Review of Bullitt (1968) by Jeremy B — 21 Aug 2009

It took me a few viewings of Bullitt before I got into it. And that's because I took it to be another glossy McQueen "cool" movie like Thomas Crown Affair. But then I saw it for what it really was -- a pseudo-documentary style, gritty film.

Once I keyed into that, I really appreciated the film. Of course there's the famous car chase, which is terrific, not so much for the crash-bang-squeal bits like every awful Michael Bay film, but for the tension that builds and builds until the climax.

And then there's the political subtext of the film, so brilliantly personified by Robert Vaughn who is a cold yet slick pragmatist, the kind of man that sickens the McQueen street cop character. But in the end who wins? Does anyone? That's the point really.