Sorry for the delay in getting this out. last week I attended the 2nd annual "Driving History" Conference in Allentown at the NB Collection and the HVA Laboratory. In attendance was the original Bullitt Mustang and the owner, who gave a long story of the car and his family history.
The film set the bar for the many chase scene films that followed, including
"The French Connection," the original "Gone in Sixty Seconds" (1974), and many many more leading up to the "Bourne Identity" and "Fast and Furious" franchises.
Though Bond films are considered to be the true pioneers of the action film and chase scene, the film that truly set the stage for all future Hollywood chase sequences was the much celebrated scene from the film Bullitt. This chase featured all of the essential components that would become a necessity for all future chases: high speeds, fast turns, and of course, plenty of destruction. The cars involved in this classic were McQueen's 1967 Ford Mustang GT390 fastback (the Mustang was among the most popular of cars to be featured in films of this era, and this has probably contributed to the “icon” status that these original Mustangs carry) and a 1968 Dodge Charger 440. McQueen, playing the character of a San Francisco detective in a plot that is far from clear at times, senses that the Charger, carrying two bad guys, is following him. He quickly turns left while the Charger is caught in traffic, doubles back, and he closes in on the Charger from behind. Realizing this, the driver of the Charger tries to outrun Bullitt. What followed were two cars flying through the streets of San Francisco at speeds upwards of 110 mph, leaving hubcaps, wrecked cars, and an injured motorcyclist in their wake (the stuntman who drove the motorcycle in the scene was actually the same person who performed most of the driving of the Charger). The Mustang eventually caught the Charger, shotgun blasts follow, and finally McQueen rams the Charger off of the road, where it explodes spectacularly. McQueen, who had earlier received accolades for his motorcycle driving in The Great Escapeand did his own driving in the chase, set the standard for all similar scenes that followed.
The cinematography in Bullittwas unique, since it was the first film to use a new Arriflex camera design exclusively during production.42Specific camera placement resulted in unprecedented realism. A Chevrolet camera car, named the “Bullittmobile,” took close-up shots of the actors and stunt men at high speeds. Additionally, a camera mounted on the Mustang resulted in the perception of high speeds without having to break away to a speedometer shot. Cameras were also placed on the sides of the cars, as well as on the street.
McQueen’s love affair with automobiles went back to his childhood.43At age 13, along with a friend, he built a dragster using a Ford flathead V-8 and a Model A frame. Once he became established as a leading actor, his interest in automobiles turned to sports car racing, and between 1959 and 1970 he participated in at least twenty races in all classes and on all types of tracks, including Sebring. Invited by Sports Illustrated in 1966 to test eight exotic sports cars, McQueen said of himself that “I’m not sure whether I’m an actor who races or a racer who acts.”44His car collection included a 1961 Austin Mini Cooper S, a 1963 Ferrari Lusso Berlina and a 512, a Jaguar D-Type XKSS, and three Porsches – a 356 Speedster, a 917, and a 908.
McQueen followed Bullitt with the Le Mansin 1971, a remarkable film in its own right, but only popular with a small group of racing and Porsche devotees who appreciated the film’s attention to detail. Cast as Michael Delaney, an American driver who was severely injured in a racing accident at Le Mans the year before, McQueen is drawn to Lisa Belgetti (played by Elga Andersen), widow of a Ferrari driver, who was killed in the same accident. Delaney’s chief racing rival is Erich Stahler (Siegfried Rauch), who is driving a Ferrari. With spectacular cinematography and a sensitive portrayal of the French countryside and fans, Le Mans was undoubtedly the best film depiction of European racing of that era. For McQueen, it proved to be an obsession that never paid off. Essentially a docudrama, Le Mans failed to resonate with American audiences since it had no dialogue during the first forty minutes, character development was poor, and the stilted dialogue deadening. But for McQueen, it was the ultimate racing film that he always wanted to make.
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