Bullitt (1968)

Steve McQueen. Cool. Same thing, right?

There's a lot of good stuff in this film. I love how McQueen doesn't talk a whole lot in this movie. He speaks with his eyes and with his decisions. McQueen was a master at communicating (or manipulating) with minimal effort. His counterpart in the movie, played by Robert Vaughn, talks more than anyone in the film and comes off looking like a buffoon. No accident there, I'm sure.

The chase scene is the prize jewel that sits in the middle of Bullitt's relentless chase of justice. If you're looking for a Christian ethic in the story, the best one is Bullitt's unwillingness to compromise what is right and wrong. While in the midst of doing his job as a cop to find the truth, he becomes thrown into a political firestorm. Despite the threats of long term repercussions to his career, Bullitt continues to just do his job and find the truth. Even in the thrilling end, he doesn't let outside influences cloud his judgement to do what is right. And he doesn't regret one bit of it. There's much to learn from that kind of mindset.

The same production crew from this film next made "The French Connection" (different director) which is also a great film. The impetus for creating the chase scene in "The French Connection" (widely hailed as the best ever in cinematic history) was that the production crew was determined to top the chase scene they constructed in "Bullitt". They also later put together a rather nail-biting chase in "The Seven Ups", which turned out to be the only reason anyone would watch that movie.

If you're into any kind of police thrillers or action/suspense films, "Bullitt" is required viewing.