When I was growing up, I believed the movie Bullitt had the ultimate car chase. That belief still holds up today. Even when you take into account all its faults, like the 6 hub caps that fly off the Charger, passing the same VW Bug numerous times and the obvious manikin that burns to death in the car chases fiery end. The car chase still holds its own nearly half a century later. There are so many things that I love about this epic chase:
Let's review the main players - Frank Bullitt's car is a 1968 Ford
Mustang 390 GT 2+2 Fastback. The bad guys drive a 1968 Dodge Charger 440
Magnum. The Charger just nudges out the Mustang in speed, with a
13.6-second quarter-mile to a 13.8-second.
Both cars were modified by veteran auto racer Max Balchowsky to make
them even faster and more awesome. The director called for speeds of
about 75-80 mph, but the cars reached speeds of over 110 mph.
They used two Mustangs and two Dodge Chargers each for the chase, and
all but one of the Mustangs had to be junked afterwards due to damage
and liability concerns. The sole Mustang was bought by a Warner Brothers
employee after production was completed. Steve McQueen tried to buy it
from him a couple years later, but the owner refused.
More fun facts:
- While the car chase lasted 10 minutes and 53 seconds in the movie, it took over 3 weeks to film.
- The movie was denied permission by the city to film on the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Bullitt's reverse burnout during the chase wasn't even in the script - McQueen had mistakenly missed the turn, but the footage was too good to scrap.
- McQueen personally selected Peter Yates to direct the film because Yates had filmed a realistic car chase a year earlier through the London streets in "Robbery".
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