ギャング組織壊滅のため、ある証人を護衛する刑事ブリット。だがその証人が殺されてしまい……。激しいアップダウンを活かしたサンフランシスコの街中でのカーチェイスがあまりにも有名なアクション作。
製作費: $5,500,000 (8億円)
興行収入: $42,300,000 (63億円)
推定収支: $36,800,000 (55億円)
※製作費・興行収入はTMDBのデータを参照しています。収支は(興行収入 - 製作費)で算出したFindKey独自の推定値であり、広告宣伝費や諸経費は含まれません (1ドル=150円換算)。
監督: Peter Yates
脚本: Robert L. Fish / Alan Trustman / Harry Kleiner
音楽: ラロ・シフリン
制作: Philip D'Antoni / Robert E. Relyea / スティーブ・マックイーン
撮影監督: William A. Fraker
Steve McQueen is at his most grumpily enigmatic as he portrays this unorthodox San Francisco police lieutenant. He's none too pleased when the greasy-pole merchant "Sen. Chambers" (Robert Vaughn) has him detailed to guard a shady character who's a potential witness in a case against some hitherto Teflon gangsters. When two gunmen break into his room and gun him down, it becomes imperative that "Bullitt" gets to the bottom of things before his new found pal nails his slats to the mast. With the active support of "Capt. Bennet" (Simon Oakland) who increasingly has to run point for the man, he begins an investigation that manages to irritate just about everyone as he realises the case is complex and downright dangerous. It's this left field style of work that this cop excels at, and McQueen is on confident form delivering a persona that's conflicted and determined to get to the truth without selling his soul to Satan. To that latter end, he must rely more and more on girlfriend "Cathy" (Jacqueline Bisset) who seems to be his only link with sanity as the maelstrom of events begins to get on top of him. It's famous for the car chase, and some of the scenes at the airport towards the end are directed really quite tensely but I can't pretend I liked the conclusion. After all the interweaving and duplicity, it all rather ran out of steam. The style of the production isn't exactly electric either, and in many ways it reminded me of a great many other similar style vehicles about rogue police officers created for A-list actors whose careers might be considered "between genres". That said it's still a good, solid, thriller with a few twists and a Vaughn who always managed to portray the sleazy characters naturally.
