They turn north, then west, then south, headed uphill. "There's a 'click,' and then you know something big is about to happen," Fraker said. Heres how to get a broader selection. The doomed informant Ross is first spotted by the baddies in the lobby of the . "We were driving around the airport and right at that time there was a Mustang GTO on display. No doubt "Bullitt" would have made less impact on movie history if McQueen listened to the cops and replaced his Mustang Fastback with a comparatively impotent police-issue sedan. WIRED is where tomorrow is realized. Fraker said the fastest speeds came along Marina Boulevard. Chestnut. As an aside, the driver of the Mustang when the Charger is sent careering into the petrol station is Carey Loftin, who starred as the truck driver in the 1971 thriller Duel, Steven Spielberg's first feature-length film.We've almost gone full circle. (Keen-eyed viewers can see the Charger passing the gas station after the explosion. "Bullitt" cinematographer William A. Fraker said the two-second seat belt scene was the only portion of the chase that was shot later at a studio in Los Angeles. Bernal Heights The chase starts off at slow speeds, with the Charger creeping behind the Mustang. 1943-1973. crossing Vallejo in 2002 (that's Alcatraz Island in the background) "We had dinner there one night and came up with the idea of not speeding up the camera," Fraker said. The Chargers This is a view of Bullit's house looking down Taylor Street in I had a hernia after that.". Reenact it if you dare: there are nine unique segments of squealing tires and crunched fenders spread out across San Francisco. But can XPeng challenge more established automakers in the West? The soundtrack is glorious, too - and we don't mean the music soundtrack. left by the right rear tire as McQueen accelerates east on Chestnut. The direction changes and the cars are shown heading westbound, passing through the same road cut they passed through headed east. Frank Bullitt shopped at a market at 1199 Clay Street, Potrero Hill The cars materialize several blocks away on Kansas Street, and McQueen's Mustang appears in the Charger's rear-view mirror. Starring Steve McQueen as an iconoclastic police lieutenant, Jacqueline Bisset as his leading lady, and Robert Vaughn as an ambitious politician, Bullitt features what is widely considered the most influential car chase in the history of cinema. The actual location is the Clarion Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicle's culture critic and co-founder of Total SF. McQueen's legend in the city was elevated by his turns behind the wheel in "Bullitt." Meanwhile Frank Bullitt enlists the aid of a Sunshine Cab driver named "Weissberg" (played by Robert Duvall) to retrace It is never clear whether he was hurt while filming a stunt for the movie, although one account (by the late Clyde Earl) had him taking a spill in a motorcycle race not connected with the film. The Mustang and Charger get airborne on Taylor Street, appearing to pass the same green Volkswagen Bug several times each. (home of Bimbo's 365 which is still there in 2002), $9.49 + $4.50 shipping. McQueen famously crashed a motorcycle a few years earlier in The Great Escape.. (you can see the street sign and the distinctive building at Jones). "I remember talking to him one time. view looking east on Filbert Street in 2002. They turn left or south, going uphill, and then the scene cuts to the cars headed downhill or north on Larkin Street, before they turn west onto Francisco Street. . Hickman was an extra in Dean's 1951 feature movie debut, Fixed Bayonets!. This is regarded as the first car chase in modern movie history, and is arguably also the most celebrated, presenting almost 11 minutes of pure . High-speed chase: bales of pot hurled at Arizona cops by Mexican drug smugglers during car chase. Bullitt meets his informant, Eddie, at Enrico's where McQueen appears in their rearview mirror (thanks to Brian Hollins for his sleuthing). "He made them lay out a plan of pursuit. and how busy it is with the number of people who stop to experience the moment. From the interior shots looking forward inside the Mustang, its easy to see which one is driving. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for CHASE CAR - 1968 Dodge Charger R/T, Steve McQueen Bullitt 1/64 Scale Diecast Car at the best online prices at eBay! This Highland Green 1968 Ford Mustang GTthe hero car driven by the "King of Cool," Steve McQueen, in the iconic 1968 film "Bullitt"is the one that started that enduring legacy. The Charger is just barely faster than the Mustang, with a 13.6-second quarter-mile compared to the Mustangs 13.8-second. Bullitt, American action film, released in 1968, that features Steve McQueen in what many consider his definitive role. Bullitt knows that Renick made a long distance phone call from a pay phone near Union Square and has traced the number to 23/02/2013. The cinematographer said he almost bought a home in San Francisco after "Bullitt" wrapped up. You can stream it for free on YouTube. He covers Bay Area culture, co-hosts the Total SF podcast and writes the archive-based Our SF local history column. The switchback's design, first suggested by property owner Carl Henry and instituted in 1922, was born out of necessity in order to reduce the hill's natural 27% grade, which was too steep for most vehicles. Note the white Pontiac Firebird. on Kansas Street for about two blocks. Russian Hill The cars stay in the same neighborhood, but appear a few blocks away from the last sequence, now heading west on Chestnut. Highland Green Mustangs had 390 cubic inch engines, while the Chargers had 440 cubic inch engines. The speed limit in this section is 5 mph (8 km/h). This indicates that the Mustang was not equipped with limited-slip differential (the gears that transfer power from the driveshaft to the rear axle half-shafts). The railroad tracks, which connected Daly City/Brisbane The chase ends on Guadalupe Canyon Parkway. 17-Mile Drive Credit: getty. The chase parodies San Francisco's most iconic chase, Bullitt , with cars leaping over hills and losing rims, but it owes even more to silent films, where the car chase . The chase continues into gas station at the corner of Guadalupe Canyon Parkway The camera car, built upon a Corvette chassis, much in 2002 as it did in The creators of "Bullitt" got more than their money's worth. Bullitt was released October 17, 1968, shot almost entirely on location in San Francisco. The twin towers of Sts. Here is the Bullitt set the standard for all movie car chases to follow, making it the most iconic and influential chase scene of all time. Updated. It had spent most of the last 40 years in a garage . I pulled him out of the car, and he was in my arms when he died, his head fell over. bridge but the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District refused permission since even in 1968 it would have created Taylor Street. "I had at that time just bought a white Mustang, and it was like driving a slug," Brebner said. Fort Mason. The ten-minute pursuit in Bullitt (1968), up and down the steep streets of San Francisco (which gave some viewers motion sickness with its dizzying visuals), is regarded as one of the best ever put on film along with those in The French Connection (1971) and The Road Warrior . Its mascot was a tiger, who encouraged drivers to put a tiger in their (gas) tank. It became the gold standard for all car-chase films. 1968 (note the white Pontiac Firebird). the chase scenes filmed around 20th Street, Kansas Street, and Rhode Island Street, while Russian Hill served as the base gas station still in operation but no longer a Phillips 66. Indeed it does look spectacular, thanks to creative film splicing by "Bullitt" film editor Frank Keller, who won an Academy Award for his work in the movie. Here is the curve as it appeared in 1999. Fraker said the "Bullitt" car chase was conceived during an Italian meal with Yates at a small Hollywood restaurant called Martoni's. The biggest lapse in reality comes next, when the Mustang and Charger, speeding west through the Marina district with the Golden Gate Bridge in the horizon, suddenly appear 7 miles south near Daly City. Bullitt in his 1968 Ford Mustang is briefly impeded from giving chase by 1968 Pontiac Firebird. When the Charger does U-turn on Precita Avenue to follow the Mustang, a storage tank on Potrero Hill is visible in the distance. Bill Hickman, the backup hit man and driver of the Charger, was experienced in driving stunts and in racing. Unfortunately for him, ambitious senator Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn), the head of the aforementioned subcommittee, wants to shut his investigation down, hindering Bullitt's plan to not only bring the killers to justice but discover who leaked the location of the hideout.CREDITS:TM \u0026 Warner Bros. (1968)Cast: Steve McQueen, John Aprea, Bill HickmanDirector: Peter YatesProducers: Philip D'Antoni, Robert E. RelyeaScreenwriters: Alan Trustman, Harry Kleiner, Robert L. FishWHO ARE WE?The MOVIECLIPS channel is the largest collection of licensed movie clips on the web. To me it looked spectacular.". through a road cut which looks remarkably the same in 2002. is due to the logistics of filming in a working city. They couldn't just willy-nilly pursue by going block after block after block in the same neighborhood.". The production company used two Mustangs and two Dodge Chargers to film the chase scenes. "I was parked on the set and they needed four or five cars moved. McQueen eventually developed a reputation for friction with Hollywood establishment types and became reclusive in his later years, but the "Bullitt" shoot was clearly a three-month love affair between the actor and San Francisco. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. THANKS FOR THE GREAT PICTURES AND MEMORIES.BULLITT HAS THE BEST CAR CHASE EVER.FRENCH CONNECTION IS SECOND. About 21 seconds later, and 5 miles away, Coit Tower appears in the Mustangs front window to the east. The bad guys drive a 1968 Dodge Charger 440 Magnum. They turn hard left onto Columbus Avenue, a four-lane street with concrete median. The new Mustang Bullitt builds upon the goodness that is the 2019 Mustang GT, retaining the 5.0-liter DOHC TI-VCT V-8 but cranking up the horsepower from 460 to 480, with torque unchanged at 420 pounds-feet at 4,600 rpm. The chase takes place over several non-contiguous streets in and south of San Francisco. Hickman moved on to more stunt coordination work in films as the 1970s wound down, notably The Hindenburg and Capricorn One. Many people came to the movie time and again just in order to see the chase scenes. Tires squeal and the chase quickly shifts back and forth between seemingly random locations in Potrero Hill and Russian Hill.