What is Bullitt Without the Car Chase?

By John Coyle - December 9, 2022

Bullitt is basically known only for its car chase. So how will master director Stephen Spielberg make his continuation feel fresh?

Back in March, news dropped that a new Bullitt movie is in development, with Hollywood royalty Steven Spielberg at the helm. At the time, I wrote that the 1968 Steve McQueen flick — legendary car chase aside — is hot garbage, and we don’t need a follow-up. Now, we’ve learned that Bradley Cooper has been cast to play the lead — and my opinion hasn’t changed at all. Despite the ridiculous level of talent involved here, we just don’t need another Bullitt movie.

That said, the prospect does raise some interesting questions. Namely, what exactly is Bullitt without a wicked cool car chase? Because if you’ve seen the original, you know the answer is not much.

The pace is slow, the plot is dumb, and if anything, McQueen’s disinterest in performing the most basic of his law enforcement duties would have him off the force in a heartbeat. If you haven’t seen it, titular detective Frank Bullitt gets a key witness killed because he wants to get laid, a fact which goes unmentioned over the course of the movie.

The elephant in the room here is that when Bullitt hit screens in 1968, the car chase was a relatively new cinematic exercise. So when audiences saw McQueen’s Dark Highland Green Mustang chasing a Dodge Charger through the streets of San Francisco, they were rapt. But today? Car chases have been done so much that they’re almost boring. In my opinion, Ronin and The Bourne Identity have the best ones, and they’re so good, trying to top them is going to be next to impossible.

Now obviously, Spielberg is a genius, and has more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Maybe he’ll turn the whole idea on its head, and use a Mustang Mach-E instead of a coupe? That would be a way to inject some originality into concept, as a car chase without a roaring engine would be a whole new ballgame. But at the end of the day, the best thing about the new Bullitt movie is that Mustang fans will likely get an S650 in Bullitt trim. So cross your fingers…

Photos: Warner Brothers, Ford