Frank Bullitt 1968
king cool is Steve McQueen
blue eyes bleed intensity
Mustang fastback green
blonde screen idol in his prime
just the uber-action man
doing most of his own stunts
driving hard in old San Fran
mob witness from Chicago
his name is Johnny Ross
will he testify? not likely, man
he needs protection, boss
Bullitt’s got the job’s attention
Vaughn’s Chalmers is the politician
— and he’s your antagonistic prick
Don Gordon is Delgetti— understated slick
Cap’n Sam is Oakland, Cap’n with a crew cut
the mob assassins are comin’ to kill but
Bullitt, he’s a won’t-let-go-nut
his call of duty, manic
Embarcadero door kicked in
a Winchester pump is pumpin’
sawed-off shotgun bloody blasts
sexy sixties soundtrack jazz
screeching tires with pizzazz
“How bad?”
“Bad. He’s got a bleeder”
“Frank, the chain was off. He unlocked the door”
“What are his chances?”
“No more than 50-50”
“Shotgun and a back-up man. Professionals”
“Play it by the book from now on”
“Does Chalmers run this case or do I?”
“Excuse me, sir? Are you the policeman that hasn’t eaten?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Doctor, there’s a cardiac arrest in I.C.U.”
“You work your side of the street and I’ll work mine”
shawl collar sweater, skinnies and desert boots
is Steve’s Bullitt gear apparel
a patient named Johnny Ross
has disappeared and, well
his chart’s gone missing, boss
hitman strolling hospital hallways
sawed-off shotgun trench coat flair
“Is he about 5′ 10″, gray hair?”
Bullitt says into the phone
“Yes”
jazzy pursuit in the basement zone
bad guy gets away
Norman Fell has the skinniest tie I’ve ever seen
Robert Vaughn’s shoes click and clack
on the hospital floor so clean
morning brings green onions
six frozen dinners stacked
and a stolen newspaper
saucy Jacqueline Bisset
plays Cathy, Frank’s squeeze
with her English sensitivities
in her blue pajama top
eating her Wheaties
“Can I get you something?”
Frank Bullitt 1968
king cool is Steve McQueen
blue eyes bleed intensity
Mustang fastback green
blonde screen idol in his prime
just the uber-action man
doing most of his own stunts
driving hard in old San Fran
“Habeus Corpus, duly noted”
“Now listen to me, Lieutenant”
click
“Alright, nail him. I want him written off”
“No problem”
Robert Duval has two bits
he is the Sunshine cab driver
“Two”
“Two what?”
“Calls. He called twice, the second was long distance”
“How do you know it was long distance?”
“He put in a lot of change”
nice elbow patches on your sport coat, Frank
get in your Mustang GT
the bad guys in black Charger
are watching you, you see?
GT versus 440 Magnum
cue that funky jazz hum
this classic chase is on, fan
watch out for the cable car, man
passed the green Beetle twice, boys
both burning black rubber noise
taking air in San Francisco
all eight are off the ground
screaming tires smoking sound
suspension slamming is a test
this sequence is the all-time best
shotgun pellets in GT’s glass
bump and a shove in the shiny ass
black Charger is a dusty launch
into Guadalupe’s gas station— ka-boom!
bad guys all blown up
Frank Bullitt 1968
king cool is Steve McQueen
blue eyes bleed intensity
Mustang fastback green
blonde screen idol in his prime
just the uber-action man
doing most of his own stunts
driving hard in old San Fran
“High speed pursuit? Two men dead?”
“Where’s Ross?”
“Tell him, that’s an order”
“He’s dead”
“When?”
“Last night. I moved him. He’s downstairs under a John Doe”
“You’re sick”
but he’s got one more lead to follow
classy Cathy with her scarf-a
in a little yellow Porsche
giving Frank a hand so
he gets to that hotel in San Mateo
“Miss Simmons’ doesn’t answer”
that’s because she’s dead, sir
“Hello? Del? Yeah, yeah, it’s a strangulation”
more jazzy brass and percussion
Jackie’s Cathy is disturbed
and Cathy says—
“I thought I knew you but I’m not so sure anymore
Do you let anything reach you? I mean, really reach you?
Nothing really touchs you
You’re living in a sewer, Frank, day after day”
Frank’s response is so sixties, baby—
“That’s where half of it is. You can’t walk away from it”
Cathy: “Your world is so far from the one I know
What will happen to us in time?”
“Time starts now” —no!
Frank, that’s so sublime
big pink Simmons’ suitcases searched
Frank and Del perplexed
no passports and no tickets
but thousands in travelers checks
who is Albert E. Renick?
and Simmons a Dorothy Renick too?
“Get a fingerprint check on Ross”
at the autopsy in blue
Ross is Renick, Renick is Ross
Renick is a used car salesman, boss
“Renick has no record of arrests. He’s clean, Frank”
“You sent us to guard the wrong man, Mr. Chalmers”
Frank Bullitt 1968
king cool is Steve McQueen
blue eyes bleed intensity
Mustang fastback green
blonde screen idol in his prime
just the uber-action man
doing most of his own stunts
driving hard in old San Fran
“Yeah, well Ross took close to 2 million dollars
from the organization
and he set Renick up
to get the heat off him
and he killed Renick’s wife
to shut her up”
busy airport of San Fran
reservations on the seven o’clock flight to Rome
“Do you have a Johnny Ross?” they ask the man
no Ross— he is not boarding, not in this line to Rome
he’s on Pan Am to London
stop it with the phone, folks!
they get it stopped, Ross bolts
and the foot chase is a climax
Ross fires at Bullitt off the tarmacs
then back in the terminal
Ross tries to blend
and shoots a guard
but Bullitt shoots Ross
dead— the end
Chalmers has a Lincoln
the bumper sticker’s bright
‘Support Your Local Police’
is a fade out for this night
Frank Bullitt makes it
home at dawn— yawn
he looks at sleeping Cathy
takes off his quick draw holster
Bullitt in his bathroom mirror
seeming troubled somehow
“Time starts now”
Frank Bullitt 1968
king cool is Steve McQueen
blue eyes bleed intensity
Mustang fastback green
blonde screen idol in his prime
just the uber-action man
doing most of his own stunts
driving hard in old San Fran
troysherdahl 