"Bullitt" is definitively bullet noir. There were a few notable existential action films in the late 1960's ("Point Blank" comes to mind) but there is something more immediate, more dangerous, more alluring about "Bullitt." There is one amazing car chase scene and one fantastic foot chase yet the movie also has Steve McQueen, a true antihero who has no inner life and not much interest in anything other than his work. He's always driving from one location to another in pursuit of a clue or an informant or a suspect. He never stops moving because there is nothing else to latch onto, except the alluring beauty of his architect girlfriend (Jacqueline Bisset). The world is a sewer, as his girlfriend says, and Bullitt himself is wallowing in it. Bullet noir.
The plot is relatively simple and spare. A mobster named Johnny Ross is on the run. Lieutenant Frank Bullitt (McQueen), along with his partners, Delgetti (Don Gordon) and Stanton (Carl Reindel), have the unenviable task of guarding Ross at a cheap hotel. The task is requested by U.S. Senator Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) - the goal being to guard Ross until the Senate has their subcommittee hearing on organized crime. Of course, something goes wrong when Ross is killed and one of Bullitt's men is injured - Chalmers doesn't know Ross was killed and won't until Bullitt persists with uncovering why this bloody mess occurred.
The story may be nothing new yet the movie is a breeze, a coolly atmospheric and smoothly directed action picture where the thrills are derived from the investigation, from the clues that Bullitt gathers. It is also about Bullitt looking cool, calm and collected and driving his green Ford Mustang yet never expressing much emotion. McQueen has one smile that he passes to Bisset in a restaurant scene but that is the nature of Bullitt. He is aloof, never one to emote or to even show anger (he does convey concern for his injured partner). One particularly riveting scene has Bullitt in a copy room with his boss while Chalmers waits for him to sign the writ of habeas corpus - you feel a heated intensity from Bullitt but he never gives in. Anger is not in his arsenal, only his gun and his fast green Ford Mustang.
Speaking of the fast green Ford Mustang, the scene where he turns the tables on the hit men following him is insanely entertaining to watch and keeps you on the edge of your seat - you might almost fall off of it. There is a significantly explosive crash and yet Bullitt drives away, onto the next stage of the investigation. He is unstoppable and is aware that the world can be a sewer with not much light coming in from the darkness. His last scene is a beaut - Bullitt just stares at the mirror and knows more danger in his line of work is headed his way. Pure bullet noir.
