History Film / Bullitt

Highly influential 1968 cop movie set in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco. Creator/SteveMcQueenActor stars as the eponymous Lt. Frank Bullitt, a TV dinner-eating, workaday CowboyCop (in fact, the TropeMaker of this trope) who goes after the [[TheMafia Mafia]] hit men who killed a witness he was protecting.

Highly influential 1968 cop movie set in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco. Creator/SteveMcQueenActor stars as the eponymous Lt. Frank Bullitt, a TV dinner-eating, workaday CowboyCop (in fact, the UrExample of this trope) who goes after the [[TheMafia Mafia]] hit men who killed a witness he was protecting.

*** Specifically, there were two of both cars, but only one of the Chargers was an R/T. Afterwards, one Mustang had to be destroyed for liability purposes[[note]]Until [[http://jalopnik.com/the-lost-bullitt-mustang-may-have-been-discovered-in-me-1792985833 it showed up again in 2017, having spent the intervening years in a Mexican scrapyard and been bought to rebuild into [[GoneInSixtySeconds1974 Eleanor]].[[/note]], and the other was sold to a production crew member, and disappeared sometime after [=McQueen's=] death.[[note]] At one point the oil pan on one was ripped open during a rather hard downhill scene, spewing smoke and oil everywhere; you can see it if you watch carefully.[[/note]] The R/T Charger was sold to [[http://www.ponysite.de/charger_welch.htm Arnold Welch]], the non-R/T was sold back to the Chrysler dealership, repainted yellow [[HonestJohnsDealership and sold to an unsuspecting customer]] (the same thing happened with ''Film/VanishingPoint'').

*** Specifically, there were two of both cars, but only one of the Chargers was an R/T. Afterwards, one Mustang had to be destroyed for liability purposes, and the other was sold to a production crew member, and disappeared sometime after [=McQueen's=] death.[[note]] At one point the oil pan on one was ripped open during a rather hard downhill scene, spewing smoke and oil everywhere; you can see it if you watch carefully.[[/note]] The R/T Charger was sold to [[http://www.ponysite.de/charger_welch.htm Arnold Welch]], the non-R/T was sold back to the Chrysler dealership, repainted yellow [[HonestJohnsDealership and sold to an unsuspecting customer]] (the same thing happened with ''Film/VanishingPoint'').

** Glenn Ford in ''Film/TheBigHeat'' is kind of a CowboyCop, but more along the lines of TheUnfettered working for a hopelessly corrupt police force. Bullitt is probably the first pure example.

* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: Bullitt and Cathy talking about how he might be getting too callous about violence in his job.

* FakingTheDead[=/=]DeadPersonImpersonation: As it turns out, the real [[spoiler:Johnny Ross]] was playing just about everyone in order to escape scot-free by faking his own death.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: While the film is unrelated to the Zodiac killings, Creator/SteveMcQueen based Bullitt on San Francisco Inspector Dave Toschi, who invesitagted the case.

Highly influential 1968 cop movie set in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco. SteveMcQueen stars as the eponymous Lt. Frank Bullitt, a TV dinner-eating, workaday CowboyCop (in fact, the UrExample of this trope) who goes after the [[TheMafia Mafia]] hit men who killed a witness he was protecting.

** [[spoiler: The ending.]]

* BadassDriver
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: See PyrrhicVictory. The final scene of the film has Bullitt go home, see his girlfriend sleeping in his bed, then, without waking her, go quietly into the bathroom to wash up before taking a good, long look at himself in the mirror.]]

* FreezeFrameBonus: When McQueen breaks the glass door at the hospital to try and catch the killer, the black 1968 Charger can be seen parked on the left side of the screen, across from an ambulance.

* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler:Bullitt finds everyone responsible for the death of the witness, and clears the department of the charge that their negligence led to his death. However, all the criminals responsible end up dead--and with them, any chance of bringing the rest of the Mafia to justice.]]

** Though that one scene does have a lot of significance that comes to bear [[spoiler: in the ending.]]

* ThickerThanWater: Pete Ross helps his brother Johnny escape the Chicago hit in the opening. (Of course, he's told afterwards that the Organization will find somebody else to to the job... and Pete will pay for it.)

* TheStoolPigeon: Johnny Ross, a mobster who embezzled money from the mob, then cut a deal with Senator Chalmers to testify against the mob in exchange for immunity and witness protection.

** Subverted with Captain Baker, who spends most of the movie with his head up Chalmers' ass.

-->'''Senator Chalmers:''' Frank, we must all compromise.

* SleazyPolitician: Chalmers. In fact he's so sleazy that he's almost a RedHerring. Especially in the scene where he attempts to bribe Bennett into ordering Bullitt to turn Ross over... while Bennett and his family are going into church.

[[quoteright:322:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Bullitt_poster_6463.jpg]]

* ThrowItIn: [=McQueen=]'s reversing-burnout wasn't in the script; [=McQueen=] mistakenly missed the turn. Director Peter Yates felt that [=McQueen=]'s obvious frustration with the error fit with the mood of the chase and decided to keep it.

Best known for a legendary, nearly ten-minute-long ChaseScene in which [=McQueen=], largely eschewing stunt men, famously drove a [[CoolCar certain green Mustang]] all over San Francisco in pursuit of two bad guys in a black Dodge Charger. Also one of the first chase scenes filmed with cars at full speed instead of using sped-up film as a cheat.

* ChaseScene: Boy howdy. Hell, it [[TropeCodifier set the standard]] for the modern filmed car chase as we know it. Before then, most car chases were staged by DrivingADesk.

%%* ProtagonistTitle

* ThrowItIn: McQueens reversing-burnout wasn't in the script; McQueen mistakenly missed the turn. Director Peter Yates felt that McQueen's obvious frustration with the error fit with the mood of the chase and decided to keep it.

* ChaseScene: Boy howdy. Hell, it [[TropeCodifier set the standard]] for the modern filmed car chase as we know it.

* ProtagonistTitle

* WeaponStomp

** Bullitt was told to guard the wrong man, so he uses that man's shooting to trap his killers while embarrassing the district attorney who sent him to guard the wrong man, tracks the right man down to the airport and prevents his escape from justice with the millions of dollars he stole. The only thing that Bullitt screwed up is when he went to arrest the right man, he couldn't prevent the suspect from fleeing back into the airport and initiating a gunfight with security and Delgado. That leads to Johnny taking some lead instead of testifying.

* PrecisionFStrike: Made even more effective because this was the first major film to use this word:

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The [[TechnologyMarchesOn now-hopelessly-obsolete]] photocopier that Bullitt and the rest of the cops stare at for several minutes as it's printing a photograph, which is being transmitted over a dial-up Telex line.

!!''Bullitt'' provides examples of the following tropes:

* CharacterTitle

** Or just how much his girlfriend Cathy is right about how callous he is about the violence he faces on the job. Note that the last shot is a closeup of his gun and bullet clip.