Pants in Motion

I have done it.

I have seen Bullitt.

I think that I’m most of the way through my ohmygodihaven’tseenthat list of films, with the vast, embarrassing exception of Raging Bull (in my defence, I really don’t enjoy boxing!).

Anyhow, let’s talk about Bullitt. The plot is simple enough: Steve McQueen is a cop who has to protect an informant, but the guy ends up dead within the first 15 minutes. So, McQueen has to track down the bad guys and cool them to death. Which he does, in a scene that will seem oddly familiar to anybody who’s watched Heat. I guess Michael Mann likes the film too.

Also, there’s some top chase scenes, and Richard Hammond’s favourite car, the Dodge Charger, also seen in Death Proof. Of course, I can’t not mention McQueen’s Mustang GT!

Some things to watch out for in this chase:

• The Charger’s hubcaps keep coming off and magically reappearing on the car
• The driver actually slides into a parked car at one point (watch at the 2:50 mark)
• McQueen is doing his own driving, and wants you to know it!

The film itself is a lot of fun, but the Blu-ray is a bit disappointing – it’s really not much better than an upconverted DVD. I know the original negative looks decent because the short segment included in the documentary on the disc (more on this in a second) looks sharper and more colourful. The sound is mono as you’d expect for the period, with the typically comical sound effects dubbed over the top of action scenes.

If somebody was to remake this film today (and seriously, why hasn’t anybody?), can I suggest Daniel Craig as a reasonable Steve McQueen replacement, and if Kevin Spacey isn’t a perfect facsimile of Robert Vaughn, I don’t know who is.

I haven’t listened to the director commentary, but I did spend an hour and 40 minutes (yes, 100 minutes!) watching the Starz documentary, The Cutting Edge, a pretty impressive extra feature discussing the history of film editing.

The Blu-ray is very cheap and (as is typical with Warner titles) region-free, so pick it up if you’re a fan.