April 14, 2008
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Yesterday, I tried to watch “Bullitt”. Acclaimed by many as the first true lone cop movie and starring the lauded Steve McQueen, I sat down with a bowl of nachos and high expectations.
Thirty minutes later I was asleep.
Oh, I’m sure that the car chase that was rumored to have happened at the end was fantastic, and what not, but the first thirty to forty five minutes of this film is interminally bad. I like slow films, don’t get me wrong, but this movie was like if the cast of 2001 decided to film a cop movie with the same characters they’d played in Kubrick’s movie. Now, the dry quiet delivery works for an over the top sci-fi flick that’s using the same for heavy social commentary. In Bullitt, it seemed like everyone had just waken up from their mid-afternoon nap. Too much background setup… POINTLESS background, it seemed… I mean, geez, I’m still not sure what everyone was about in this film. There were five cops, the stoolie, the artist girlfriend, and the assassin at the time I fell asleep. The movie did a poor job of weaving the respective scenes and plots together, or at least in a time frame that would prevent the good ol’ Nytol seal of approval.
Now, does this mean all old cop movies are bad? No, but obviously someone learned from their mistakes. I was expecting to see the leadin to Dirty Harry, instead I saw “How not to make Dirty Harry”, as most of the above flaws were absent from the Eastwood flick. You know, I never even got to see the “cool Mustang”. If someone can give me a time when the stupid scene starts, it would be appreciated. I’ve got my copy of Gone In Sixty Seconds… the REAL one… all set up where I can jump straight to the beginning of Elanor’s big scene. But from now on, if I want classic lone-cop action, I’ll pop in Gunny Hathaway hunt down Garak before he can kill people outside StarFleet Headquarters.
Comments (2)
The movie is a little disjointed
The car seen is unique. Steve insisted on driving the car. The Mustang was also modified to help it try keep up with the Charger. Steve spun out, that wasn’t part of the script. You’ll also notice that there is a VW Beetle that they pass like three times.
@MoparMessiah - Yeah, I think my disappointment came because Dirty Harry is such a tightly wound movie that it almost could work today. DH’s pacing’s a little slow for modern cinema, but there’s little filler.