The fact that they never said a word, cut the music when the real chase began, and let all the action speak for itself seems... Almost alien to me. No words, almost no music, just engines, tires, slams, and crash landings. Not even a "He's onto us" or an occasional "Shit!". It's beautiful.
I still believe that scene saved more lives than any public service bulletin, us kids would always give each other a mean look when we buckled up, this was serious business and if you were driving a 60's car it was !
@@radioguy1620 Hi Radioguy, good point, I did not think about that but you are right, I am a Baby Boomer and when we wanted to "psychologically" impress someone, we would "buckle-up" just for the look of this movie. Peace be with you, Good comment, Ciao, L
Man, talk about a classic. No talking, no music, no quirky one liners, no CGI, no outrageous stunts that look like they belong in a space movie, nothing like that. This almost ten-and-a-half-minute video is nothing but 2 muscle cars chasing one another through the streets of San Francisco. I love this whole scene from start to finish. I give my late father a lot of props for showing me this movie when I was a kid. By far THE most famous car chase in cinematic history.
What a lame ass chase, should have added the Chevelle & GTO to it, that they passed. Try to push big fat charger off road w little mustang, who made this sheet up,?
@@TooTallDean I count 4. However, that seems to be the same street with different camera angles. Back in those days, they didn't close certain parts of area off for filming like they do today. I'm betting many people were surprised to see they got at least one second of fame in something like this.
I'll tell you what else. If you've ever driven like that and gone airborne over road humps like they did, and you ain't buckled in, every time your car comes down to the pavement, you'll pop off the seat and your head will slam into the roof, and it doesn't feel too good. It's like getting slammed over the head with a board. And I can still feel it today. So whoever was driving the Mustang, Mcqueen or a stunt driver, you better believe they were buckled in too, or they had one hell of a sore head when it was over with.
My Dad's fave movie. He worked at Ford, loved cars. I watched this clip on the first anniversary of the night he passed. RIP, Dad, you were right, it's still the best car chase ever.
But neither does the other driver, which is what makes the chase scene a bit comical , in a great and classic way😁 everyone has this serious grim gameface on, while driving two cool hotrods and making history 😁
Steve McQueen could drive. He wasn't just a Hollywood legend. He was also a race car driver. He had driven in Le Mans, Sebring, and I do believe Daytona. Fifty-five years later, this is still the greatest chase scene in Hollywood.
Yep. He drove in the Porsche 917 in the racing movie Lemans...Steve was that rare breed of actors like Paul Newman, James Garner, the guy from Greys Anatomy, and Paul Walker that actually raced. And let’s not forget James Dean. Wonder how good he would have been...
A lesser known third (and spiritual successor to The French Connection) is The Seven-Ups where Hickman is chased by Roy Scheider for nine solid minutes before Scheider's car has its top sheared off by a semi-truck trailer.
@@wesleycook7687 Loftin was the truck Driver in Duel, when they did chsde scenes, he would have his friend Dale Vansickle drive the car both of them were the top stunt drivers to go to
Spectacular movie making and car chase. Entertainment at its finest. I never get tired of watching this sequence of scenes. No use of special effects just the use of special actors and film production teams.
A car chase not entirely without it's shortcomings. The same green Volkswagen seen at least 4 times, most of the 'civilian' cars travelling at slow speeds, and the crowds standing on street corners watching and waiting for the action. I'm not criticizing this scene as it was suspenseful and had great action, but the best car chase ever? What about 'Vanishing Point" and the original 'Gone In 60 Seconds'?
It's funny that you mentioned this as the best car scene ever. I can tell you a true fact about this. My dad was a great sound editor and created the 1st Foley stage. When my dad and his work partner on Bullitt, the sound for the engine didn't sound right to Mr. Mc. Queen. So he picked up my dad and his co-worker Frank Makelvie to record the sound from the same 67 fastback mustang in the movie. Any Steve McQueen said he wanted to drive the same route in San Francisco as in the movie. Well my dad and Frank didn't think about it much until the got there. Mr. McQueen said to put the reel to reel sound recorder in between them in the back seat with a mic out both sides. My dad didn't realize until Steve said to put the seat belts on tight. Right then my dad said, "Oh Shitt"! Steve took off like a bat out of Hell driving as fast as it was in the movie. Thru traffic and everything. When they finished, my dad and Frank came crawling out of the car shaking. Mr. McQueen just laughed and says, "here John! This should make you gentlemen feel better !" Then he handed my dad and Frank each a case of aged scotch from Steve's private stock and $2000 bucks each. Mr. McQueen liked the sound so much he told the director to use the sound my dad made and that's what is in the movie to this day. Funny story right. You can look up my dad, God rest his soul. John Howard Post or John Howard. If you wish to hear more cool stories that my dad told me, I would be happy to share tidbits of the movies my dad and I worked on. God bless everyone
It's been rumored they used the Sound track from Bullitt for the Car chase in the Movie The 7ups . It was mainly used on 74 Pontiac Ventura Roy Scheider Drove , not the Pontiac Grandville Drivin by the Bad Guys .. Bill Hickman Drove the Pontiac Grandville too..
@@glipk LOL I wasn't suggesting that there was CGI in the 60s, just that old films like this one without CGI are great. In my view, the obsession with CGI these days spoils a lot of films.
1 is said to be here in Ohio (The one that Steve wanted to buy) 1 was totaled and the 3rd was just found a couple years ago in a junkyard in Mexico. It had been painted yellow and most of the parts were gone.
Rumour has it that Steve McQueen's soul still drives around San Francisco's roads at night in a Mustang looking for Chargers to chase and drivers to kill
Fun fact: Director Peter Yates estimated that the top speeds during certain portions of filming the scene would need to be 75-80 mph to achieve the realism he desired. The stunt drivers later confessed that had the cars up to 110 mph at times. And, because the Charger had 50+ h.p. on the Mustang meant its stunt driver was constantly having to lay off the accelerator to get the shots Yates wanted.
The Charger also handled all the jumps with stock suspension, whereas the Mustang had to be modified to handle them. They built cars fucking tough back in those days.
Heard that 20+ years ago, the charger was too fast and had to stay slow for the mustang - you can hear it in RPM's, the charger is literally cruising and the stang is at 6000 rpm wide open. For the record 390 mustangs weren't fast, 440 Charger R/T's were - look it up
@@FrankBullitt390 the sound of the Mustang isn’t authentic though, it’s actually the sound of a GT40’s engine dubbed in, which is why you’ll hear it upshift about 12 times during the chase. Furthermore, I remember reading the top speed statistics on both, the Charger was only 2-3 mph faster, the difference was in traction, the charger’s immense weight kept the tires glued to the road while the Mustang, being lighter, did burnouts in reverse gear, as you saw in that one shot. It just depended on what road they were on really, tight, narrow, San Francisco streets full of traffic were perfect for the Mustang, being able to corner much better and not fish-tail as much. The countryside with the long, clear straights were where the Charger could absolutely fly.
I’m not a car guy. But I am absolutely obsessed with this scene. The way they prowl around the downtown streets like lions growling in the bush. And when they finally roar and takeoff… The whole thing is absolutely thrilling. it’s emotional. Masterful filmmaking. And don’t get me started on Steve McQueen.
@@mikkoranta8767 As I understand it, the green bug was one of several "safety cars" accompanying the stunt. The streets were blocked off, but they had to be prepared (insurance wise) to deal with any civilian car wandering into the scene.
Everybody lining up to purchase the Mustang, I want that Charger. It's the only charger in the world that regenerates hub caps. It lost 3 hub caps during the chase and still managed to crash with 3.
The vehicle those hit men were in just looks menacing. The fact they're both older middle aged men indicates they are experienced, calm and patient. No two characters look as grim and mechanical at their job then these two characters chosen to play the role of consummate killers for the syndicate. Nothing personal, just business. They communicate by glances without saying a word. Insane acting.
As FrankensteinsMonster-1313 said, 1968 Dodge Charger. The 1968 and 1969 models were my favorite Chargers ever made. You can tell the one in the movie is a 1968 at a quick glance (besides of course the movie itself being 1968!) from the single grill that goes all the way across, which would become split in 1969, and the two circular taillights on either side, which became rather cool rectangular ones in 1969. I like the grill of the 1968 better, but the taillights of the 1969. Either way, killer freaking body style - a timeless, menacing-looking car for 60s movie hitmen!
The good old stuff goes beyond holding up. Holding up suggests it's as good as contemporary offerings. It can be better in many ways. Something only possible in it's time. It gets better with age.
I don't wanna be 'that guy ' but in the city how many times did they pass the same cars in different scenes? The white Firebird the green Beetle ? But that aside. Fuking Epic
Thank you for starting this at the ACTUAL beginning of the chase sequence! It starts with the low speed games, the music building, little hints at what engines these cars are packing, then all of a sudden they drop the hammer. Perfection!
I worked for IBM in the early '80's repairing IBM Selectric typewriters (remember those things?!) and I had the Fisherman's Wharf / Ghirardelli Square driving territory. i became very good at making a U-turn in a flash whenever I spotted someone pulling out of a space. It NEVER worked to go around the block ... it would be gone by the time I made it around that block.
@@mikestyles499 Horseshit, the point is that Hollywood sound professionals had total control over all the engine noise and tire screeching, and it has Nothing to do with technology. McQueen was pretending to shift a 4 speed when the car actually had an automatic. You children always get fooled by the pros. That's why they make the big money.
dehoe disc - Two identical Mustangs and two matching Chargers were used in the Bullitt chase sequence. So that the four-speed Mustang could run more easily with the brawnier four-speed 440 Magnum Charger, Hollywood engineer Max Balchowsky installed a racing cam on both Fords, milled the heads, and modified the ignition and carburetion systems. Additionally, Balchowsky bulked up the suspensions of all four cars for improved strength, handling, and control. One Mustang and one Charger were fitted with a full roll cage.
I was born nearly 40 years after this came out, and some of my earliest memories are of playing with my hotwheels on the tv cabinet pretending it was the cars in this chase while I was watching it. Still the best chase
I went to San Francisco last year. Have wanted to go there all of my life having been brought up on Bullit and Dirty Harry. I walked down the streets where this car chase was filmed. Went to Taylor street where bullitt,s house is. It was an amazing feeling to be there where it all happened. They just don’t make films like this anymore. No CGI. No stupid dialogue. Just pure class.
i went to see Mrs. Doubtfire's house in SF on 2640 Steiner Street and around that time, there was a lot of R.i.p Robin William written all over the sidewalk
I will say, what makes this a great scene is you can feel the weight of the cars. While there’s been many flashier chase scenes in cinema there’s something very physical about this one.
@@jimlechuga3193 I would imagine other crewmembers had children too. Nice to meet you. Do you also have a SAG membership number? Enrollment date? Practically all crewmembers enrolled their families. Do you even know what sag strands for. My guess is no. FYI (Screen Actors Guild). We made a lot of money for our parents as "Extras" on the sets over the years. I am in many old movies, albeit briefly, not to mention tv commercials. As one troll to another, you can believe it or not, my father often took me to work with him. He introduced me to Steve the very day they shot those clips. I was there in person to witness what you only see 2nd hand. To prove that the director let me use the clapper board. Tell me what that is and I'll know for sure you grew up in and around the film industry. Peace.
Which parts of the chase were filmed from a helicopter? I will defer to anyone claiming expertise, but, most of the shots seem to be taken from ground level.
Those shots of the cars coming down the hill is the same scene as when they showed it from the top of the hill. They just replayed it from a different angle.
ive studied film for a few years now and can confirm that they simply do not make films on this level anymore. it saddens me everyday. what a sequence. the sound, subtleties in the performances, the cinematography, the tension, the editing. absolutely phenomenal.
The Greatest Car Chase in the History of Cinema. No unconvincing over-the-top CGI/Slow Motion effects or cheesy one-liners present, just pure Realism with two iconic classic American Muscle cars (Ford Mustang and Dodge Charger) chasing each other, a billion times better than all the Fast & Furious films put together.
I love how quiet the charger is until the seat belt goes on and the charger dude revs up and dumps the clutch. Then you hear the real sound of that big block come to life.
The Mustang had to be highly modified including nitrous because it could not reach speeds the Director wanted. The Charger was NOT modified for power. It came with all the power needed. Fact.
Yes. But the filmmakers were right in having the actual chase without any music. Lalo Schifrin even suggested to keep only the sounds of the chase intact.
@@bighands69 Errr... not really. Post synching is pretty straight forward. If you can't head slate it you can tail slate it. I'm not even convinced these are the sounds from these actual cars. But these are all done in post. I used to work in the film industry as a clapper loader and focus puller so it was part of my job.
@@thethirdman225 Cars do not sound the same when you listen to them through speakers. Music is the same when played through speakers. That is the reason when they do cars there is modifications of the sound or even replacement sounds. While you can record the event you will never capture the feeling of that sound hence why car sound is enhanced by different techniques.
Thanks to no CGI, you really feel like you're there inside the cars. And watching from the street. Clever camera work at 2:08 when the Mustang appears in the mirror of the Charger. EPIC!!
Boomer here. I don’t know about you guys, but for years, THIS was THE CAR CHASE. Later on there were good ones, but this established a pretty good precedent.
I think it's still THE CAR CHASE even today, speaking as a millennial. There have been some pretty awesome car chases since then, with some of them being almost equal to Bullitt, but Bullitt is still my favourite. A few more recent car chases (in some cases, entire movies) that deserve to be remembered as classics: Drive (2011) Jack Reacher (2012) Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) Mission Impossible : Rogue Nation (2015), Fallout (2018), and Dead Reckoning Part 1 (2023) Baby Driver (2017) The Batman (2022) I'll add more if I think of them :)
Blues Brothers, Terminator, Magnum Force, Gone in 60 seconds (The original 1974 to be specific), and even Spielberg's first movie Duel also had legendary vehicle chase scenes too. But still, no matter how well executed or legendary other chase scenes can be, nothing tops the Bullitt chase.
I love car chase scenes, but the part that gets me in this relentless chase is at 7:28 when he does not resume his pursuit until he sees there is someone helping the motorcyclist. I honestly think he would have ended the chase there is no one else was around to help.
It's amazing how simply 2 muscle cars speeding down a street in SF can be more suspenseful than any of these multi-million dollar action blockbusters of today. I will say the car chase from The Raid 2 is the only film in recent times that comes close.
French connection chase is better that bullit chase scene. TOOO many issue with bullit--for one, 5 hubcaps come off charger. Look close and you will see.
Owned one and if you read back story of movie the charger had to be held back never had chance catching it really. It wasn't even working that hard in this scene. So miss ours. Such a bad ass car.
Steve McQueen shared this chase scene with Bud Ekins, one of Hollywood's best stunt drivers at the time. 53 years later and it is still an epic chase scene with an Iconic car and equally Iconic actor. Hollywood don't make them like this anymore.
Stuntman Driver Bill Hickman drove the Charger, He was close friends with James Dean and was driving the Station Wagon pulling the trailer about 5 minutes behind when James Dean was killed in his Porsche Spider in 1955. Dean actually died in Bill Hickmans arms. His last words were I don't want to die.
How do you know bud ekins drove? I was 10 years old and talking to bud ekins on each scene.we were standing on the corner with bud and 2 girls right when they start going up the hill,I was wearing a white tee shirt and flood pants.bud has blonde hair,if you watch closely you'll see the four of us.i asked bud why he wasn't driving after he said he was Steve's stuntman and he said Steve does his own driving and he's there to fill in if necessary.
@@joematthewsparacino6844 I see you guys every time standing there on the corner on the left! Always thought that’s regular by-standers...kinda like the cabbie and the other guy in traffic who make Steve go around behind them...wow
57 years and still the best car chase in the history of cinema Not a single word, no music during the chase, no overdramatized stuff, only what we need: V8s screaming, tires screetching and metal slaming.
I miss the plowing through farmers markets on the sidewalk....random motorcyclists w/black visors & automatic machine pistols....cop cars with cherries & berries. Hydraulic Gimbels launching automobiles cartwheeling 20 ft. in the air.
DAMN!!! I just love the sound of a V-8 engine and four barrel carbs! I miss the 1960s and '70s. No artificial intelligence can top this stuff!! I was 19 years-old when this played in theaters and it still gives me 'goose bumps' today watching it on UA-cam. Nothing like seeing this on big screen theaters at the time.
Little known fact. The movie studio originally planned to give the bad guys a black Impala SS coupe. The studio approached Chevrolet about donating a couple of those cars but, was turned down. GM didn't want their car associated with the bad guys. The studio then went to Chrysler and they were totally on board. For them, this was top quality advertising and they sold a lot of Chargers because of Bullitt.
@@BlackPill-pu4vi I've always been a Chevy guy, but I had a 1970 Plymouth Duster as my first brand new car when I was 21 years-old. Nothing wrong with Mopar back in the day! It's too bad Chevrolet 'dropped the ball'. A black Impala SS would have been a great match vs. the Ford Mustang.
@@felixmadison5736 Absolutely. No doubt the studio execs thought it would be a natural Ford vs Chevy match in addition to the good guys vs bad guys. But GM dropped the ball on that and Mopar swooped in and got the fame instead.
In the movie bullit, they used 3 mustangs all of them ended up as train wrecks Apparently one was saved and a guy purchased it and had it fixed Steve mcqeen several years later heard about it, and offered to buy it It was recently actioned It was sold for plenty of millions All time great chase
@@MrCarpen7er At one point in time ' some in the paparazzi ' if they were called that in the '60s ' claimed that Mc Queen might be a homosexual ' his response was something like "if anyone wants to say that to my face I'll knock their head off " . So he was not a rainbow type of chap it would appear.
Love it. No music, no dialogue, no excessive car flips and explosions in the background like some Michael Bay movie. Just two badass muscle cars chasing each other.
This was one of my dad's favorite movies. I haven't seen any part of it since I was a child and I have to say now as a 40+ year old adult that the sense of danger in this chase is extraordinarily real. The sound of those cars, the suspension, the body hitting the tarmac, the danger of the traffic. You can almost smell it, feel it just from watching. Absolutely engrossing and terrifying. Incredible filmmaking.
Having grown up in the Bay Area and spending time in SF during the time this movie was made, I appreciate watching this as sort of a time capsule of how the city looked and the cars that were on the street in that era. Yes, it brings back memories!
The thing is too, a TON of these cars still are better than what's on the market today, not just how much abuse they can take, but also mechanically, they weren't as tough to fix, the old days really weren't all that bad, I just wish I could have been alive in that time to see a lot of these great films for the first time on the big screen, even though I am 26 now, I don't feel it
@@pilummurialis6490 yeah' and the modern car manufacturers have purposely made their cars complicated so that you will take them to the dealerships for maintenance and repairs ' on top of that they tell you that the automatic transmission fluid never needs changed 'that's dumb 'and they dont put grease nipples on anything' they dont want them to last too long. I've got my father's old 1971 Valiant ' he always maintained it himself ' the engine still runs great ' everything is simple' easy to work on and reliable.
I see why it's the greatest chase of all time. Everything's authentic, the multiple camera angles, it was all done in one take from the looks of it. The fact that they did it on public streets, it all makes for one incredible scene
@@scottslotterbeck3796 yeah there's no way it was one take, you'd have to block off so many streets for one, but every car they drive around and dodge would have to be perfectly on cue. Doubt Steve McQueen did all the driving, I'm sure there was a stunt driver too.
@@MrFusion sSteve was like Paul Newman, James Garner, and a couple other actors. He was a real racer. Look up the movie Lemans, he drove in some of the scenes with the Porsche 917 at Lemans. Same type of photography. Cameras on race cars. Also look up, On any Sunday. The original. Steve is featured driving Baja racers and dirt bikes. He is as legit as the race car guy from Greys Anatomy TV show and Paul Walker...
I was just reading something on that. Bill Hickman, the driver, was a stunt driver in Hollywood. The way the seatbelts in the Charger were at the time had a tendency to keep you planted in your seat, so in fact, he did it to maintain control of the car. When he came around the one corner and smacked the parked white car, that car had a camera on it, and he wasn't supposed to hit it. But, yeah, he in fact did know what he was doing. He was a close friend to James Dean, and was only a few minutes behind Dean with Dean's stationwagon and trailer when Dean crashed. Hickman was the first on scene, and Dean died in his arms.
STILL the baddest-ass piece of cinema ever assembled, and delectable smorgasbord of beautiful 60's automobiles of all sorts!! 10 thumbs up!! I still to this day watch in reverance at this spectacle of automotive mastery!!!
The editing in the Bullitt car chase is so outstanding that it took me about 30 or so viewings of this movie before I noticed the omnipresent Green VW Beetle.
@@robbiespence6504 The editor masterfully worked with the cuts he was given. The director and cinematographer certainly didn't intend for all those green VW bug shots to be used. They left it up to the editor to work his magic. We are so focused on the two cars in the chase we don't think about the recurring bug. The editor deservedly won the Oscar for his efforts.
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@@BW4EIRE I noticed it from my very first viewing. It was obvious how bad this chase was edited.
lol. Really. The picture won the Oscar for Best Film Editing. The picture won the Eddie (which I'm confident you've never heard of) for Best Edited Feature Film. But I don't need that information to know how outstanding the editing in this film is.
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@@BW4EIRE and it was a huge mistake. Tell me editing the same scenes from different angles deserves an award. You see the vw and hubcaps fly off over and over. Doesn't matter if it won, it shouldn't have.
This is the movie that changed car chases in movies forever. I remember when this movie came out and I fell in love with the fast back Mustang. The legendary Steve McQueen.
You don't know what you're talking about. The engine sounds are just a generic American V8, dubbed over on a 30 second Loop with a couple gear shifts thrown in. They don't match up with the video at all. It's a poorly done sequence.
@@EATSLEEPDRIVE2002 Bullitt has inconsistencies and continuity issues, as has been pointed out for the last 56 years. (that pesky VW springs to mind). But, upon its release in 1968, it set the movie world on its ear. Gritty realism, innovative camera techniques, and antihero protagonists were all fresh innovations and combining them in a superb action film headed by Steve McQueen has made Bullitt an iconic film. Serious gearheads knew cars from the factory would never survive the abuse of that race. Furthermore, the glaring faux paus of portraying a 390 Mustang managing to keep pace with a 440 Charger was utter fantasy. But it doesn't matter. Bullitt does what all good art does. It captures its subject matter and portrays it in novel ways. That snapshot of the time, the place, the cars and the culture, which could have been so easily buried in some forgettable movie, was instead turned into legend. Half a century on it's still a thrill. As for the sound recording, let Mike Magda's eye-opening account, "Dangerous Pursuit: The Real Truth Behind the 'Bullitt' Chase Scene" (subtitled Steve McQueen and his green Mustang defined on screen car chases for a generation) in Motor Trend, June 20, 2005, cast some light into the murky recesses of the internet. Here's an excerpt-- "After Keller and Yates finished editing the chase, John Kean went to work recording and mixing in the sound of the revving engines and squealing tires. Kean and Bud Ekins took the cars to Willow Springs Raceway near Los Angeles for the recording. Some critics complain that the Mustang upshifts so many times it sounds as if it has a six-speed transmission, but most of the sounds fit the scenes perfectly, including the tires barking during gear changes and the rpm shifts during speed changes. Kean was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on the film." --Mike Magda Bullitt remains the quintessential car chase scene. It is the most influential chase scene ever filmed and the chase scene against which all others are measured.
I'm pretty sure that if you watch the behind the scenes of the chase you can see that McQueen stopped because the Charger hit a parkes car that had a tripod on it and it launched the trypod off the car. McQueen didn't know if the Charger would keep going so he stopped in the intersection. When he saw that Bill Hickman wasn't going to stop after hitting the car he had to reverse and then go around the turn. The part where the Charger hit the other car is at 4:07 and you can see that the Charger disapears. The Charger struck the car and the camera stopped filming. They put the camera back on the car and cut out the part where it hit the ground. They did that while McQueen was in the intersection.
in any event., he just dumped it in ANGER into reverse...holy crap...then mercilessly hard into first....cringe at the abuse...but then again....heehee giv'er still the greatest chase scene ever ...imho
I graduated from HS in 1968. Loved seeing all the other cars in the chase too. Double tapping clutches. Muscle cars really sounded like that, and nothing beats cubic inches. Classic!
Just sold for $3.7 million. Some guy saw it advertised in the newspaper for a couple of grand. He tracked down the serial numbers. Other guy used it as a daily driver, if you can believe it
@@tiredoldman5329 I had read rhat, but; n any case, CRAP. If my Dad had only known. He had a '65. He lived Mustangs. He probably could have picked it up for $1500 or so, lol.
Wasnt the mustang engine sounds dubbed over? And also the 440 mopar was so much faster they had to stay out of it so the mustang could keep up on the highway scenes.
This 10-minute clip is absolute cinematograph history at its best! No music, no over-dramatized effects, just the pure natural V8 engine sounds open throttle all he way through, accompagnied by occasional traffic collisions and startled motorisis caught off guard eyewitnessing what they think is an illegal street race taking way. Absolute classy, compated to today's vehicle chases.
Right! The sound from inside the Charger is epic. Other than it being in the script, never understood why he didn't boot it to get away after McQueen 'hedged it' after the biker came off.
The opening scene with the Phillips 66 gas station was my neighborhood growing up. My brother and I used to joke about the two little kids running across the street at the top of the hill was us. When they stop at the top of the hill and look left and right then drive left up that elevated curve was where I took a nasty spill on my bike. I used the top of that curve to gain speed racing toward a makeshift ramp the neighborhood kids had thrown together…pretty bad wipeout. Never forget that day. Everytime I see this movie it’s me just seeing a well preserved slice of my neighborhood/childhood. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve seen Bullit. The chase just never gets old! No CGI,the roar of those engines,etc. This movie is one of the main reason muscle cars have always been a part of my life…
@@blondegirlsezthis8798 That’s correct,just before Army street came up onto the freeway. I think it’s been renamed Cesar Chavez Blvd for years now. My dad who was a lot more familiar with the city than me as a kid would always comment from scene to scene how the car chase would bounce around to different scenic sections of the city that weren’t actually connected. I understand that The City has changed a lot from when I grew up there…and not in a good way unfortunately.
@@justwingingit1 I knew it! I lived two blocks up from there in the mission (there was this mexican pastry shop on my corner that was amazing). I think there's still a gas station at the same place that one is still. Yeah the city has definitely changed for sure i got priced out of being a renter there after living in nearly every neighborhood, ending up out in Walnut Creek and then had to move up to Portland where it's still fortunately affordable.
@@justwingingit1 i knew it! I lived at Bryant and 27th right by the army street projects back in the early 90's and it sure has changed. i got priced out of there eventually and ended up in Portland which is way more affordable.
@@blondegirlsezthis8798 You’re making me hungry! Our family always went to the Mexican bakery on 24th St.(not sure if you’re about the same one)but that was a few blocks away from where we lived on Florida/Precita. No other bakeries closer to us than that…of course that was back in the early 70’s. There was a traditional bakery right across from the gas station in Bullet but that may be gone now. My wife and I want to drive up to Portland to check it out someday…we loved that silly episode of Portlandia where they leave a restaurant to visit the farm where they get their chickens from…silly but funny!
A local theater with playing this in my town about 20 years ago. My friends and I went and sat in the third row just so we could experience the car chase at its best. Oh my God, we were almost nauseous! Lol! But it really was the greatest thing, I mean seeing it up close like that was phenomenal. It really felt like you were in the car.
@@xox945 I owned a '69 Chevy Nova SS 350 4-speed as my first car in the 70's. Never ever did I have to double clutch. Slapped every gear in an instant without missing. If you have never driven or owned one, you would be "that guy". Ask anybody that owned a Muscle Car. No double shifting needed.
That seatbelt would literally do NOTHING for him if that car crashed. I had a 69 Chevelle SS that had "Impact Absorbing Dashboard Material" for your safety. That was literally in an old ad for the car I saw.
The fact that they never said a word, cut the music when the real chase began, and let all the action speak for itself seems... Almost alien to me. No words, almost no music, just engines, tires, slams, and crash landings. Not even a "He's onto us" or an occasional "Shit!".
It's beautiful.
british director peter yates wanted the movie to be as real as possible
For real. This is a lost art.
Sound fx made on a sound stage.
Words are unnecessary because the story is conveyed entirely visually, which is the best way to have done it.
Superior
Back when putting on a seatbelt meant you were about to do some serious driving.
Van Farley if it was like in the UK in the 70s, kids in the back wouldn't have any belts on at all ! Crazy really.
I still believe that scene saved more lives than any public service bulletin, us kids would always give each other a mean look when we buckled up, this was serious business and if you were driving a 60's car it was !
@@radioguy1620 Hi Radioguy, good point, I did not think about that but you are right, I am a Baby Boomer and when we wanted to "psychologically" impress someone, we would "buckle-up" just for the look of this movie. Peace be with you, Good comment, Ciao, L
Really cool 😎 black leather gloves - put belt on here we go 👍
Dittos
Man, talk about a classic. No talking, no music, no quirky one liners, no CGI, no outrageous stunts that look like they belong in a space movie, nothing like that. This almost ten-and-a-half-minute video is nothing but 2 muscle cars chasing one another through the streets of San Francisco. I love this whole scene from start to finish. I give my late father a lot of props for showing me this movie when I was a kid. By far THE most famous car chase in cinematic history.
What a lame ass chase, should have added the Chevelle & GTO to it, that they passed. Try to push big fat charger off road w little mustang, who made this sheet up,?
@@rogerdodrill4733 ok let's then have vin diesel star a chase made entirely with cgi
How many times did they pass that green VW Beetle?
@@TooTallDean I count 4. However, that seems to be the same street with different camera angles. Back in those days, they didn't close certain parts of area off for filming like they do today. I'm betting many people were surprised to see they got at least one second of fame in something like this.
@@JustRememberWhoYoureWorkingForOk those movies were better anyway.....
Dude buckles that seat belt and you knew it was 'go time.' No words needed!
Yup, those lap belts meant "let's race!" Until they didn't.
I'll tell you what else. If you've ever driven like that and gone airborne over road humps like they did, and you ain't buckled in, every time your car comes down to the pavement, you'll pop off the seat and your head will slam into the roof, and it doesn't feel too good. It's like getting slammed over the head with a board. And I can still feel it today. So whoever was driving the Mustang, Mcqueen or a stunt driver, you better believe they were buckled in too, or they had one hell of a sore head when it was over with.
My Dad's fave movie. He worked at Ford, loved cars. I watched this clip on the first anniversary of the night he passed. RIP, Dad, you were right, it's still the best car chase ever.
@eating sugar no papa no
@eating sugar no papa shut up bitch
He is at peace.
Love is eternal ♡
You're a good son.
This 10 minutes and 18 seconds alone is better than any movie from the entire Fast & Furious franchise. Steve McQueen - absolute LEGEND!
And both were professional stunt drivers/ actors Steve McQueen and Bill Hickman who actually drove their own cars. Unheard of today.
@@firebir11Bill Hickman also did the majority of McQueens dangerous car stunts throughout his career too.
Agreed and this is the real thing,a real car chase.
Only the first Fast and Furious movie was any good since the action was mostly all practical stunts.
Except for the first fast and furious
I love how McQueen doesn’t break a sweat or show emotion in any way. Calm and collected. Truly the king of cool
Trained racing driver he was !!
The OG badass
Lightning McQueen
But neither does the other driver, which is what makes the chase scene a bit comical , in a great and classic way😁 everyone has this serious grim gameface on, while driving two cool hotrods and making history 😁
@@Teknokill-jm2ub spot on.
Iconic scene...great music, no dialogue needed and just about every car they pass is a friggin' classic!
Steve McQueen could drive. He wasn't just a Hollywood legend. He was also a race car driver. He had driven in Le Mans, Sebring, and I do believe Daytona. Fifty-five years later, this is still the greatest chase scene in Hollywood.
Yep. He drove in the Porsche 917 in the racing movie Lemans...Steve was that rare breed of actors like Paul Newman, James Garner, the guy from Greys Anatomy, and Paul Walker that actually raced. And let’s not forget James Dean. Wonder how good he would have been...
Well that would be someone who could get a Ford to keep up with a Dodge then.
What's your opinion on the car-chase in 'Ronin'?
@@jonpayne4931 It’s very good. It’s just not as relatable to me personally. I have no interest in the vehicles used...
@@jonpayne4931 ronin is a classic of the modern age
The driver of the Charger is professional stunt driver Bill Hickman. He also did the famous chase sequence in the French Connection. A complete legend
Hickman looks like he’s out for a Sunday drive.
Pretty much the two ultimate car chases scenes.
A lesser known third (and spiritual successor to The French Connection) is The Seven-Ups where Hickman is chased by Roy Scheider for nine solid minutes before Scheider's car has its top sheared off by a semi-truck trailer.
@@wesleycook7687 Loftin was the truck Driver in Duel, when they did chsde scenes, he would have his friend Dale Vansickle drive the car both of them were the top stunt drivers to go to
He was also in a couple of episodes of Dragnet.
No cgi, no super fake special effects, no overdramatized acting. AWESOME compared to today’s movies. RIP Steve Mqueen.
yup the actors even burnt themselves to death for the last bit
@@WarrenZevonYT No man, I meant that the special effects weren’t overdone for every single scene like they are now.
@@GraysonMiller69420have you seen mission impossible fallout? Great driving in that
@@aidanfrancis2193 No man, but I will check it out.
@@GraysonMiller69420 you'll love it I think, cruise is a modern Steve McQueen
Spectacular movie making and car chase. Entertainment at its finest. I never get tired of watching this sequence of scenes. No use of special effects just the use of special actors and film production teams.
A car chase not entirely without it's shortcomings. The same green Volkswagen seen at least 4 times, most of the 'civilian' cars travelling at slow speeds, and the crowds standing on street corners watching and waiting for the action. I'm not criticizing this scene as it was suspenseful and had great action, but the best car chase ever? What about 'Vanishing Point" and the original 'Gone In 60 Seconds'?
It's funny that you mentioned this as the best car scene ever. I can tell you a true fact about this. My dad was a great sound editor and created the 1st Foley stage. When my dad and his work partner on Bullitt, the sound for the engine didn't sound right to Mr. Mc. Queen. So he picked up my dad and his co-worker Frank Makelvie to record the sound from the same 67 fastback mustang in the movie. Any Steve McQueen said he wanted to drive the same route in San Francisco as in the movie. Well my dad and Frank didn't think about it much until the got there. Mr. McQueen said to put the reel to reel sound recorder in between them in the back seat with a mic out both sides. My dad didn't realize until Steve said to put the seat belts on tight. Right then my dad said, "Oh Shitt"! Steve took off like a bat out of Hell driving as fast as it was in the movie. Thru traffic and everything. When they finished, my dad and Frank came crawling out of the car shaking. Mr. McQueen just laughed and says, "here John! This should make you gentlemen feel better !" Then he handed my dad and Frank each a case of aged scotch from Steve's private stock and $2000 bucks each. Mr. McQueen liked the sound so much he told the director to use the sound my dad made and that's what is in the movie to this day. Funny story right. You can look up my dad, God rest his soul. John Howard Post or John Howard. If you wish to hear more cool stories that my dad told me, I would be happy to share tidbits of the movies my dad and I worked on. God bless everyone
Well, we are waiting for more stories dude!!! 😮
AWESOME!👍🏻♥️😇
That's just way cool
It's been rumored they used the Sound track from Bullitt for the Car chase in the Movie The 7ups . It was mainly used on 74 Pontiac Ventura Roy Scheider Drove , not the Pontiac Grandville Drivin by the Bad Guys .. Bill Hickman Drove the Pontiac Grandville too..
Feeling the torq sitting in the back.
Just that shot of the Mustang suddenly appearing in the rear view mirror beats most movies today.
It's kind of like the first appearance of the shark fin in "Jaws". Trouble is here!
LOVE that shot!
Oh yeah. You knew it was gonna get serious then. Then when Bill Hickman fastened his seatbelt, you knew it was ON...
And there it remained... being the slower car, and I guess the pitt manouvier was unheard of.
@@42lookc fair enough he did drive faster
No CGI, this is the real deal. I hadn't seen this for many years, and had forgotten just how good it is - even the music, and the way it builds.
It was 1960s dude why would there be CGI?
@@glipk LOL I wasn't suggesting that there was CGI in the 60s, just that old films like this one without CGI are great. In my view, the obsession with CGI these days spoils a lot of films.
No CGI in Blues Brothers either. Way better.
Aye, cool jazz with roaring engines and screeching tires is very American. Best chase ever.
Yup. This was raw.
From Magnificent Seven to Bullitt, there never has been nor will there ever be anyone as cool as Steve McQueen. What a great man!
Rumour has it the Green Beetle is still cruising the streets of San Francisco and at night you can still hear the Chargers hub caps rolling around.
1 is said to be here in Ohio (The one that Steve wanted to buy) 1 was totaled and the 3rd was just found a couple years ago in a junkyard in Mexico. It had been painted yellow and most of the parts were gone.
Rumour has it that Steve McQueen's soul still drives around San Francisco's roads at night in a Mustang looking for Chargers to chase and drivers to kill
Naw, the hub caps are stuck in some that shit all over san fransico.
All as the mustang shifted like it had an 18 speed eaton in it.
The 1Pubeman and came off and returned and came off and... 🤣🤣
No Music , no Dialogue. This car chase will never be beaten.Period.
This and 1974 Gone in sixty seconds are the best.
Have to include the 7 ups as well but still cannot beat the original.
BLODWYN DAVIES i meant the original gone in sixty seconds not the nicolas cage one
Agreed...
Not sure I have see that one. Definitely haven't seen the NC one.
Fun fact: Director Peter Yates estimated that the top speeds during certain portions of filming the scene would need to be 75-80 mph to achieve the realism he desired. The stunt drivers later confessed that had the cars up to 110 mph at times. And, because the Charger had 50+ h.p. on the Mustang meant its stunt driver was constantly having to lay off the accelerator to get the shots Yates wanted.
The Charger also handled all the jumps with stock suspension, whereas the Mustang had to be modified to handle them. They built cars fucking tough back in those days.
Heard that 20+ years ago, the charger was too fast and had to stay slow for the mustang - you can hear it in RPM's, the charger is literally cruising and the stang is at 6000 rpm wide open. For the record 390 mustangs weren't fast, 440 Charger R/T's were - look it up
@@FrankBullitt390 the sound of the Mustang isn’t authentic though, it’s actually the sound of a GT40’s engine dubbed in, which is why you’ll hear it upshift about 12 times during the chase.
Furthermore, I remember reading the top speed statistics on both, the Charger was only 2-3 mph faster, the difference was in traction, the charger’s immense weight kept the tires glued to the road while the Mustang, being lighter, did burnouts in reverse gear, as you saw in that one shot. It just depended on what road they were on really, tight, narrow, San Francisco streets full of traffic were perfect for the Mustang, being able to corner much better and not fish-tail as much. The countryside with the long, clear straights were where the Charger could absolutely fly.
110mph nowadays, well that's tractor speeds & so bleedin slow..... When 17 I had a silly wee 250cc motorcycle that would reach a hundred....
There's certainly reasons Chargers were used for so many car chases in so many movies and tv shows. It's like they were built specifically for it!
Counting the hubcaps the Charger loses is a fun game.
Had the pleasure to meet and hang out with Steve before he died in 1980...he was only 50.
I’m not a car guy. But I am absolutely obsessed with this scene. The way they prowl around the downtown streets like lions growling in the bush. And when they finally roar and takeoff… The whole thing is absolutely thrilling. it’s emotional. Masterful filmmaking. And don’t get me started on Steve McQueen.
McQueen did all the stunts. The man was a true badass. Nowadays it s all CGI.
@@miltontavares9506 he was not doing the driving, you only see closeups. Bud Elkins is doing the driving.
@@holdenmcgroin9774 And some should say to that Green beetle driver 'Get hell out of this scene'
@@mikkoranta8767 As I understand it, the green bug was one of several "safety cars" accompanying the stunt. The streets were blocked off, but they had to be prepared (insurance wise) to deal with any civilian car wandering into the scene.
That whole bit before the chase starts is peak slow burn.
Everybody lining up to purchase the Mustang, I want that Charger. It's the only charger in the world that regenerates hub caps. It lost 3 hub caps during the chase and still managed to crash with 3.
Trent 6_3 Christine was its mother
😂
🤣🤣🤣
O Oh 😂😂😂
The other driver is so cool. A real pro
Bruce Lee said Steve McQueen was one tough son of a gun. If Bruce Lee says you are tough, it really means something.
Wait... is this legit???
Yes
@@franciscs1604 Yes, you can see it on UA-cam for yourself. It's an interview with Bruce, the Pierce Something show.
Bruce Lee bought one of Steve’s porsches.
@@michaelf.douglas6798
Wait what…?!
Still heart-racing in 2024. Great scenes. Especially for its time.
The vehicle those hit men were in just looks menacing. The fact they're both older middle aged men indicates they are experienced, calm and patient. No two characters look as grim and mechanical at their job then these two characters chosen to play the role of consummate killers for the syndicate. Nothing personal, just business. They communicate by glances without saying a word. Insane acting.
1968 Dodge Charger R/T. The meanest looking car ever made
Director Peter Yates commented that he liked the look of the Chargers because it reminded him of a shark
As FrankensteinsMonster-1313 said, 1968 Dodge Charger. The 1968 and 1969 models were my favorite Chargers ever made. You can tell the one in the movie is a 1968 at a quick glance (besides of course the movie itself being 1968!) from the single grill that goes all the way across, which would become split in 1969, and the two circular taillights on either side, which became rather cool rectangular ones in 1969. I like the grill of the 1968 better, but the taillights of the 1969. Either way, killer freaking body style - a timeless, menacing-looking car for 60s movie hitmen!
@@LarryDickmannLincoln Continental Mark III begs to differ
It was Darth Vader before there was a Darth Vader!
Man, this still holds up today. The cinematography, editing, and sound work are amazing.
The good old stuff goes beyond holding up. Holding up suggests it's as good as contemporary offerings. It can be better in many ways. Something only possible in it's time. It gets better with age.
I don't wanna be 'that guy ' but in the city how many times did they pass the same cars in different scenes? The white Firebird the green Beetle ? But that aside. Fuking Epic
The editing is garbage lol - he passes the VW beetle 4 times at the same spot
Wouldn't say the editing holds up very well, but it's still an exciting scene
AWESOME TO THE MAX!!!!🎉🎉❤❤❤❤
Thank you for starting this at the ACTUAL beginning of the chase sequence! It starts with the low speed games, the music building, little hints at what engines these cars are packing, then all of a sudden they drop the hammer. Perfection!
The music of those big blocks was music enough for me .. 👍🏼
The cool music is fundamental. The heavy cars launching with just a blip and a burble showing the tractor like torque the engines had.
FREAKING AWESOME!!! I was only 12 when I went to see this on the big screen. The kids of today's generation don't know what they've missed. 🚔🚗🏁
Man that second generation Charger, in black with the headlights covered... That's one _SINISTER_ looking car.
Coolest car ever made. Mine was in black primer. It ran low 13's on street tires!
The hideaway lights are probably the best feature about it
A lot of Green VW beetles on the street that day. 😂
@@JeffKopisElaborate, you vile fiend.
Everyone idolizes the Mustang. The '68 R/T is 100X sweeter.
Ah, this brings me back to a time when you could actually find parking in San Francisco.
LOL. My wife and I drove to North Beach one time, and I found a spot about three blocks away. My wife urged me to find a closer spot. I just laughed.
Lol
@@scottslotterbeck3796 Husbands don’t usually win those points. Well done.
Yeah, but you'd have Chargers sideswiping you so I guess six of one, half a dozen of the other
I worked for IBM in the early '80's repairing IBM Selectric typewriters (remember those things?!) and I had the Fisherman's Wharf / Ghirardelli Square driving territory. i became very good at making a U-turn in a flash whenever I spotted someone pulling out of a space. It NEVER worked to go around the block ... it would be gone by the time I made it around that block.
Listening to those V8’s sing is better than any music.
Hahahahahaha those V8's are a dime a dozen, and you don't know shit about music or v8 sound. Idiot.
dehoe disc - yeah idiot, those V8’s from 1968 aren’t near as powerful as the latest V8’s, but in 1968, that was THE music.
@@mikestyles499 Horseshit, the point is that Hollywood sound professionals had total control over all the engine noise and tire screeching, and it has Nothing to do with technology. McQueen was pretending to shift a 4 speed when the car actually had an automatic. You children always get fooled by the pros. That's why they make the big money.
dehoe disc - wrong, the Mustang that Steve drove had a four spd, the Charger also had a four spd.
dehoe disc - Two identical Mustangs and two matching Chargers were used in the Bullitt chase sequence. So that the four-speed Mustang could run more easily with the brawnier four-speed 440 Magnum Charger, Hollywood engineer Max Balchowsky installed a racing cam on both Fords, milled the heads, and modified the ignition and carburetion systems. Additionally, Balchowsky bulked up the suspensions of all four cars for improved strength, handling, and control. One Mustang and one Charger were fitted with a full roll cage.
Puts a smile on my face every time I watch😁
What can you say? 50 plus years. And it's still badass.
I was born nearly 40 years after this came out, and some of my earliest memories are of playing with my hotwheels on the tv cabinet pretending it was the cars in this chase while I was watching it. Still the best chase
Do you have photos of your mother?
This entire 10 minutes of the car chase is better than most cinema movies today. It's 2024 that's crazy
I agree
take out all the reused footage of the cars from several different angles and you have a 5 minute chase. Horrible editing.
I went to San Francisco last year. Have wanted to go there all of my life having been brought up on Bullit and Dirty Harry. I walked down the streets where this car chase was filmed. Went to Taylor street where bullitt,s house is. It was an amazing feeling to be there where it all happened. They just don’t make films like this anymore. No CGI. No stupid dialogue. Just pure class.
All Mustangs used must have been destroyed... but I guess the green Beetle is still rolling around there!
i went to see Mrs. Doubtfire's house in SF on 2640 Steiner Street
and around that time, there was a lot of R.i.p Robin William written all over the sidewalk
Was it safe in that area? I always wanted to go but heard it's super run down now. If it was, where was it exactly? Thanks
Ah, yes ... the good ol' days of REAL acting!
It's just a movie, Cleetus. And McQueen was a pencil-neck.
I will say, what makes this a great scene is you can feel the weight of the cars. While there’s been many flashier chase scenes in cinema there’s something very physical about this one.
Filmed from a helicopter by my father, Rexford M. , pilot named Davey Jones. Dad also worked on "Jaws".
🫡
@@LETSBESTRONGER how do you propose he do that?
My dad did too!
@@jimlechuga3193 I would imagine other crewmembers had children too. Nice to meet you. Do you also have a SAG membership number? Enrollment date? Practically all crewmembers enrolled their families. Do you even know what sag strands for. My guess is no. FYI (Screen Actors Guild). We made a lot of money for our parents as "Extras" on the sets over the years. I am in many old movies, albeit briefly, not to mention tv commercials. As one troll to another, you can believe it or not, my father often took me to work with him. He introduced me to Steve the very day they shot those clips. I was there in person to witness what you only see 2nd hand. To prove that the director let me use the clapper board. Tell me what that is and I'll know for sure you grew up in and around the film industry. Peace.
Which parts of the chase were filmed from a helicopter? I will defer to anyone claiming expertise, but, most of the shots seem to be taken from ground level.
Love how that VW kept beating those faster cars around the block.
I guess extra background cars wasn't in the budget.
4 times I think
@@steveblackburn9124 you are right
Those shots of the cars coming down the hill is the same scene as when they showed it from the top of the hill. They just replayed it from a different angle.
@@breakingcycles741 yea they repeated it for three times
ive studied film for a few years now and can confirm that they simply do not make films on this level anymore. it saddens me everyday. what a sequence. the sound, subtleties in the performances, the cinematography, the tension, the editing. absolutely phenomenal.
This iconic scene is master filmmaking.
@@miltontavares9506 indeed it is
You don´t need to study film to realize that. A real movie buff knows that.
Yes, they make them better
I'm gay.
The Greatest Car Chase in the History of Cinema. No unconvincing over-the-top CGI/Slow Motion effects or cheesy one-liners present, just pure Realism with two iconic classic American Muscle cars (Ford Mustang and Dodge Charger) chasing each other, a billion times better than all the Fast & Furious films put together.
I’ve probably watched this scene 50 times and never get tired of it.
I have lost count😂
❤❤
Double that for me!
@@Metron65 😇🙂
I love how quiet the charger is until the seat belt goes on and the charger dude revs up and dumps the clutch. Then you hear the real sound of that big block come to life.
Sounds like an angry t rex
The Mustang had to be highly modified including nitrous because it could not reach speeds the Director wanted. The Charger was NOT modified for power. It came with all the power needed. Fact.
Another fact: Check out tires on Charger. Smallest possible. Another way to help the Mustang.
My uncle had a satellite with the 380 and automatic and that fricking car was fast.
@@jjs777fzr actually they removed two spark plugs wires so the mustang could keep up enough for filming.
The music never gets enough credit. It really adds to the legend of this scene.
Lalo Schifrin - composer. "Mission Impossible" theme too.
You mean the sax and jazz music at the start right ?
I know right away makes the beginning of the chase great
Absolutely!!
Yes. But the filmmakers were right in having the actual chase without any music. Lalo Schifrin even suggested to keep only the sounds of the chase intact.
Great scene and you can also spot many iconic cars parked and driving along, it was truly a great Era to live in for car enthusiasts.
RIP Steve McQueen you will be sadly missed by millions of fans who are always there to support your talent
Love the man... couple weeks ago I could watch at Amazon Prime Video "The Great Escape"
He was awesome. He was a great, man too.
Well said about the "King of Cool"
@@carlosfranciscohernandezuz8028 One of the greatest POW films ever made.
@Tupac Shakur Nice.
No crazy stunts or unrealistic maneuvers. Makes this chase better than any of the chases from modern movies.
No but there was plenty of undercranking and the sound effects were all dubbed in post.
@@thethirdman225
Yeah because it is difficult to relay sound in filmed footage.
@@bighands69 Errr... not really. Post synching is pretty straight forward. If you can't head slate it you can tail slate it. I'm not even convinced these are the sounds from these actual cars. But these are all done in post. I used to work in the film industry as a clapper loader and focus puller so it was part of my job.
@@thethirdman225
Cars do not sound the same when you listen to them through speakers. Music is the same when played through speakers.
That is the reason when they do cars there is modifications of the sound or even replacement sounds.
While you can record the event you will never capture the feeling of that sound hence why car sound is enhanced by different techniques.
@@bighands69 LOL!! Yeah, okay. Whatever.
Thanks to no CGI, you really feel like you're there inside the cars. And watching from the street. Clever camera work at 2:08 when the Mustang appears in the mirror of the Charger. EPIC!!
Right! I love brilliant camera work.
2:08.....The moment you go from being the hunter to becoming the hunted.......
Cgi makes me hate most action movies. Just doesn't have that authentic thrill
anti clout that’s why most of the Mission Impossible films work Bc of little CGI.
At 4:08 the car and the skid marks completely disappear after the crash.
Classic film so glad someone posted this Steve McQueen a legend.
Nothing will ever replace the symphony of an American V8
An Italian V12 is impressive at full song but nothing thunders quite like a big block-especially a Mopar
German V8s are pretty damn good. Especially the e92 M3
Try a Koenigsegg at full chat!!
lol oh no
wokewokewokewokewoke
Rolls Royce Merlin is the best sound in history
Boomer here. I don’t know about you guys, but for years, THIS was THE CAR CHASE.
Later on there were good ones, but this established a pretty good precedent.
i think baby driver's opening chase is gonna age like fine wine as the years go on
I think it's still THE CAR CHASE even today, speaking as a millennial.
There have been some pretty awesome car chases since then, with some of them being almost equal to Bullitt, but Bullitt is still my favourite.
A few more recent car chases (in some cases, entire movies) that deserve to be remembered as classics:
Drive (2011)
Jack Reacher (2012)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Mission Impossible : Rogue Nation (2015), Fallout (2018), and Dead Reckoning Part 1 (2023)
Baby Driver (2017)
The Batman (2022)
I'll add more if I think of them :)
Blues Brothers, Terminator, Magnum Force, Gone in 60 seconds (The original 1974 to be specific), and even Spielberg's first movie Duel also had legendary vehicle chase scenes too.
But still, no matter how well executed or legendary other chase scenes can be, nothing tops the Bullitt chase.
Ahh, The good old days eh, LOL.
@@keithmoon3190 Duel did not have legendary chase scenes.
Best car chase in cinematic history. No CGI, no music, no cheesy one liners and the best bit is the cars. To this day, they’re still iconic.
There was definitely music.
have to say the original mad max opening scene ties for that title
@@happilyham6769 The music set up the chase, but there was ZERO music during it. That is what Scott Ferguson is saying.
@@LCaddyStudios Nope.
kyokogodai reasoning?
Watched this first run at a drive-in in Stratford Ontario. Got the whole collection of video and music.
I love car chase scenes, but the part that gets me in this relentless chase is at 7:28 when he does not resume his pursuit until he sees there is someone helping the motorcyclist. I honestly think he would have ended the chase there is no one else was around to help.
....the driver of the Charger was,at the time,the greatest stunt driver in the world.
Bill Hickman, who coordinated the chase sequence in The French Connection.
@@8avexp Thank you.
also drove bad guy car in 7 ups
Bullit, 7ups and French Connection...best car chases ever filmed
@@8avexp That scene was just mental.
It's amazing how simply 2 muscle cars speeding down a street in SF can be more suspenseful than any of these multi-million dollar action blockbusters of today.
I will say the car chase from The Raid 2 is the only film in recent times that comes close.
100%
This movie did have a multi million dollar budget and iirc went way over budget, but its very good ratings made up for it
Beautiful cars from the era, sublime soundtrack, and what an actor in Steve McQueen
A lot of films have tried, but none have surpassed the greatness of this car chase. One of my favorite films.
French connection chase is better that bullit chase scene. TOOO many issue with bullit--for one, 5 hubcaps come off charger. Look close and you will see.
Car chases are pretty cool, but the best scene ever filmed is the chariot race in Ben Hur.
Everything about the '68 charger was so badass, the looks, the size, the noise ..
Agreed man, the sound of that V8 is amazing.
That’s that classic 440 Big Block Mopar rumble !!
That Charger is my dream car
Owned one and if you read back story of movie the charger had to be held back never had chance catching it really. It wasn't even working that hard in this scene. So miss ours. Such a bad ass car.
That thing got a HEMI?
The camera angles, the engines, the shots, the tires. Absolutely amazing💯. And to think this was made all the way back in 1968
the camera work is absolutely fantastic :)
Best Amazon review of this movie, thanks to its title: "I LEFT MY HUBCAPS IN SAN FRANCISCO"
Steve McQueen shared this chase scene with Bud Ekins, one of Hollywood's best stunt drivers at the time. 53 years later and it is still an epic chase scene with an Iconic car and equally Iconic actor. Hollywood don't make them like this anymore.
Stuntman Driver Bill Hickman drove the Charger, He was close friends with James Dean and was driving the Station Wagon pulling the trailer about 5 minutes behind when James Dean was killed in his Porsche Spider in 1955. Dean actually died in Bill Hickmans arms. His last words were I don't want to die.
yeah I believe Bud drove the motorcycle.
How do you know bud ekins drove? I was 10 years old and talking to bud ekins on each scene.we were standing on the corner with bud and 2 girls right when they start going up the hill,I was wearing a white tee shirt and flood pants.bud has blonde hair,if you watch closely you'll see the four of us.i asked bud why he wasn't driving after he said he was Steve's stuntman and he said Steve does his own driving and he's there to fill in if necessary.
@@fahrbloosky Yes he did.
@@joematthewsparacino6844 I see you guys every time standing there on the corner on the left! Always thought that’s regular by-standers...kinda like the cabbie and the other guy in traffic who make Steve go around behind them...wow
57 years and still the best car chase in the history of cinema
Not a single word, no music during the chase, no overdramatized stuff, only what we need: V8s screaming, tires screetching and metal slaming.
I miss the plowing through farmers markets on the sidewalk....random motorcyclists w/black visors & automatic machine pistols....cop cars with cherries & berries. Hydraulic Gimbels launching automobiles cartwheeling 20 ft. in the air.
real cars real film making
54 years i was born in 68 but i do agree with your comment!
@@warrenofsherwooduk8328 feel honoured coming from a senior
You 55 years
DAMN!!! I just love the sound of a V-8 engine and four barrel carbs! I miss the 1960s and '70s. No artificial intelligence can top this stuff!! I was 19 years-old when this played in theaters and it still gives me 'goose bumps' today watching it on UA-cam. Nothing like seeing this on big screen theaters at the time.
Little known fact. The movie studio originally planned to give the bad guys a black Impala SS coupe. The studio approached Chevrolet about donating a couple of those cars but, was turned down. GM didn't want their car associated with the bad guys.
The studio then went to Chrysler and they were totally on board. For them, this was top quality advertising and they sold a lot of Chargers because of Bullitt.
@@BlackPill-pu4vi I've always been a Chevy guy, but I had a 1970 Plymouth Duster as my first brand new car when I was 21 years-old. Nothing wrong with Mopar back in the day! It's too bad Chevrolet 'dropped the ball'. A black Impala SS would have been a great match vs. the Ford Mustang.
@@felixmadison5736 Absolutely. No doubt the studio execs thought it would be a natural Ford vs Chevy match in addition to the good guys vs bad guys. But GM dropped the ball on that and Mopar swooped in and got the fame instead.
@@BlackPill-pu4vi apparently they got the message in time for the 7-Ups with cars supplied by Pontiac
Audi v10 on full noise, hell a v6 tdi driven by Not the owner
In the movie bullit, they used 3 mustangs all of them ended up as train wrecks
Apparently one was saved and a guy purchased it and had it fixed
Steve mcqeen several years later heard about it, and offered to buy it
It was recently actioned
It was sold for plenty of millions
All time great chase
My grandad showed me this movie when I was a kid. I've grown to appreciate how ground breaking this sequence is. Wonderful how things go full circle.
Back when men didn´t wear rainbow
@@MrCarpen7er steve McQueen wouldn't be a bigot like you
@@MrCarpen7er At one point in time ' some in the paparazzi ' if they were called that in the '60s ' claimed that Mc Queen might be a homosexual ' his response was something like "if anyone wants to say that to my face I'll knock their head off " . So he was not a rainbow type of chap it would appear.
@@barrycuda3769 Obviously not!
Too bad he didn't how you how to suppress deviant desires
Love it. No music, no dialogue, no excessive car flips and explosions in the background like some Michael Bay movie. Just two badass muscle cars chasing each other.
I love old muscle cars their the best cars and the engine oooooff not like shitty plastic engines now
Jack Reacher
Oh there's plenty of music all right, it's just 289ci and tire squeal, perfect to me
@@myusdmcavalier390 for the Bullitt
NO CGI. That was a REAL car chase.
And some Badass Driving
🤦♂️ no
@@dilbertdoe601 yes
@@adrianwelgemoed9562 How many times they pass that dark green VW ?
@@dilbertdoe601 Hello!? 1968. No more words
This was one of my dad's favorite movies. I haven't seen any part of it since I was a child and I have to say now as a 40+ year old adult that the sense of danger in this chase is extraordinarily real. The sound of those cars, the suspension, the body hitting the tarmac, the danger of the traffic. You can almost smell it, feel it just from watching. Absolutely engrossing and terrifying. Incredible filmmaking.
Having grown up in the Bay Area and spending time in SF during the time this movie was made, I appreciate watching this as sort of a time capsule of how the city looked and the cars that were on the street in that era. Yes, it brings back memories!
Yes! I was born in SF, went to college there, in the 70's, worked in downtown for many years. Brings back fond memories.
The thing is too, a TON of these cars still are better than what's on the market today, not just how much abuse they can take, but also mechanically, they weren't as tough to fix, the old days really weren't all that bad, I just wish I could have been alive in that time to see a lot of these great films for the first time on the big screen, even though I am 26 now, I don't feel it
@@pilummurialis6490 yeah' and the modern car manufacturers have purposely made their cars complicated so that you will take them to the dealerships for maintenance and repairs ' on top of that they tell you that the automatic transmission fluid never needs changed 'that's dumb 'and they dont put grease nipples on anything' they dont want them to last too long. I've got my father's old 1971 Valiant ' he always maintained it himself ' the engine still runs great ' everything is simple' easy to work on and reliable.
@@barrycuda3769 thise cars were poison for our environment
@@Gmthekiller which car's were ' or are poison for the environment?
I see why it's the greatest chase of all time. Everything's authentic, the multiple camera angles, it was all done in one take from the looks of it. The fact that they did it on public streets, it all makes for one incredible scene
Done over four days. That green Beetle was a film car.
ONE TAKE LMFAOOOOO
@@scottslotterbeck3796 yeah there's no way it was one take, you'd have to block off so many streets for one, but every car they drive around and dodge would have to be perfectly on cue. Doubt Steve McQueen did all the driving, I'm sure there was a stunt driver too.
@@MrFusion sSteve was like Paul Newman, James Garner, and a couple other actors. He was a real racer. Look up the movie Lemans, he drove in some of the scenes with the Porsche 917 at Lemans. Same type of photography. Cameras on race cars. Also look up, On any Sunday. The original. Steve is featured driving Baja racers and dirt bikes. He is as legit as the race car guy from Greys Anatomy TV show and Paul Walker...
One of the greatest
I love it, when the Charger driver buckles up.... It's like he's thinking " OK, GAME ON ! "
That was when you knew shit was about to get real
Yup!!👍👌👌👌 you got it spot on
I was just reading something on that. Bill Hickman, the driver, was a stunt driver in Hollywood. The way the seatbelts in the Charger were at the time had a tendency to keep you planted in your seat, so in fact, he did it to maintain control of the car. When he came around the one corner and smacked the parked white car, that car had a camera on it, and he wasn't supposed to hit it.
But, yeah, he in fact did know what he was doing. He was a close friend to James Dean, and was only a few minutes behind Dean with Dean's stationwagon and trailer when Dean crashed. Hickman was the first on scene, and Dean died in his arms.
Most epic belt buckling ever.
wasnt James Dean instantly killed in the crash?
STILL the baddest-ass piece of cinema ever assembled, and delectable smorgasbord of beautiful 60's automobiles of all sorts!! 10 thumbs up!! I still to this day watch in reverance at this spectacle of automotive mastery!!!
The editing in the Bullitt car chase is so outstanding that it took me about 30 or so viewings of this movie before I noticed the omnipresent Green VW Beetle.
But why is there an omnipresent Green VW Beetle? Did they run out of props?
@@robbiespence6504 The editor masterfully worked with the cuts he was given. The director and cinematographer certainly didn't intend for all those green VW bug shots to be used. They left it up to the editor to work his magic. We are so focused on the two cars in the chase we don't think about the recurring bug. The editor deservedly won the Oscar for his efforts.
@@BW4EIRE I noticed it from my very first viewing. It was obvious how bad this chase was edited.
lol. Really.
The picture won the Oscar for Best Film Editing.
The picture won the Eddie (which I'm confident you've never heard of) for Best Edited Feature Film.
But I don't need that information to know how outstanding the editing in this film is.
@@BW4EIRE and it was a huge mistake. Tell me editing the same scenes from different angles deserves an award. You see the vw and hubcaps fly off over and over. Doesn't matter if it won, it shouldn't have.
This is the movie that changed car chases in movies forever. I remember when this movie came out and I fell in love with the fast back Mustang. The legendary Steve McQueen.
not only is it the best car chase scene, it has the best engine sounds.
I think the Gone in 60 seconds car chase is way better, and a lot longer.
You don't know what you're talking about. The engine sounds are just a generic American V8, dubbed over on a 30 second Loop with a couple gear shifts thrown in. They don't match up with the video at all. It's a poorly done sequence.
@@EATSLEEPDRIVE2002 Bullitt has inconsistencies and continuity issues, as has been pointed out for the last 56 years. (that pesky VW springs to mind). But, upon its release in 1968, it set the movie world on its ear. Gritty realism, innovative camera techniques, and antihero protagonists were all fresh innovations and combining them in a superb action film headed by Steve McQueen has made Bullitt an iconic film. Serious gearheads knew cars from the factory would never survive the abuse of that race. Furthermore, the glaring faux paus of portraying a 390 Mustang managing to keep pace with a 440 Charger was utter fantasy. But it doesn't matter.
Bullitt does what all good art does. It captures its subject matter and portrays it in novel ways.
That snapshot of the time, the place, the cars and the culture, which could have been so easily buried in some forgettable movie, was instead turned into legend. Half a century on it's still a thrill.
As for the sound recording, let Mike Magda's eye-opening account, "Dangerous Pursuit: The Real Truth Behind the 'Bullitt' Chase Scene" (subtitled Steve McQueen and his green Mustang defined on screen car chases for a generation) in Motor Trend, June 20, 2005, cast some light into the murky recesses of the internet.
Here's an excerpt--
"After Keller and Yates finished editing the chase, John Kean went to work recording and mixing in the sound of the revving engines and squealing tires. Kean and Bud Ekins took the cars to Willow Springs Raceway near Los Angeles for the recording. Some critics complain that the Mustang upshifts so many times it sounds as if it has a six-speed transmission, but most of the sounds fit the scenes perfectly, including the tires barking during gear changes and the rpm shifts during speed changes. Kean was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on the film." --Mike Magda
Bullitt remains the quintessential car chase scene. It is the most influential chase scene ever filmed and the chase scene against which all others are measured.
Loved this movie. At 70 still love this ( best if all time) chase scene. ❤
This 10 minute scene epitomizes the talent and coolness of Steve McQueen.
Ever since The Blob (1958). Steve Mcqueen has been a legend ever since
And the bad guys….. cool as cucumber drivers
effortless acting.
The reverse burn out at 4:12 wasn't in the script. McQueen had missed the turn.
I'm pretty sure that if you watch the behind the scenes of the chase you can see that McQueen stopped because the Charger hit a parkes car that had a tripod on it and it launched the trypod off the car. McQueen didn't know if the Charger would keep going so he stopped in the intersection. When he saw that Bill Hickman wasn't going to stop after hitting the car he had to reverse and then go around the turn. The part where the Charger hit the other car is at 4:07 and you can see that the Charger disapears. The Charger struck the car and the camera stopped filming. They put the camera back on the car and cut out the part where it hit the ground. They did that while McQueen was in the intersection.
in any event., he just dumped it in ANGER into reverse...holy crap...then mercilessly hard into first....cringe at the abuse...but then again....heehee giv'er still the greatest chase scene ever ...imho
At least we know it was actually him behind the wheel
I love the way that wheels hops everywhere in reverse
Whats up with that 1 wheel skid mark at the end? Did that break the Y axle?
4:45 The green Volkswagen beetle was the fastest car car here. It kept ending up in front of the other two.
and the white 67 firebird
I thought the same until you look very closely and realise it is just the same scenes repeated from different angles
lol
And the blue 68 ss chevelle
Yeah the Volkswagen had a Hemi in it
I graduated from HS in 1968. Loved seeing all the other cars in the chase too. Double tapping clutches. Muscle cars really sounded like that, and nothing beats cubic inches. Classic!
I had no idea that one out of every 10 cars on the road was a dark green Volkswagen beetle.
It's the same car
Now you know
Yeah, and that was a brand new '68 too.
@@jampetrozzi4544 "thats the joke"
And the White One, and the Black One, and the Red One...
That 1968 Green Ford Mustang GT is one of the most GORGEOUS cars I've ever laid my eyes on!!!
Just sold for $3.7 million. Some guy saw it advertised in the newspaper for a couple of grand. He tracked down the serial numbers. Other guy used it as a daily driver, if you can believe it
The black 68 Charger is much better looking car hands down.
@@scottslotterbeck3796 I think it was 3.4
@@tiredoldman5329 I had read rhat, but; n any case, CRAP. If my Dad had only known. He had a '65. He lived Mustangs. He probably could have picked it up for $1500 or so, lol.
@@daffyduck9901 Personal opinion.
You'll never see a car chase like that again.
No dialogue, no camera tricks, no nothing.... just 2 dudes driving 2 cars the best they can
I want to create a movie ne day. I'll have a car chase with no music or diolauge. Only the roaring engines of a 1996 Chevy K1500 and 06 Mustang.
The car chase in the movie The Seven-Ups 1973 was just as good as this. Both are great.
And 4 times a green vw beetle + a car appearing out of nowehere at 6'44"
When Steve walked up and got in car...looked And music started...Just a Perfect Buildup !
@@lonerunner89 Yeah, it is a great chase, but they only dubbed the sounds from this
Still watching in 2024!
Me.
Me too
the double Clutching on that GT350 Sounds Absolutely Beautiful
hollywood prepared 2+2/302 , but sad to see limited slip rear
The double clutch always bothered me because BOTH cars IIRC were synchro...
@@johnwilliamson5191 Actually the 2 mustangs they used had 390's not 302's.
Wasnt the mustang engine sounds dubbed over? And also the 440 mopar was so much faster they had to stay out of it so the mustang could keep up on the highway scenes.
@@gordonsflash8612 believe that
Was the proud owner of a 1966 fast back Mustang GT back in the 70s. 😊
The sound of the mustang is music to the ears! Best car chase in Hollywood history.
Crap for your breakfast, dude
The sound of the cars is really crappy. Not even close to reality.
Sorry for you, but the Mustang's sound was a dubbed race car sound, not its actual V8, unlike the Charger.
@@thegame6141 Stop the 🧢
@@harleyrider76 A damn lie. They sound RAW
I’ve got a ‘67 fastback and it hardly has what you’d call a good suspension so can tell you these stunt drivers are amazing.
This is THE car chase , but what folk never mention is its a great film all round good acting with a good story line .
Bullitt was a great film from start to finish. I also thought that ending scene at the airport was pretty cool.
This 10-minute clip is absolute cinematograph history at its best! No music, no over-dramatized effects, just the pure natural V8 engine sounds open throttle all he way through, accompagnied by occasional traffic collisions and startled motorisis caught off guard eyewitnessing what they think is an illegal street race taking way. Absolute classy, compated to today's vehicle chases.
Balls, engines and a couple reels of film, there’s your masterpiece.
This is the best car chase I have ever seen, although I was not alive then, thanks.
3:21 The way the Charger just takes off is badass
No effort whatsoever for the RT. Lol!
Right! The sound from inside the Charger is epic. Other than it being in the script, never understood why he didn't boot it to get away after McQueen 'hedged it' after the biker came off.
@@nuntana2trying not to act suspicious
No SHIT
How was the Mustang right behind him after having to get around all those cars? Looks like he went down a different street. Magic Mustang.
The opening scene with the Phillips 66 gas station was my neighborhood growing up. My brother and I used to joke about the two little kids running across the street at the top of the hill was us. When they stop at the top of the hill and look left and right then drive left up that elevated curve was where I took a nasty spill on my bike. I used the top of that curve to gain speed racing toward a makeshift ramp the neighborhood kids had thrown together…pretty bad wipeout. Never forget that day. Everytime I see this movie it’s me just seeing a well preserved slice of my neighborhood/childhood. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve seen Bullit. The chase just never gets old! No CGI,the roar of those engines,etc. This movie is one of the main reason muscle cars have always been a part of my life…
Looked like Army Street at the end of the Mission wasn't it?
@@blondegirlsezthis8798 That’s correct,just before Army street came up onto the freeway. I think it’s been renamed Cesar Chavez Blvd for years now. My dad who was a lot more familiar with the city than me as a kid would always comment from scene to scene how the car chase would bounce around to different scenic sections of the city that weren’t actually connected. I understand that The City has changed a lot from when I grew up there…and not in a good way unfortunately.
@@justwingingit1 I knew it! I lived two blocks up from there in the mission (there was this mexican pastry shop on my corner that was amazing). I think there's still a gas station at the same place that one is still. Yeah the city has definitely changed for sure i got priced out of being a renter there after living in nearly every neighborhood, ending up out in Walnut Creek and then had to move up to Portland where it's still fortunately affordable.
@@justwingingit1 i knew it! I lived at Bryant and 27th right by the army street projects back in the early 90's and it sure has changed. i got priced out of there eventually and ended up in Portland which is way more affordable.
@@blondegirlsezthis8798 You’re making me hungry! Our family always went to the Mexican bakery on 24th St.(not sure if you’re about the same one)but that was a few blocks away from where we lived on Florida/Precita. No other bakeries closer to us than that…of course that was back in the early 70’s. There was a traditional bakery right across from the gas station in Bullet but that may be gone now. My wife and I want to drive up to Portland to check it out someday…we loved that silly episode of Portlandia where they leave a restaurant to visit the farm where they get their chickens from…silly but funny!
A local theater with playing this in my town about 20 years ago. My friends and I went and sat in the third row just so we could experience the car chase at its best. Oh my God, we were almost nauseous! Lol! But it really was the greatest thing, I mean seeing it up close like that was phenomenal. It really felt like you were in the car.
I've watched this chase a thousand times and have yet to ever watch this movie.
No one's talking about how many times Steve macqueen did some double clutching
Vin diesel told him to do that
Right! Got annoying. No need for it.
@@cyclepowered8799 not to be "that guy" but 60s cars didn't have very good syncro mesh at high rpm and double clutching would have prevented a grind.
@@xox945 I owned a '69 Chevy Nova SS 350 4-speed as my first car in the 70's. Never ever did I have to double clutch. Slapped every gear in an instant without missing. If you have never driven or owned one, you would be "that guy". Ask anybody that owned a Muscle Car. No double shifting needed.
He had to be in 4th gear to go that fast
All these years later, when the bad man in the Charger puts his seat belt on and tightens it, you just know something good is about to happen.
I feel like that every time I buckle up in my 2005 VW Touran . *Sigh*
@@aardvarkmcgillicuddy Hahahaha
That seatbelt would literally do NOTHING for him if that car crashed. I had a 69 Chevelle SS that had "Impact Absorbing Dashboard Material" for your safety. That was literally in an old ad for the car I saw.
This whole scene reeks of coolness...the cars, music, and direction will never be topped!
I’ve seen the green VW 3 times.. I remember seeing this in the 60s at the cinema. So exciting. When movies were entertaining.