Bullit Chase behind the scenes...

[NYCMille]

Sorry if this is re-post...

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/18/video-making-of-bullitt-short-is-period-awesomeness/

[Ghoste]

I don't think it's been posted before.  I have seen it but anyone who hasn't needs to check out the link, lots of great Charger footage.

[69bronzeT5]

Awesome, I haven't seen it before. Hey, is that a '69 between 7:06 and 7:12

[Silver R/T]

thanks for link

[RECHRGD]

I have the DVD but haven't watched it in awhile.  I remember driving my original '68 RT to the movies and watching Bullitt.  It never failed that there were always people that were jacked up after watching the chase scene and wanting to race me.  I obliged them on more than a few occasions.  I never liked the fact that the implication was there that the Mustang could run down the Charger.  Back in the day, I went up against several 390 Stangs, and it was a no contest deal.  They were dogs.  For the movie though, they did do some mods to the Mustang and put smaller tires on the Charger to try and even things up.  I had an article at one time that had all that neat kind of information in it, but have no idea where it is now.   Bob

[MichaelRW]

Here's a 1969 article from Car Life magazine: http://www.ponysite.de/carlife.htm

[bull]

  Thanks for the link. I didn't realize until now that that was actually Bill Hickman on camera. I knew he was the stunt driver but it's unusual for stuntmen to be seen on film. I guess one clue is that he had no lines.

[RECHRGD]

Here's a 1969 article from Car Life magazine: http://www.ponysite.de/carlife.htm

Not the article that I'm thinking of, but good just the same!  Thanks,   Bob

[Todd Wilson]

Frankie is in Bullit!   

[Neal_J]

The video was fun to watch.  Thanks for posting.

While I've always enjoyed the chase, I've always felt it was equal parts hype & susbstance.   It's great fun to watch and epic for the era in which it was filmed.  However, under close scrutiny its sorta lame.  First & foremost, a Dodge loses to a Ford?  How many hubcaps does the Dodge lose?  How many times do they pass that same VW & Pontiac?

Living near SF and knowing the streets well, there is just no way that they're doing anything close to 100mph in any of the street scenes.  The VW and the Pontia care clearly doing no more than 5 mph so I'd say most of the chase is done at less than 50mph. 

Still cool but sorta lame too.

[Mike DC]

If you wanna get technical, it was probably even slower that it looks.  The footage of the hill jumping looks like it was recorded a bit undercranked to me.  (Ends up being slightly fast-forwarded in the final print.  Gravity is acting too quickly on those cars in the film.)


   
You gotta see it for what it is, though. 

It's shot for theater viewing, which means they kept the cars small enough in the frame to keep from making the audience barf with motion sickness. (The newer generations of action filmmakers in the last 20 years, raised on television & VCRs, no longer grasp this concept at all.)

It's shot for the pre-VCR era, which means there was no expectation (and no alotted budget from the studio) for them to give it perfect editing & details like a modern show that holds up under repeated slo-mo viewings.


Back in those days it was pretty impressive to hit 100 mph in a movie chase EVER, let alone in a lot of the footage.  The other famous chases of that time, Seven-Ups, Vanishing Point, French Connection, etc . . . lots of shows released immediately after Bullitt, but none actually before it. 
The Bullitt filming was so early in car-chase history that they never even put a rollbar/cage in any of the cars. 

[Sublime/Sixpack]

I think my favorite thing about the chase scene is listening to the sounds that 440 MOPAR makes.