[26][27][28][29], Two 1968 390 cu. Ive always had good luck with Fords, and didnt want to spend money if i didnt have to putting a Holley on. For example, additional sound was needed because on occasion a tire squeal was not picked up by the microphones. Apparently the premise of the movie is that a police officer received a medical diagnosis that he has only a few months to live. They scared the hell out of him. My biased opinion is that the Bullitt chase is the best. On January 10, 2020, the car was sold by Mecum Auctions for $3.7 million to an unidentified buyer. Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. You might have opened up the movie section of the newspaper and read a review about the newly released movie BULLITT. This post was promoted to the Main Feed by a Ricochet Editor at the. But it looked like hell., His confidence in Mr. Houstis is evident as he relates another incident. When the Charger does a U-turn on what is Precita Avenue to follow the Mustang, a storage tank on Potrero Hill, in the southeast part of SF, is visible in the distance. [68] In November 2022, Bradley Cooper was cast as Frank Bullitt. [23], Bullitt is notable for its extensive use of actual locations rather than studio sets, and its attention to procedural detail, from police evidence processing to emergency-room procedures. This was his personal car and he wasnt a rich guy, he didnt have a real nice car. Bullitt sends the body to the morgue as a John Doe in order to conceal the death and keep his investigation open. I had suggested using a Mustang, and a Dodge Charger, or else there would be too may Fords in the picture. "By 1968 the group was performing at The Trident, a prominent jazz club in Sausalito and the group became a regular performer at Glide Memorial on Sundays. Bullitt was co-produced by McQueen's Solar Productions and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, the film pitched to Jack L. Warner as "doing authority differently". Because as we watched the rushes, you could hear a pin drop. He brought in Bill Hickman to play a part and drive the other car. Loftin recalls: I asked (the studio) what kind of guy were they looking for? [69], Warner Bros. ordered two identical 1968 Mustangs for filming. Hed run into a parked car or hit a tree just to miss me. The chase scene was probably better than most at the time but its just not that realistic when compared to Bullitt. [citation needed] Prior to filming, the cars were modified by Max Balchowsky. [33], The editing of the car chase likely won Frank P. Keller the editing Oscar for 1968,[35] and has been included in lists of the "Best Editing Sequences of All-Time". The BULLITT chase scenes were shot around Easter of 1968. (KTLA) The chase ended in the 1000 block of Hacienda Boulevard . Over the years, fans have asked questions about the two cars used in the movie, a 1968 Dodge Charger and a 1968 Mustang GT. One such review, by the National Observer, said, Whatever you have heard about the auto chase scene in BULLITT is probably truea terrifying, deafening shocker. Life magazine wrote, a crime flick with a taste of geniusan action sequence that must be compared to the best in film history.. Steve McQueen and director Peter Yates brought in some of the best names in the business in preparation for the filming of BULLITTs chase scenes, and we were able to track some of them down. Did you know that the cemetery where the final duel of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was built from scratch and that no body lies there? That was a super shot. Ross used Renick, a used car salesman from Chicago, to elude both the mob and Chalmers. Well that was a great turn of events. Bullshit, Bullitt replies. INFOGRAPHIC: How Many Hubcaps Came Off the Dodge Charger in Bullitt? (Reuters) - The 1968 Ford Mustang GT that Steve McQueen drove in the classic car chase from the movie "Bullitt, one of the most famed cars from American cinema, sold for $3.4 million at. In 2020, one of the fastbacks was sold at Mecum Auctions for a record price of $3.7 million. The car chase can be seen playing on the screen in the drive-in theater scene in the 2014 film, Need for Speed. The engines in both Dodge Charger models were left largely unmodified, but the suspensions were mildly upgraded to cope with the demands of the stunt work. It worked out really good, Loftin said with a smile. [32] In one scene, the Charger crashes into the camera; the damaged front fender is noticeable in later scenes. At the hotel, Bullitt finds a woman garrotted in her room. The sequence apparently starts under Highway 101 in the Mission District. At the time of the films release, the car chase scene generated a great amount of excitement. The engine also came in for some modifications, including milling the heads, adding an aftermarket high performance ignition system and reworking the the carburetor and adding headers. Eventually, it was agreed to keep the chase within only a few city blocks. [36] Paul Monaco has written, "The most compelling street footage of 1968, however, appeared in an entirely contrived sequence, with nary a hint of documentary feel about it the car chase through the streets of San Francisco in Bullitt, created from footage shot over nearly five weeks. We realized we didnt know what to do because no one had ever done this before. What hadnt been done before was a chase scene, done at speed(up to 110 miles per hour) through the city streets and not on a movie studio back lot. Loren Janes tells us, I loved to see a lot of the little things in Steves films. "British Director to Film U.S. Dilemma" Lesner, Sam. [25] According to McQueen, "The thing we tried to achieve was not to do a theatrical film, but a film about reality. The owner refused to sell, and the car now sits in a barn and has not been driven in many years. McQueen, at the time a world-class race-car driver, drove in the close-up scenes, while stunt coordinator Carey Loftin, stuntman and motorcycle racer Bud Ekins, and McQueen's usual stunt driver, Loren Janes, drove for the high-speed parts of the chase and performed other dangerous stunts. There may have been chase scenes before, but nothing before or since has equaled the intensity and impact of BULLITT. [31], The director called for maximum speeds of about 7580 miles per hour (121129km/h), but the cars (including the chase cars filming) at times reached speeds over 110 miles per hour (180km/h). To realize the famous scene of the pursuit. At the movies: Rewatching Bullitt - Hagerty Media Now get into that car and get your foot into it! We got the shot on the next take., One particular scene that impressed Max Balchowsky was the gunman in the Dodge firing a shotgun blast at the pursuing Mustang that shatters the right front of the windshield. How Steve McQueen really created Bullitt's famous car chase The next few scenes are in the Bernal and Potrero areas; you can see green hills to the southwest on the horizon in one shot. When McQueen is driving the rear view mirror is down reflecting his face. Bullitt requests their passport applications from Chicago. To realize the famous scene of the pursuit, two Ford Mustang Fastback V8 GT 390 were lent by by the American brand to the production. Chad McQueen and niece Molly McQueen (son and granddaughter of Steve), will be executive producers. My vote goes to William Friedkins attempt to top himself and the French Connection chase in the almost-forgotten To Live and Die in L.A. Wang Chung soundtrack notwithstanding. They turn hard left next onto a four-lane street with a concrete median, what might be Columbus. Then when its run, itll look like high speed and the car will appear to be handling real well. McQueen refused to hear of it, and advised Loftin that money was no object. That was what shocked me and I didnt expect it, because we were using a 185 frame which is a very small frame. Zodiac, p. 96. The bad guys drive a 1968 Dodge Charger 440 Magnum. As far as Bud Ekins can recall, he feels the reason they used the Mustang was because they wanted it to look like a cop car. And all these are sort of like the Wilhelm scream an in joke for movie buffs, I think. The Charger ran rings around the Mustang. Also a San Francisco chase. The race begins in Bernal Heights and continues through Columbus and Chesnut before heading uptown. We set out to learn what the recipe is for such a successful chase sequence. The best teeny things came up in it, the best stuff was Steves ideas. The total time of the scene is 10 minutes and 53 seconds. The producers used a 1968 Mustang GT390 and a 1968 Dodge Charger 440 to do the trick, along with some other cars from Ford. [18], Bullitt was director Yates's first American film. movies! [5] The screenplay by Alan R. Trustman and Harry Kleiner was based on the 1963 novel Mute Witness,[6][7][8][9] by Robert L. Fish, writing under the pseudonym Robert L. He was still a kid., Balchowsky remembers I hardly had to anything to the Dodges engine, but what I was worried about was the strength of the front end. To shore up the front, Balchowsky revised the torsion bars, beefed up the control arms and added heavy duty shocks. Two hitmen burst in shooting Stanton in the leg and Ross in the shoulder. [31] The sale made it the most expensive Ford in the world. In 2016, though, Hugo Sanchez purchased a pair of Mustang coups from the backyard of a house near Los Cabos, Mexico. Muleskinner, Weasel Wrangler(View Comment): No, nor do you have to count the number of times the cars pass the Green VW. Bullitt boards the plane as passengers are disembarking, but Ross escapes through the rear cabin door and flees across the runway, through taxiing aircraft to the crowded terminal, pursued by Bullitt. Yeah, that was a good one! Bullitt reveals that Ross died. [62][63] In the 2011 video game, Driver: San Francisco, the "Bite the Bullet" mission is based on the famous chase scene, with licensed versions of the Mustang and Charger from the film. An informant says that the scuttlebutt is that Ross is alive and in town trying to flee the country because he stole a fortune from the mob. You couldnt really remember the complete story, if somebody asked you, unless you read the script, because the script was much better and made more sense., As filming of the chase progressed, Loftin wanted to see the daily work (rushes). Toschi is played by Mark Ruffalo in the film Zodiac, in which Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) mentions that "McQueen got the idea for the holster from Toschi. For Both of you, the famous Baby Carriage scene from Battleship Potemkin 1925 (Eisenstein): And all these are sort of like the Wilhelm scream an in joke for movie buffs, I think. Le stockage ou laccs technique est strictement ncessaire dans la finalit dintrt lgitime de permettre lutilisation dun service spcifique explicitement demand par labonn ou lutilisateur, ou dans le seul but deffectuer la transmission dune communication sur un rseau de communications lectroniques. I find car chases in movies from the 1970s and 1980s much more satisfying than most of the more modern fare because the older ones were more realistic in that the cars had to actually perform the stunts, and they tend to have longer shots, rather than the more modern rapid cut and splice techniques that make it hard to follow exactly whats going on. Bullit: How the Greatest Car Chase Was Filmed Tunnel Ram [citation needed], McQueen based the character of Frank Bullitt on San Francisco Inspector Dave Toschi, with whom he worked prior to filming. According to Deadline, the new film, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Bradley Cooper, is not a remake. Also set in San Francisco: Whats up, Doc. He flowed well with the car. Also on hand was the late Bill Hickman, the fantastic stunt driver who would handle the menacing Dodge Charger in BULLITT. In the next scene the Dodge is going north, rounding Laguna onto Marina, having leaped six blocks. At the exit, Ross kills a deputy sheriff and is shot dead by Bullitt. Of all the musclecars offered in the late sixties, why Both were painted Highland Green and had the GT package with 390 CID engines. A chase that is funny (and full of illogic) is from a movie Short Time (1990). Well, I wasnt going to argue, so I said, okay, fine. McQueens stint as a stunt driver didnt last long, however. Here you will find unforgettable moments, scenes and lines from all your favorite films. Le stockage ou laccs technique qui est utilis exclusivement des fins statistiques. Lalo Schifrin wrote the original jazz-inspired score. Due to the length of this part of the movie and the endless action in it, these . But thats in a train station. Early Monday morning, Bullitt comes home to find Cathy asleep in his bed. I didnt think itd make that much difference beefing it up. Its similar to the same springs they use in police cars, which makes a good combination. Both of the Dodges were junked after the filming, as was one of the Mustangs. It ends with stairs, close to the Coit Tower, an Art Deco monument built in 1933, reaching a height of 64 meters. Loftin insisted, and threatened to quit unless he could view the daily work. Until you run out of money, youve got to stop me!, In an interview with Motor Trend magazine, Steve McQueen related his desire to bring a high speed chase to the screen. Since the dawn of cinema, films have invaded the world and highlighted sometimes unexpected places. After the filming was complete, '559 was sold to Robert Ross,[70] who in turn sold the car in 1970 to Frank Marranca. "[48], In 2004, The New York Times placed the film on its list of the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made. No one has duplicated the electricity or the savage ferocity that manifested itself in BULLITT chase scenes, and its doubtful anyone ever will. Bullitt: The Car Chase | Ricochet McQueen was the prime motivator behind the chase sequence, and then director Peter Yates and Carey Loftin worked out logistics behind the scenes. With the next cut they turn in front of the Safeway again. [34] Ekins, who doubled for McQueen in The Great Escape sequence where McQueen's character jumps over a barbed-wire fence on a motorcycle, performs a lowsider crash stunt in front of a skidding truck during the Bullitt chase. When Steve did that, it wasnt on purpose. Riner says, I think basically the story was long and confusing, so when the chase came along it was so good it gave more substance to the movie. See where the "Fast and Furious" movies and "Mad Max: Fury Road" land on our list. Equally deserving of attention is the Dodge Charger R/T that was chasing the Mustang. Of all the musclecars offered in the late sixties, why were these two cars chosen, and how were they modified to survive the torturous driving? Bullitt - The Greatest Chase of All - HotTR6 Hence, I appreciate the original Gone in 60 Seconds (1974) because they used only a single Mustang throughout the movie (though they had to do some significant patching after a stunt driver missed a mark and the Mustang hit a lamp post it wasnt supposed to). The chase sequence combined several locations, located miles apart and edited together. Bud Ekins did that., In the Motor Trend interview, McQueen recalled there were some close calls and incidents that looked good on film but werent exactly planned to happen, some of which occurerd in the memorable downhill sequences. Wed put the hubcaps back on, but I suppose it probably would have been better if we had left them off., Ill tell you this, said Max Balchowsky, I was really impressed with the Mustang after I got done with it. Loren Janes tells up, Carey Loftin was easily the best car man in the business. Bullitt - Car Chase - Complete. The Mustang's interior rearview mirror goes up and down depending on who is driving: when the mirror is up, McQueen is visible behind the wheel, when it is down, a stunt man is driving. in. Shooting occurred over a period of weeks. Mapping the movie route shows that it is not continuous and is impossible to follow in real time. Carey said they were gonna do a lot of jumping with it, and he said it had to be strong. 33 All-Time Best Car Chases in Movie History, Ranked - Insider Bullitt is a 1968 American dramatic thriller film directed by Peter Yates and produced by Philip DAntoni. In other words, he changed it, now hes chasing them. The tracks on the soundtrack album are alternate versions of those heard in the film, re-recorded by Schifrin with leading jazz musicians, including Bud Shank (flute), Carol Kaye (electric bass), Ray Brown (bass), Howard Roberts (guitar), and Larry Bunker (drums).[40]. Bullitt (1968) - San Francisco Car Chase Scene (4/10) - YouTube They turn north, then west, then south uphill. The Secret Of Steve McQueen's Bullitt Chase Scene - Jalopnik From the interior shots looking forward inside the Mustang its easy to see which one is driving. The guy who did special effects devised the chain balls that bust the Mustang windshield. In the ensuing decades, the car was assumed to be lost. So when McQueen reported for duty to find stuntman Bud Ekins sitting in his car, dressed as McQueen, he was furious. We interviewed Carey Loftin, stunt coordinator for BULLITT and occasional driver of the BULLITT Mustang; Bud Ekins, the main stunt driver of the Mustang, aside from McQueen; and Loren Janes, who had doubled for McQueen for nearly 20 years and stunted for McQueen during the airport sequence at the end of the film. They turn left or south, going uphill. The 13th episode of TV series Alcatraz includes a recreation of the chase scene, with newer models of the Mustang and Charger. Toschi later became famous, along with Inspector Bill Armstrong, as the lead San Francisco investigators of the Zodiac Killer murders that began shortly after the release of Bullitt. On a Friday night in Chicago mobster Johnny Ross flees the Outfit. From one shot to the next, the two cars jump from one corner of the city to a diametrically opposed location. In the scenes in the Charger with Hickman, he was scared to death. The car ended up in New Jersey a few years later, where Steve McQueen attempted to buy it. But the story, according to Ron Riner was not the key element to the success of the movie. The Bullitt chase is archetypal, easily the best Ive ever seen. "[38] This chase scene has also been cited by critics as groundbreaking in its realism and originality. They turn west and the next few scenes are inter-cut, reused footage of the same street sequence, as shown by repeated presence of the same Cadillac and a Green Volkswagen Beetle. Bullitts reverse burnout during the chase scene actually wasnt in the script Steve McQueen had mistakenly missed the turn. It was rebuilt after the great earthquake of 1906. Steve McQueens cool never goes away. It starts around 47:00. When city officials were first approached about shooting in the streets of San Francisco, they balked at the proposed high speeds and the idea of filming part of the chase on the Golden Gate Bridge. But the director of BULLITT wanted a brand new car instead of an ex-police car, so I got the springs from a friend at Chrysler. [31] Ford Motor Company originally lent two Galaxie sedans for the chase scenes, but the producers found the cars too heavy for the jumps over the hills of San Francisco and also a Ford-Ford battle would not be believable on screen. Or visit the Dodge Charger gallery, SUBSCRIBE 2023 Tunnel Ram Pty Ltd Disclaimer Privacy Policy Press Release Powered by bencu. He was told that Mr. McQueen wouldnt like that. If there was an alley or any place that wasnt covered, theyd come and tell me. Peter Yates directed the Steve McQueen classic, Bullitt, in 1968, and fans obsess over every frame of the movie. (Look up Odessa steps baby carriage if youve never heard of it). Those cold blue eyes! He overshot a turn, smoked the tires and everything. They were real good., Because some of the stunts were so well orchestrated, they did not look like stunts at all. And he flipped it around and he slid in backwards. All Rights Reserved. Bullitt | 1968 - The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations They needed to be faster than street cars but also be able to take an enormous beating. Im a sucker for espionage flicks set in Europe. Car '558 was used for the harsher driving (including the skid at the end of the chase), while '559 was used for lighter driving. V8 Ford Mustang GT Fastbacks (325hp) with four-speed manual transmissions were purchased by Warner Bros. for the film. With a slope of 31.5% in places, Filbert Street connects Lyon Street, next to the Presidio, and Telegraph Hill. [52] Frank P. Keller won the 1969 Academy Award for Best Film Editing, and it was also nominated for Best Sound. And all these are sort of like the Wilhelm scream an in joke for movie buffs, I think. I do like the movie long chase in Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Please enter your email address or username. One of the best wrenchmen in the movie business, Max Balchowsky, recalls the Mustang in particular needed considerable modifications so it could hold up during the relentless beatings it would take during the filming. 562K views 2 years ago #SteveMcQueen #CarChase #60s A visual and verbal breakdown of the famous car chase to the 1968 American crime thriller starring Steve McQueen Bullitt. The engine sounds were dubbed in from a GT40, and used yet again in the Seven-Ups car chase. Foreign Correspondent is a great movie and Hitchcock was a great director. It is located not far from the Saints Peter and Paul Church, a Roman style religious building, whose foundations date from 1884. Im not that familiar with them anyway. (The bottom of the stores name can be seen as the Dodge veers onto Marina.) As for the Mustang, Steve McQueen did some of the driving but the more dangerous scenes were performed by stunt drivers Carey Loftin and Loren Janes while Bud Ekins laid down the motorcycle. Well, if were just going to ignore the rules entirely : That was good. Over the years, fans have asked questions about the two cars used in the movie, a 1968 Dodge Charger and a 1968 Mustang 390 GT.