Club Cobra - Steve McQueen: History of " Bullitt " Chase

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Steve McQueen: History of " Bullitt " Chase

History of the 10 minute chase scene, with background details that may not have been previously published.

" At the very top of Taylor and Vallejo streets here on Sunday morning, I stopped to take in the view. Idling in a 2011 Ford Mustang V6, I looked down through the windshield at the impossibly steep hill below, immortalized in the 1968 film "Bullitt" starring Steve McQueen. "

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...html#printMode

In that chase scene, you see the same green VW beatle four times and the same GTO three times. It's sad really!!! :rolleyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-7IEPTAoTg

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Quote:

Originally Posted by CobraEd (Post 1105856)

In that chase scene, you see the same cream colored VW beatle in the same shot at least three times. :rolleyes:
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...and the Charger lose 7 hubcaps :rolleyes: gotta love hollywood editing

My friends and I used to joke that that VW was the fastest Beetle on the planet, and was toying with the Mustang and the Charger.:LOL:

I was down there when they shot that chase scene and the reason all that happened was that San Francisco would only shut the hill down for them to make one try at it. So they had 7 cameras at different places and used all of the film which is why so many wheel covers and such flew off. Also Steve McQueen was in a funk as he had tried and couldn't make the turns so they had a stunt driver do the driving.

Also count the time he shifted that 4 speed Mustang and look close at the right hand end of the Mustangs bumper and you will see a small thing there. That is the latch that held the Charger that they released when it was supposed to hit the gas pumps and explode. That gas station was 4 pieces of plywood and wooden pumps out toward the airport. The Charger missed the pumps but that had to blow it up anyway as they only had a permit for a one time shot at that also. But over all, being it was the first real chase scene, I thought they did a good job. They were going to use a Ford Fairlane for the jumps but the engineers told them that the Fairlane frame would bend after the first one so they used the Charger. Also they had to have the Charger slow down as it was faster than the Mustang.

Ron ;)

Was the Charger a 440 and the Mustang a 390 ?????

The Mustang had no posi !!!

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The filming of the chase scene took more than 3 weeks and editing yielded 10:53 of actual footage. Most of the driving was done by McQueen's usual stunt double, Loren Janes. McQueen was only ever supposed to do the "safe" and close-up shots and drove less than 10% of the scene. How could he have tried and failed to make the turns if they only had one shot at the filming?
Two 390/325hp Mustangs were used and two 440/375hp Chargers replaced Ford supplied Galaxie sedans which were deemed too heavy to make the jumps without serious suspension damage. The Mustangs' engines, brakes and suspensions were heavily modified by racer Max Balchowsky and the Chargers were bone stock except for suspension and undercarriage mods. The editing screw-ups are funny now, but watching that chase on screen at the time absolutely blew me and my buddies away! :)

Wonder how many of the oddities in filming and editing were actually noticed by the general public the first time the chase scene was viewed.......which at the time would have been in the theaters.......considering the suspense element of the movie and Steve's character.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buzz (Post 1106439)

Buzz,

They only had one shot on that hill. They spent several days on another place that is similiar but they could block traffic for more than one try and McQueen missed several of the turns. Also on one of the cross street jump imitations he almost lost control of the Mustang. ;)

Cobra Ed,

Yes the Mustangs had a stock 325 horse 390 and the Charger had a 440. And as Buzz pointed out the suspension was heavily modified.

Ron :)