Bullitt

Peter Yates’s first American film. McQueen had seen Robbery, his 1967 British picture with its long car chase, and hired him off it. The source is Robert L. Fish’s 1963 novel Mute Witness, set in New York, whose lead is an older, overweight lieutenant named Clancy. Producer Philip D’Antoni first thought of Spencer Tracy, whose death in 1967 ended that; McQueen took the part partly as a tribute. He built the performance on Dave Toschi of the San Francisco police, copying even his fast-draw shoulder holster; Toschi later became known through the Zodiac case. The film was shot almost entirely on location in San Francisco, with real doctors and nurses used in the emergency-room scene. The chase starts 65 minutes in and lasts about 10 minutes; it was assembled from places miles apart, so the route is not continuous and cannot be followed in real time. Frank P. Keller won Best Film Editing at the 41st Academy Awards; the Best Sound nomination lost. Five nominations at the 23rd BAFTA Awards produced no wins. A good fit if you want to watch a chase knowing it was built at the cutting bench rather than caught on the street. Not for anyone waiting to be talked through the plot; the weight sits in surveillance and procedure.