crime novel Mute Witness makes the transition to the big screen in this film from director Peter Yates. In one of his most famous roles, Steve McQueen stars as tough-guy police detective Frank Bullitt. The story begins with Bullitt assigned to a seemingly routine detail, protecting mafia informant Johnny Ross (Pat Renella), who is scheduled to testify against his Mob cronies before a Senate subcommittee in San Francisco. But when a pair of hitmen ambush their secret location,
fatally wounding Ross, things don't add up for Bullitt, so he decides to investigate the case on his own. Unfortunately for him, ambitious senator Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn), the head of the aforementioned subcommittee, wants to shut his investigation down, hindering Bullitt's plan to not only bring the killers to justice but discover who leaked the location of the hideout. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
Even though the story almost makes no sense and the Oscar-winning editing has several illogical cuts, Bullitt is an exquisitely satisfying motion picture, particularly if there is still an adolescent boy lodged somewhere in your psyche.
McQueen is great in Bullitt, and the movie is great, because director Peter Yates understands the McQueen image and works within it. He winds up with about the best action movie of recent years.
A low key, tough guy cop thriller, Bullitt does not go over the top with its action sequences and stays away from the usual cop movie clichés, lifting the bar in regards to how cop movies should be made.
Bullitt takes a rather simple nugget of a story and turns it into a crime classic through the expert use of location footage, editing, music, mood and timing, not to mention the laconic, stoic performance of ultra-cool star Steve McQueen.
Apart from the classic chase scene, there many other pleasures to be had in this stylish policier, one that changed considerably the entire vocabulary of Hollywood's action-thrillers.
In this fantastic 2-disc edition, you'll find an illuminating documentary, Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing, narrated by Kathy Bates, and a revelatory look at McQueen, the man and the star, in The Essence of Cool.
The action sequences are brilliant, done without trickery in real locations (including a great car chase which spawned a thousand imitations) to lend an extraordinary sense of immediacy to the shenanigans and gunfights.
Menos focado na trama e mais nos procedimentos de seu protagonista, Bullitt busca o realismo constantemente, criando um personagem não apenas crível, mas complexo.
Although the plot doesn't necessarily reinvent the genre, the pacing and acting is fluid and involving enough to perfectly compliment the absolutely mind-blowing car chase midway through the film. You will be gasping for air after that one concludes. And besides, it's great to see Steve McQueen in action - an iconic
actor in a classic film.
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