Well, it’s official—my Netflix schedule is completely screwed up. I had fine-tuned the rentals to arrive at precisely during the periods of my days off, but unseen forces (well, not too unseen—I blame my employers for this) have conspired to make certain that this does not occur. Since I won’t get any time off until Tuesday, I decided to pop in a DVD and watch it this morning.

Many film buffs generally agree that actor Steve McQueen gives one of his finest screen performances in the 1968 crime thriller Bullitt. McQueen plays the titular homicide detective, a man of integrity and expertise who is assigned to protect a surprise witness due to testify in front of an investigative committee spearheaded by his Magnificent Seven co-star Robert Vaughn (perfect cast as an oily political opportunist). The witness ends up killed, but when Bullitt learns that the dead man unlocked his hotel room door to let the killers in he begins to suspect that something is rotten in Denmark.

Frank Bullitt is a complex creation; a man who has become (out of necessity) callous and unfeeling due to the unpleasant nature of his occupation, and McQueen drives this home with some memorable throwaway bits of business—my favorite is a scene where he is shown shopping for groceries and he grabs six TV dinners, sight unseen. His girlfriend, played in the film by Jacqueline Bisset, openly protests the fact that he’s holding back his feelings in his personal life. The image of Bullitt washing his hands and gazing in the mirror at the individual he’s been forced to become (before joining Bisset in bed) stays with you long after the movie is over.

Bullitt is primarily remembered today for a classic car chase that takes place on the streets of San Francisco (you can’t help but smile when both participants are shown buckling up before it commences), and while it’s incredibly exciting and well-shot, I often lament the fact that it kind of overshadows the final product; it's a film that really hasn’t received its proper due. It’s a must-see flick (a tonic for pictures like Dirty Harry and all the others that followed), directed by Peter Yates and featuring Don Gordon, Simon Oakland, Norman Fell, Robert Duvall (as a cab driver!) and Georg Stanford Brown in fine support.
12:10:41 PM    comment []  trackback []