Bullitt

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Running Time	109 minutes	Commentary Tracks	None
RSDL/Flipper	No	Other Extras	Cast & Crew Biographies Production Notes Featurette - "Bullitt: Steve McQueen's Commitment To Reality" (10 minutes)
Start Up	Movie	Cast & Crew
Region	4	Director	Peter Yates
Distributor	Warner Brothers	Starring	Steve McQueen Robert Vaughn Jacqueline Bissett Don Gordon Robert Duvall Simon Oakland Norman Fell
RRP	$29.95

    Along the way, we get to see an amazing car chase. The blurb on the back of the DVD describes the car chase sequence as "one of cinema's most memorable car chases". I'm quite a cynic, but for once the marketing hype is, if anything, an understatement. For a movie shot in 1968, this car chase is just amazing. It is the most realistic and thrilling sequence I have ever had the pleasure of viewing, mono sound notwithstanding. Steve McQueen himself drove one of the cars, and this added realism is spectacular, as is the incredible throaty roar of the two big American muscle cars involved in the chase. I can only imagine how much better it could have been if it were remixed to 5.1 sound.

    Also along the way, we get to experience a great deal of realism in the hospital and morgue scenes, which is also unusual for movies of this genre.

Video

    The transfer was sharp at times, and soft and slightly out of focus at other times. Film graininess was apparent at times. Shadow detail was quite poor, something which seems to be a characteristic of Technicolor prints.

    The colour was generally muted, particularly in low lit scenes, and certainly not up to the usual standard that we expect of modern transfers. However, it was acceptable given the age of the movie.

    No MPEG artefacts were seen. I did not notice any specific film-to-video artefacts. Film artefacts were surprisingly few and far between, though of course there were more present than there are on pristine new transfers.

Audio

    Dialogue was muffled in quality compared to current generation transfers, and was difficult to understand at times. A small amount of hiss frequently intruded into the mix, but not severely at any time.

    The musical score is a very jazzy, 60s-sounding track. At least at some points in the movie, this sounded like a stereo remix of the original mono, but mostly it was mono. The score sounds quite dated now, but presumably was quite sophisticated at the time the movie was released. Having said that, the score does complement the movie very nicely.

     The surround channels were not used.

    The .1 channel was not specifically encoded, but a surprising amount of low bass is present in this soundtrack at times. The car chase sequence and the numerous jazz numbers are cases in point.

    The theatrical trailer is present on this DVD. It is presented with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced and with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, which sounded mono. This is recorded loud, so I suggest you turn down the volume on your system before you play this back

    A 10 minute featurette entitled "Bullitt: Steve McQueen's Commitment To Reality" is an excellent documentary about the making of this film and the specific attention paid to the details of the hospital scenes and the car chase. This documentary is presented at a 4:3 aspect ratio with a Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack.

    Reasonably extensive cast and crew biographies round off the extras on this disc.

    The video quality is not great, but there are no major problems. The quality of the transfer is at least consistent throughout.

    The audio quality is unremarkable, but at least not terrible, and surprisingly good during the car chase.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Michael Demtschyna
14th December 1998