Cinema
Bullitt
Peter Yates · 1968
Synopsis
San Francisco. Walter Chalmers, an ambitious politician preparing a hearing before a Senate subcommittee on organised crime, entrusts Lieutenant Frank Bullitt with the protection of a witness, Johnny Ross, who has fled the Chicago organisation with two million dollars. Hidden in a modest hotel on the Embarcadero, the man is surprised in the night by two killers who break down the door and fire; a policeman on guard is wounded. The witness dies at the hospital, and Bullitt passes the body off as that of an unknown man in order to keep the investigation open; Chalmers holds him responsible.
Context
The car chase lasts nearly eleven minutes; it was filmed at more than one hundred and seventy kilometres an hour, without any music. Steve McQueen, an amateur driver, handled the close-ups, and stuntmen, including Bud Ekins and Loren Janes, the dangerous shots. Several continuity errors have since been noted there, including a green Beetle that passes several times and hubcaps lost in too great a number.
Who it is for
A crime film of one hundred and thirteen minutes, in colour, whose chase unfolds without a word or a note of music.
Prizes and reception
Academy Award for Best Film Editing for Frank P. Keller in 1969, and added in 2007 to the National Film Registry.
Sources for this page 8
The pages consulted to check this page.