LINK: BULLITT REVIEW

LINK: BULLITT REVIEW (1968)

Lieutenant Frank Bullitt, played by the legendary Steve McQueen, is a quiet no-nonsense detective for the San Francisco Police Department. He is asked by the ambitious politician, Walter Chambers, to protect a key witness in a court-case of embezzlement from the Chicago mob.  However, before the night is over two hit-men break into the witness's room, they shoot him and wound a police officer. Chambers blames Bullitt and his team for allowing this to happen, but Bullitt is suspicious, because the witness seems to have let the hit-men in on purpose. Despite Chambers protests, Bullitt decides to investigate the case himself and discovers all is not what it seems. What ensues is in the investigation is a lengthy car-chase through the hilly streets of San Francisco, followed by the discovery of the now dead witness’s murdered girlfriend and a shoot-out at the airport. Bullitt is exonerated, the case is closed and Chambers looks a fool.

To modern viewers this film's pace seems a tad slow, it's commitment to  realism and procedural accuracy jars with the modern appetite for all out escapist action, but we have to remember that it was such a breakthrough movie at the time for the very reasons I have just described.

Frank Bullitt is not a muscle bound, wisecracking action hero, he is simply a police detective trying to get on with his job. He has a team and he cares about his officers, he has a boss who he listens to and is honest with, he has a girlfriend, an artist, who struggles with his involvement with the seedy underbelly of city life and fears he is becoming emotionally cut off from normal life. All-in-all he seems to be an average mid-level cop trying to do his duty. The only fantasy part of the movie seems to be his penchant for and access to amazing American muscle cars from that era.

It seems to me that what really singles Bullitt out from your typical Hollywood Action Hero is integrity. In a shadowy world where the bad guys look just like the good guys, and nobody really stands out from the crowd, it’s Bullitt’s character that makes the difference. Chambers wants his day in court, he wants the limelight, he wants to be seen to be doing the right thing. Bullitt just wants to catch the real culprit, to conduct himself with integrity and determination, to fulfil his duty and get to the truth, to simply do the right thing.

I wonder what’s more important to you: fame or function; recognition or responsibility; distinction or duty? The writer of the wisdom sayings in the book of Proverbs states: ‘Everyone may think his own way of living is right, but the Eternal God examines our hearts. To do what is right and to seek justice—these please Him more than sacrifice.’ (Proverbs 23:2-3). The proverb writer recognised that God examines our motives. Like the pushy politician Chambers we can sometimes try and justify our actions by appearances, but God sees through that, He knows what’s really going on in our hearts. Integrity, truth and justice with ourselves and others matters far more to God than religious performance, political slickness, or personal well-being and comfort. Bullitt put his life on the line to do the right thing, what would you do?