Bullitt

The title sequence takes after Blowup, and exposes the keen stylization (convex distortions, zombified mobsters lit from below) lurking under the fastidiously dedramatized surfaces that follow. The protection of a witness against "The Organization" (Felice Orlandi) is the case, a busy weekend for SFPD lieutenant Bullitt (Steve McQueen). A raid by hitmen wounds partner (Don Gordon) and quarry, the latter's death occasions the dry comedy of concealment until the hero can nab the culprit. "I need that witness to prove his very existence," protests the federal prosecutor with political aspirations (Robert Vaughn), the order from the captain (Simon Oakland) goes blithely unheeded: "Play it by the book from now on." A modish approximation of a Siegel policier keyed to the homegrown Bressonisms of Dragnet, engineered by Peter Yates into the quintessential panther-in-turtleneck McQueen reel. Going home with an armful of frozen dinners and waking up next to Jacqueline Bisset, silently inspecting a bullet-riddled Embarcadero room with eyes like surveillance cameras, the flatfoot as sexy Zen mannequin. Glassy panels are prevalent in the glassy aesthetic, the widescreen suddenly awash with suds pulls back to reveal a taxi's rear window at the car wash. A Brit's San Francisco, ca. Boorman's Point Blank, its topography showcased mainly through windshields during the celebrated vehicular chase. (The Thiebaud verticals of the city's inclines pause briefly for the horizontal contrast of a couple of trolleys crossing the frame.) Question of compromise, "integrity is something you sell to the public." The airport climax is a blueish nocturne, a pursuit across a darkened tarmac illuminated by the blasting spotlights of plane strobes. Mr. Cool's reward is his emptiness staring back in the mirror. "Do you let anything reach you?" Michael Mann raises the sheen to philosophy, though not before Rush cracks it open for the evil vaudeville of Freebie and the Bean. Cinematography by William A. Fraker. With Robert Duvall, Norman Fell, Georg Stanford Brown, Justin Tarr, Carl Reindel, Pat Renella, and Vic Tayback.