cult film freak: PETER YATES GIVES MORE THAN CHASE IN THE CLASSIC 'BULLITT'

Steve McQueen in BULLITT Year: 1968 Rating: *****

The iconic car chase is the only thing that seems to matter in BULLITT, and not just for the media since director Peter Yates's prior chase in his British heist thriller ROBBERY was so admired by Steve McQueen, Yates got this gig...

But like there is far more than just action throughout the strategically tempered neo noir cadence of ROBBERY, Yates's cop/crime classic BULLITT is also more about words than wheels...

Justin Tarr with Steve McQueen as BULLITT

In particular, McQueen's Frank Bullitt taking a blind chance to prove climbing politician Robert Vaughn wrong, and without even realizing what's not exactly right in the first place...

Hiding a dead witness (based on the novel Mute Witness) that Frank and partner Don Gordon were hired to protect, the best scene has McQueen and Vaughn facing off in a quasi-polite conversation ("who else knew where he was?") leading to several less sterile confrontations... with police chief Simon Oakland as a wishbone...

Steve McQueen as BULLITT

And what occurs before and after that hilly San Francisco road romp epitomizes the Police Procedural sub-genre: putting the viewer into the slow-paced, ultra-realistic, concentrated and methodical shoes of Lt. Frank Bullitt and, after proving what needed proving, there's only one big action scene left...

Giving BULLITT two climaxes for the price of one edgy, daring and timeless (though sporadically psychedelic-era dated) cop flick that should be celebrated beyond a speedy green Mustang. Although that's pretty damn cool too, making the legendary action-packed aspect icing on a cake... with layers.