Wake Up With the Car Chase from ‘Bullitt’

I’ve been making an effort to see more classic movies that I’d overlooked before. Which a few days ago brought me to “Bullitt.” The plot is a fairly simple. It’s slow at times. There’s a twist in there that I’m not sure anyone who’s seen it can explain or even understand. And none of that matters. Because it’s got Steve McQueen as an honest cop. An all-guts, no-glory San Francisco detective who’s run afoul of a sleazy, ambitious politician and bad guys are after him. You need nothing else. John Woo calls “Bullitt” his all time favorite movie. And watching this, you can see how it’s influenced his film career.

There’s Cool, and then there’s the Cool of Steve McQueen in a 1968 Ford Mustang 390 GT 2+2 Fastback flying through the San Fran streets chasing the 1968 Dodge Charger 440 Magnum that started out chasing him. The full scene goes on for over 11 minutes. And McQueen famously did the majority of the stunts himself. With a level of charisma they don’t teach in acting school. You’re either born with it or you’ll never have it. You can always buy the car though because it’s so ionic Ford re-released it a couple of years ago. Just realize ahead of time you’ll never be Frank Bullitt.