Bullit car chase

[KZDon]

Help me out here. I've seen the Steve McQueen car chase in Bullit, but have never seen the movie. What is the premise of the chase, or more broadly, what is the movie about? Who are the guys in the Charger? Why does the chase start with them following McQueen, and why do the chasers switch with the chasee?

[mrspock]

A yes , BULLIT :) What an awesome film . The premis of this movie was ( if I recall this correctly ) that Steve MaQueen was a cop who was to protect a mob informant but somewhere early in the film , his freind was killed by mob hit men .

The chase began as MaQueen was driving away from his apt ( I think it was his , don't recall exactly any more ) and he notices the two men in the CHARGER following him . He tries to evade them and is successfull by hiding in a allyway until the chase car passes by . MaQueen sees the chasing car pass by and the rolls are now reversed where the charger is now the chased car , eventually crashed and burns .

However , this was the first in a series of films made with HUGE stars that was designed loosly to promote cars made by FORD , GM and CRYSLER . MaQueen of course used the ford mustang and the bad guys used the charger as the other muscle car of the hit men . A few years later , John Wayne did a film called MaQ where he too was a cop after drug dealers who killed a cop and he used the Firebird Trans Am for his big chase scene . Lastly , I think it was Gene Hackman who was to other HUGE start who made a great film that also invoilved a major chase in The French Connection .

There were other lesser name stars who tried thier hand at the big chase films by those never really took off . During this time period as well , as a way to continue this trend towards cops and hot cars , there was the TV series The Mod Squad who used a Dodge Charger as well , as well as Starsky and Hutch who used the Ford Grand Torino , Manix the private Eye who drove a convertable Challenger and Cannon who drove a Lincoln Continental without the drivers head rest .

During this time period spaning about 10 years , starting with Bullit , there was a real trend to use hot cars as , the cars were supplied by the manufacturers as a way to promote them , sort of like what we have now with product placement in TV shows .


Did I answer your question ?


spock

[TimP]

Help me out here.

Gladly. Here are three sketches from the Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062765/plotsummary):

"Frank Bullitt is selected by Chalmers, a politician with ambition, to guard a Mafia informant. Bullitt's friend is shot and the witness is left at death's door by two hit men who seem to know exactly where the the witness was hiding. Bullitt begins a search for both the killer and the leak, but he must keep the witness alive long enough to make sure the killers return. Chalmers has no interest in the injured policeman or the killers, only in the hearings that will catapult him into the public eye and wants to shut down Bullitt's investigation. Written by John Vogel {jlvogel@comcast.net}

A no glitter, all guts cop named Frank Bullitt - with two other cops - is assigned to what seems like a normal case: to watch a witness for 48 hours before he goes to trial on Monday. When the officers and the witness are killed, Chalmers gets angry at Bullitt. After he chases the hitman that killed them, he vows to catch him, and the mafia boss that hired him. Written by Chase Ard {Bullitt357@aol.com}

Johnny Ross works for Chicago mobster Peter Ross, his brother. In April 1968 Johnny Ross escapes two attempts on his life and flees to San Francisco, where he is placed in protective custody by politician Walter Chalmers, who hopes to use Ross to further his own national aspirations. To protect Ross, Chalmers asks the SFPD to assign Detective Lieutenant Frank Bullitt and his partners, Sergeants Don Delgetti and Carl Stanton, to guard him at a flophouse near an overhead freeway. It looks like a simple assignment, but at 1 AM the next day it all goes awry in a blast of a shotgun, leaving Stanton and Ross fighting for life at San Francisco General. Bullitt gets what information he can, but breathing down his neck is the angered Chalmers who vows to ruin Bullitt's career should Ross die. Bullitt gets a break when the gunman appears at the hospital to finish off Ross, and Bullitt gets a good look at him; now Bullitt must smoke out the gunman and his backup man before Chalmers carries out his threat, leading to a high-speed pursuit, a fiery crash at a gas station, and a fingerprint check that leads to a stunning discovery about Ross, and about a couple staying at a swanky hotel in San Mateo. Written by Michael Daly"

This one's from me: "Cop (Ford) wins by following highly-Americanized, quasi-Colin Chapman-esque, distain for avoir-dupois and beats Bad Guys (Dodge) whose ride is a lead-sled in comparison... Would have been much more fun with Bullit in an Elan and the others in a Cobra, but then Ford would have lost."

[TimP]

Imagine how things might have been...

I'm thinking remake!

[Uwe W.]

Sorry, but I had to post this image to cleanse this thread of all the car talk! :D

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/b17a5268-e809-4db2-a84b-06fc4c00d03e/m1x00124_stevemcqueen.jpg

and there's no need for anyone to say that it was actually Bud Ekins that made the jump.

[Paddy]

Just to recontaminate this thread, during the famous Bullitt chase, it's amusing to count how many times you see the same cars parked in different spots along the chase route. Guess they couldn't afford many "extra" cars but I seem to recall the exact same VW Bug popping up half a dozen times and several other cars doing double duty in take after take.
I didn't notice it the first couple of times I saw the movie but then it becomes comically obvious.
:p

[mrspock]

Paddy , yes an excelent point you made and one that really irks me muchly . I really hate it when the people who look after the continuity of a film or show mess up so obviously as to have a chase in one car and during that SAME chase , crash a TOTALLY DIFFERENT car , yet making it appear as if it was to car in question from the start . I can't and won't accept that the viewing public is THAT stupid so as to not take notice of things like that .

Now , why is it that we don't see too amny movies with great BIKE chases ?


spock

[Rocking Couple]

partial quote -


A few years later , John Wayne did a film called MaQ where he too was a cop after drug dealers who killed a cop and he used the Firebird Trans Am for his big chase scene .

and Cannon who drove a Lincoln Continental without the drivers head rest .




spock

I wonder if I'm the only one who finds it hard to envision John Wayne at the business end of a muscle car? Business end of a horse, yes....

And the other thing....Spock, how in hell did you notice that Cannon's head rest was missing on the big Ford?? But moreso, how in blazes did you remember that after all these years?

[Uwe W.]

I seem to recall the exact same VW Bug popping up half a dozen times

Did it have a red and blue strip down its length with a big #53 on the door?

[Uwe W.]

Now , why is it that we don't see too amny movies with great BIKE chases ?

Well, if you're going to be a stickler for continuity, the chase scene with the two Triumphs in Mission Impossible probably drove you nuts. I always enjoy watching those knobby tires make a sudden appearance on the two street bikes the second they ventured off-road.

[Derigol]

Sorry, but I had to post this image to cleanse this thread of all the car talk! :D

and there's no need for anyone to say that it was actually Bud Ekins that made the jump.

Still one of my fav movies. I love watching this final scene with the bike chase. See how sloppy the ride is when he rides around the barn?

On another note I just met a guy in Trenton ON that is rebuilding a '42 BMW with sidecar and MG-42 (plugged of course). He has also finished and sold a 41 Harley with sidecar.

[Derigol]

Sorry, but I had to post this image to cleanse this thread of all the car talk! :D

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/b17a5268-e809-4db2-a84b-06fc4c00d03e/m1x00124_stevemcqueen.jpg

and there's no need for anyone to say that it was actually Bud Ekins that made the jump.

Still one of my fav movies. I love watching this final scene with the bike chase. See how sloppy the ride is when he rides around the barn?

On another note I just met a guy in Trenton ON that is rebuilding a '42 BMW with sidecar and MG-42 (plugged of course). He has also finished and sold a 41 Harley with sidecar.

[mrspock]

" ... And the other thing....Spock, how in hell did you notice that Cannon's head rest was missing on the big Ford?? But moreso, how in blazes did you remember that after all these years?
Reply With Quote ...


I notice things like that especially since I have had a few of those exact cars , being a HUGE Lincoln fan myself ... I had all mine with the 460 CID motors . I am , I confess , a HUGE car buff as well and while I do NOT make claims to being Mr. Know-it-all , the cars that i AM a fan of , I know pretty well and know what to look for , what belongs and what is out of place .

And as for how the hell I recall all that , Hey , I ain't freakin' brain dead :) Just because I took a hit to the head in my crash does NOT mean that I am incapable of brain function , and I ain't just another pretty face neither ... well , ok , I am but that stays HERE .... gottit ? Good .

Ya , those knobby tires on the triumph street bike scenes did creep me out bad . These movie people REALLY NEED to hire ME to do the stuff right :) .




spock

[TimP]

Whoa, Mrs. Pock, your head wound is bleeding on the type.

[KZDon]

Thanks Frank, and everyone else for the backgrounder.

There was in fact a motorcycle included in the chase. Just before the firey crash, a rider had to lay down a standard looking triumph/norton twin on the two-lane freeway.

Other good motorcycle chases

- In either the second or the third Matrix movie there was the Ducati 996 piloted by Trinity (?)

- Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again on a large-fairinged Yamaha dual purpose bike

- Sad to say I know this, but on Pamela Anderson Lee's television show, (was it called VIP?) there was a great multiple Ducati chase in an episode featuring a Ducati show.

- Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn on an XR650 (I think) in Bird on a Wire. They sure went out of their way in that movie to show off Goldie's bum as much as they could. I guess she'd been working out.

Sad sad motorcycle chases

- Black Rain - just how many times can a Harley upshift, anyway?

- All the police bikes getting trashed in Smokey and the Bandit

[Dirtybill]

Don Stroud and Clint Eastwood on 2 Triumphs thru Central Park....I think it's Central Park. Movie-Coogan's Bluff.

Another McQueen shot.

http://www.thespeedtriple.com/Other/gear.htm

Forget that link. Try this one.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/mcqueenmug1.html

I might have to buy one of these if the boys on the speedtriple forum don't get their act together soon.

http://www.retroworldtshirts.com/steve-mcqueen-mugshot-tshirt.html

[John]

Great. I need another t-shirt like another hole in my head. Here we go...

John.