DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Bullitt - Two Disc Special Edition (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). (1 Viewer)

[oscar_merkx]

I have never seen Seven Ups, would you fill me in on that one.

Cheers

Oscar

 

[Robert Crawford]

 

[oscar_merkx]

according to Amazon.com there is no dvd out yet of Seven Ups, bummer.

Does anybody know about R2 ?

 

[Robert Crawford]

I never understood why Fox never released this to dvd, since, they have featured excerpts of this film on a compilation dvd from various Fox films. Of course, one of those excerpts included the infamous car chase.





Crawdaddy

 

[Steve Christou]

Great review Herb, and a must buy. I saw Bullitt a couple of times on the big screen in reissue during the 70's, it's a memorable part of my childhood, especially that car chase, other kids had Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I had Bullitt.

Over 3 hours of bonus features, I really didn't expect that, I thought they'd just be 10min featurettes, fantastic, can't wait!

 

[Todd Robertson]

Just grabbed the collection and will be watching this tonight.

I still think the best car chase scenes ever are from the '78 film.....The Driver.

 

[Ravi K]

I was going to get The Cutting Edge as a standalone, but since it is included with Bullitt I am tempted to buy this. But I told myself I wouldn't buy more DVDs!

 

[Nelson Au]

Bullitt is one of those films that redefined a genre, so to speak. It’s special to me because I was born in San Francisco and my Dad bought a 1967 Mustang Coupe at Hughson Ford in San Francisco. I own that Mustang now, so I am obviously a fan of Mustang’s. Knowing the history of Mustang’s, I think that if Bullitt were never made, the car would still be as popular today as it was in 1964 when it first debuted. No question! No doubt the film did wonders to enhance its Muscle Car image though. A side note, that Mustang was one of 2 used in the film, experts can tell which is used during parts of the chase. The one that jumped on Taylor Street was toast after filming and crushed. The other one is privately own, unrestored and the legend has it that the owner will not sell it or show it. Even McQueen tried to buy it back in the 70’s, but was turned down. If the story is true, it is languishing in a barn in the East coast.

Regarding the backlash issue, when I was young, in the early eighties, I had a VHS off-the-air tape of this film that I watched it a lot. At first, I just wanted to watch the chase. Over time, I came to really appreciate the whole film and the reality that the film portrays. I’m sure a fair number of people could come to appreciate the whole film.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Probably the best way to illustrate the greatness and influence of the car chase in "Bullitt" is to compare it to some of the best car chases in movies released prior to it and then subsequent to it. The list of great car chase sequences prior to it is a short one of mild distinction (I'm partial to the Aston Martin chase in "Goldfinger", and the keystone cops had their moments, but did a lot of chasing outside of their paddy wagons as well ) while the list of sequences subsequent to it is enormous and impressive.

Regards,

 

[Tim RP]

The reason Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups are usually (and quite rightly) cited as containing the best car chases? Bill Hickman - drove the Charger in Bullitt, doubled for Hackman on French Connection and was the target of Roy Scheider's pursuit in Seven-Ups. Got a reasonable amount of screen time in the films and in the case of The French Connection played a supporting role as one of the cops (Bill Mulderig). He's also in the Bullitt featurette Commitment to Reality.

And if I'm going to mention Hickman I'd better not forget Carey Loftin; another great driver with a massive film CV who doubled for McQueen on Bullitt, drove in French Connection and doubled for Barry Newman on Vanishing Point and Fear is the Key (probably "4 and 5" on the list).

You can also credit Philip D'Antoni producer on all three as well as director of The Seven-Ups. Throw Roy Scheider into the mix on 'Seven and you've practically got French Connection III - stylistically if not thematically.

 

[Shane Martin]

How does this release compare to the orginal bare bones? Has Anyone compared the PQ? I've got the old one and trying not to buy this one until the HD version hits but I might if the transfer is that much better. I don't really get around to watching alot of the extras so it's mainly a PQ/SQ type decision at this point.

 

[R. Kay]

Saw the last 30 minutes of Bullitt on TCM last nite ...

Michael Mann's 'Heat' stole the Pacino/Deniro cat & mouse chase in the airline field from Bullitt.

I thought the film was just ok (McQueen was very cool though) ...

The bad guys actions in the final chase (shooting at McQueen in the field when McQueen couldnt even see him) didnt make any sense to me.

 

[Robert Crawford]

So you judge a film as ok by just seeing the last 30 minutes of it?

 

[Tim Vickroy]

I was is the exact some position you were in until I saw this one for sale at an online place for $13.99 delivered! Since this is one of my favorites, and one of the few DVDs I own, I went for it. Even better, I was able to net almost 8 bucks for my older copy on eBay last week. Judging by the screen shots on the first page of this thread, my six dollars was well spent.

 

[rich_d]

Walter Murch is solely interviewed in the book The Conversations. It is worth a read. Interesting guy on many subjects not just film editing.

To my mind the chase scene in more iconoclastic than anything else. I do think that not having the two guys say a word to each other during the chase (AFAIR) was a neat choice. That and those two guys (particularly the older dude) really weirded me out back in the day.

So, put two American muscle cars loose on San Francisco and the rest is history.

As some of you know, I'm not a big special feature fan, but dang these look terrific.

 

[Hal F]

Sorry, I don't have the original to compare to, but the PQ on this one is very, very good.
Wow, I sure enjoyed watching the whole thing last night. Only seen bits and pieces of it before. Am going to run it through again tonight with the commentary.
Lot of talk about how cool McQueen was in that role and I agree. Also think Vaughn did a fantastic job at playing the character you love to hate.

 

[CraigF]

Herb, I get the impression you've seen or have the "Collection". Are all the other film presentations anamorphic? I'm a little sketchy on a few of them. Thanks!

 

[DavidJ]

I have never seen Bullitt, but I bought this disc just because of this documentary. I would've paid $20 just to have it. The fact that I get a movie and other extrasis just icing to me. Who knows, maybe I will really like Bullitt. I've heard good thigs about it.

 

[Haggai]

I don't think anyone's mentioned this yet--all three of the extras on disc 2, the editing and McQueen docs, and the featurette--are in 16X9 widescreen! I haven't watched them yet, but I popped in the disc to confirm that after catching a couple of minutes of the McQueen doc on TCM last night, and noticing that it was in 1.85:1. A little extra thanks to Warners for that.

The featurettes on the Warners Scorsese collection last year had a weird pattern--they were all 4X3, except for the one on Who's That Knocking At My Door, which was 16X9. Kind of an odd pattern.

 

[Herb Kane]

Craig,

To be honest, I haven't even removed the other discs from the collection yet... as soon as I get some spare time I'll try to post back. It's really a busy release time right now with WB (Controversial, Wayne, Dean, McQueen, WWII, and right now I'm working on a couple of the Crawford and Davis titles). I'm thinking about quitting my day job .