Bullitt

Stylish. That's this film in a word. I believe the 60s and 70s were a time of experimentation for many filmmakers and it shows in this film, both to its credit and as its downfall. The negative first: there are many, many shots that are extraneous. Often the camera shows us minutes of the story that would have been better excised (why watch the corpse be transferred to an ambulance when we already know it will happen by what came before?). On the other hand, we have fantastic camera angles and movements that come as a result of these extraneous shots (panning onto the face of the policeman's wife sitting vigil in the hospital is nothing less than beautiful). There is also an effort to be as realistic as possible. Instead of filming surgery with actors playing the part of the doctors and nurses, real doctors and nurses perform a mock surgery. You wouldn't believe the volume of arguments among realists and those that believe you never are able to show reality (because you're always watching a film, to boil the argument down). Of course, most folks watch this film for Steve McQueen (who only played a cop once, and an honest one to boot) and the car chase in which he plays his own stunt guy, without resorting to special effects. For that alone, the film is worth seeing. You think we've perfected the car chase onscreen? Think again.

year: 1968
length: 113 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062765/combined