Bullitt

Trivia: In the restaurant scene near the beginning of the film, the actor playing the waiter accidentally flips the corner of the menu in Steve McQueen's eye, but it was left in the finished film.

Trivia: There are many stories on the internet claiming a cameraman was killed when the charger hits the camera during this chase. On the DVD extras, we see this scene from a different angle. The charger hits the camera and we see it break up, but there is no-one near the camera. Obviously the cameraman set the camera rolling, then retreated - smart guy.

Trivia: Although we never know the names of the hitmen, Bill Hickman (who drove the Charger) is listed as 'Bill' in the end credits. He was so well respected for his stunt work - and had remained largely anonymous in previous films - he was given an identity for Bullitt.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: We do know their names. The hitmen are credited as "Mike" (Paul Genge) and "Phil" (Bill Hickman).

Trivia: For several scenes, stuntman Bud Ekins doubled for star Steve McQueen. Ekins also doubled for McQueen for the 60 foot jump over the Austrian-Swiss border fence in "The Great Escape."

Trivia: During the protracted 11-minute car chase scene between the Ford Mustang and Dodge Charger, we repeatedly see a number of the same incidental cars in background traffic. For examples: In addition to the green VW Beetle that magically reappears in several nonsequential shots, the same white 1968 Firebird also repeatedly appears (as many times as does the Beetle), and the same lavender Cadillac nearly collides head-on with the Charger at two different points in the chase. This is mainly because many of the shots had up to 8 cameras shooting from different angles, and there was a lot of redundant footage. So, the same cars noticeably kept popping up time and again (and the Charger somehow threw 7 or 8 hubcaps). These were all blatant editing problems; however, strangely enough, Bullitt still won the 1969 Academy Award for Film Editing. Go figure.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: The famous car chase took three weeks to film, and lasts 10 minutes and 53 seconds.

Plot hole: The movie is based on one huge plot hole: if it wasn't for the "professional" hitman's sloppy work, Bullitt and his team wouldn't have been needed for much. The hitman enters the hotel room, wounds the policeman, then shoots the target with one shotgun blast to his upper left shoulder area. Any hitman worth his fee knows that this is not likely to be an immediately fatal wound. The hitman had a pump shotgun and should have finished the job right then and there. Surely he had more than two shells. Instead, he sees the target is slumped unconscious, then leaves the hotel room without checking to see that his victim really is dead. Nothing seems to be immediately threatening the hit team, though. The hitman spends the rest of his life trying to finish his job and pays the ultimate price for being lazy.

More mistakes in Bullitt

Chalmers: Ross.
Bennet: Albert Edward Renick, used car salesman, Chicago.
Chalmers: Who's Renick?
Bullitt: He was the man who was shot in the Hotel Daniels. You sent us to guard the wrong man, Mr. Chalmers.

David George

More quotes from Bullitt

Question: Just after (the real) Ross has been shot at the airport, you hear the babble of bystanders' voices. At one point you apparently hear this exchange: Person 1: "I heard he shot someone" Person 2: "He's a c**t, that's what he is". Is this part of the script, a mischievous foul-mouthed extra or my bad hearing?

Answer: The line is "He's a cop..."

scwilliam

More questions & answers from Bullitt

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.