“Look, you work your side of the street, and I’ll work mine…”
Bullitt is one of those films where I’ve seen its poster since I was a kid but I hadn’t ever seen it until just before tonight. The poster is intriguing and tells much of the story in just its image. This film is going to be about a cool guy and there will be a car chase. The poster does not lie.
The lead and almost exclusive character in this film is Bullitt, (I don’t believe his first name is ever revealed) played by Steve McQueen. The only other film I’d seen McQueen in was The Great Escape many years ago and I remember he was the cool one of the lot in that flick too. He is able to convey a great deal of emotion and thought with just facial expressions alone and even the most nuanced move tells a small tale. He is perhaps the epitome of cool here with his devil-may-care attitude towards all of his superiors which somehow garners their respect, freeing him up to engage in even more unorthodox policing.
I forgot to mention that Bullitt is a police officer, it’s easy to often forget this even throughout the film as he is never seen in uniform, and only flashes his badge once, towards the end of the film. The badge isn’t slung around his neck like some dog-tag as is the look of the modern cinematic bad boy cop but rather pocketed all together and his shoulder holster ensures that his gun is concealed for much of the time as well. When his jacket is off and the shoulder holster is exposed he is almost exclusively shown at the right side angle which brandishes not the gun but rather his bandoleer. For the amount of times this happens it seems to be no accident. This is possibly to suggest that the usual amount of bullets just isn’t enough for Bullitt. Or moreover the fact that it conjures up imagery of the old wild west. Bullitt does seem a far cry from a blue uniform beat cop and far closer to that of a cowboy gunslinger. His sense of vigilante justice seems to be bubbling just beneath his array of turtlenecks, held back only by his love for a stoic appearance.
The last scene of the film is Bullitt returning home from a case, well, closed and he washes up. He can be shown leaving the holster bedside and bandoleer up, which is the final shot. In my opinion, again, no accident. Justice is eventually served in the story but not by the standard of law and order but in the court of Bullitt alone.
This is a great film with fantastic acting that is understated and a completely straight shooting script. The plot presents itself quickly and concisely and the viewer sits back and waits for the action to come. An epic car chase is probably the film’s most notable feature and one wonders if the story being set in San Francisco was simply chosen based on that. Up and down the hills they speed with beautiful muscle car choreography.
