Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Senator Walter Chalmers is aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross with the help of testimony from the criminal's hothead brother Johnny, who is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt. When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses. This thriller includes one of the most famous car chases ever filmed.
Bullitt is best remembered for its landmark car chase through San Francisco's hills — a genuinely exceptional piece of practical filmmaking that set the standard for all screen car chases that followed. Steve McQueen brings cool, understated charisma to the lead, though the supporting cast is functional rather than outstanding. The plot, adapted from a pulp novel, is serviceable but somewhat convoluted with its witness-protection double-cross premise, and the ending feels deliberately low-key to the point of anticlimax, which frustrated many viewers. Its novelty lies chiefly in its gritty, semi-documentary style and McQueen's laconic persona rather than any radical narrative invention. Cinematography earns a well-above-average mark for William Fraker's handheld, naturalistic San Francisco work and the iconic chase sequence itself.