Bullitt (1968)
Average Rating: 7.8/10
Reviews Counted: 34
Fresh: 33 | Rotten: 1
Steve McQueen is cool as ice in this thrilling police procedural that also happens to contain the arguably greatest car chase ever.
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 1
Steve McQueen is cool as ice in this thrilling police procedural that also happens to contain the arguably greatest car chase ever.
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Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 38,383
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Movie Info
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,
Oct 17, 1968 Wide
Nov 18, 1997
Warner Home Video
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Steve McQueen
Frank Bullitt -
Robert Vaughn
Chalmers -
Jacqueline Bisset
Cathy -
Don Gordon
Delgetti -
Robert Duvall
Weissberg -
Simon Oakland
Capt. Bennett -
Norman Fell
Baker -
Justin Tarr
Eddy -
Carl Reindel
Stanton -
Felice Orlandi
Rennick -
Vic Tayback
Pete Ross -
Ed Peck
Wescott -
John Aprea
Killer -
-
Al Checco
Desk Clerk -
Charles Dorsett
Airport counterperson -
Paul Genge
Mike -
Bill Hickman
Phil -
Robert Lipton
First Aide -
Pat Renella
John Ross -
-
Georg Stanford Brown
Dr. Willard -
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Bullitt Trailer & Photos
All Critics (35) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (35) | Rotten (1) | DVD (19)
Good scripting and excellent direction by Peter Yates maintain deliberately low-key but mounting suspense.
Top CriticThere isn't much here, and what there is is awfully easy.
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.
Top CriticEven 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 terrific movie, just right for Steve McQueen -- fast, well acted, written the way people talk.
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.
Surprisingly austere and very much of its time, Bullitt is a lot less fun and a lot more impressive than you might expect.
Expert chase film, breathless and modern, that sent McQueen to the top of the box office heap.
You think of Bullitt, you think Steve McQueen and cars, no? But obviously the movie is much more than that. (HD-DVD Edition)
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.
Menos focado na trama e mais nos procedimentos de seu protagonista, Bullitt busca o realismo constantemente, criando um personagem não apenas crível, mas complexo.
A not-very-good movie redeemed by a car chase for the ages.
Stlick, stylish and ineffably cool, this was perhaps McQueen's defining role. Also mention goes to the uncreditied star of the film; San Francisco.
Audience Reviews for Bullitt
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Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Does Bullitt have a counterculture subtext? | 38 days ago | 0 |
Latest News on Bullitt
January 10, 2011:
Peter Yates: 1928-2011Peter Yates, the Oscar-nominated director of films such as "Bullitt" and "Suspect," has passed away...
August 22, 2007:
Steve McQueen Returning to the Big Screen (Sort Of)He was nicknamed "The King of Cool" during his Hollywood career, and even more than 25 years after...
July 6, 2007:
Brad Pitt to Remake "Bullitt"?If he does, he better hire a good action director. The original "Bullitt" has one of the...
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Foreign Titles
- Bullitt (1968) (UK)
- Bullitt (1968) (CA)
McQueen plays "Frank Bullitt", a San Francisco police lieutenant who is put in charge of protecting a mob informant. It's a job he doesn't particularly want, and he especially doesn't like the smell of the way things are set up. His suspicions are confirmed when the witness and the cop on duty are both shot up in the hide out location. Who did the shooting and how did they know where to find him? Bullitt has only 48 hours to solve the crime before Chalmers pins everything on him and makes him the fall guy.
Steve McQueen personally hand-picked director Peter Yates after seeing another film Yates had done which featured an intense car chase. With Bullitt, the car chase is the centerpiece of the film. Set in the streets of San Francisco, it takes us through harrowing twists and turns and flying up and down hills. It's tense, fast and gritty. As intense as that car chase is, the rest of the film keeps up the pace, but the twists and turns come from following the plot. Bullitt isn't a complicated guy, but he knows that what he does and sees is disturbing to the average civilian.