Bullitt (PG)
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This came out in 1968 (seven years before I was born). But when I finally saw it in 2017, I kept thinking it seemed very 1970s. Anyway, I was very unsure where to put my review. It's kind of an action movie, though not quite as action-y as I'm used to thinking of as such. It's kind of a police mystery, and for awhile I was thinking I'd most likely put it in the "mystery" category, though I sort of wasn't entirely comfortable with that. It's sort of a neo-noir, but... meh. Finally, I decided to categorize it as a "classic." (But some years later, when I set up a category for "law enforcement" movies, I moved my review there.) I guess it sort of set the standard for various movie tropes, especially for its famous car chase scene. And I feel like if I'd been around to see the movie when it first came out, I probably would have liked it more than I did in the present. Because it's kind of hard for me to really appreciate how massively influential it was on things that came after it, when I've already seen some of those things, and liked them better than this. I'll admit the chase scene was good (and OMG, San Francisco is obviously a terribly dangerous place to have a high-speed car chase). And I enjoyed the realism of various aspects of the movie. But ultimately, I couldn't help feeling it was less entertaining than more modern movies, and I found the resolution of various plot points somewhat disappointing. Still, I'm glad to have seen it, mainly because I've been wanting to see a Steve McQueen movie for about as long as I can remember. And I still hope to see some more of his work, someday.

Anyway, it begins with some rather nicely unconventional opening credits, during a scene with some Chicago mobsters trying to kill one of their own, I guess. But he manages to get away unharmed. The name of the guy is Johnny Ross, who flees to San Francisco, and apparently makes a deal with a politician named Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) to testify against his organization. Chalmers gets police captain Sam Bennett to assign Lt. Frank Bullitt (McQueen) to guard Ross for a few days, until the trial starts. Bullitt's team includes cops named Delgetti and Stanton, and the three of them will each take different shifts protecting Ross. But Stanton ends up being shot during his shift, along with Ross. They're hospitalized, and Bullitt and Delgetti try to find the shooters. Meanwhile, Chalmers is constantly interfering, because he's desperate to get Ross's testimony. He blames Bullitt for what happened, and doesn't like how he's handing the case. And... I don't want to spoil any more details of Bullitt's investigation, or how it all turns out. So the only other thing I can think to say about the movie is that there are a few scenes with Bullitt's girlfriend, Cathy (Jacqueline Bisset, another actor whose work I've always wanted to see more of).

Well. There's a lot to like about the movie. But I just feel really guilty about thinking that its influence on other movies is greater than the movie itself.