The Getaway and Bullit both on TCM today my two favorite McQueen movies.

Not complete without the obligatory chase scene video....




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJZ-BHBKyos

Trapped in a car with Sally Struthers, for hours, in the desert heat?

You'd hang yourself, too.

I watched them film parts of The Getaway in San Marcos Texas. McQueen did most of the stunt driving. Ali Magraw(sp) was there also.....a tall thin fox!!

Bullitt's car chase scene is the best to date - if only for the sound. A blind person could enjoy it.

McQueen did his own stunt driving and some of that was filmed on roads that were in use by the public at the time of filming. What's really cool is all the old cars sitting around. Studebakers. Cars from the 50s and 40s. There is even what looks like a old Ford Model A parallel parked next to the curb at 2:31.

But the one thing I don't get about this scene is that those guys in the Charger are trying to catch McQueen to kill him. They follow him and loose him. Then McQueen then gets behind them. Then the two guys in the Charger try and get away. Didn't they want to kill McQueen? Why didn't they just stop and run back and kill McQueen while he was in his car?

Steve McQueen died almost 40 years ago, at the age of 50. Unlike many actors today, his acting was more of an extension of his real life, a Marine, motorcycle racer, car racer, pilot, martial artist, stuntman (did his own).

Who today can back up their acting with real skills? Keanu Reeves comes to mind. Chuck Norris a generation earlier. Who else?

I'm not sure if those guys understood that first you kill the intended target, then you try and get away. And it's easier to kill him if you're not running from him.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
Who today can back up their acting with real skills? Keanu Reeves comes to mind. Chuck Norris a generation earlier. Who else?

Tom Cruise (inb4cruiseiscrazy)
Donnie Yen

quote:

Originally posted by satch:
The Getaway and Bullit both on TCM today my two favorite McQueen movies.

Sorry, The Great Escape is my favorite. Bullitt was great, but didn't care as much for The Getaway.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:

quote:

Originally posted by satch:
The Getaway and Bullit both on TCM today my two favorite McQueen movies.

Sorry, The Great Escape is my favorite. Bullitt was great, but didn't care as much for The Getaway.

flashguy

Well, speaking of both McQueen's stunt work/driving, and your preferred McQueen movie, you probably know he did most, but not all, of the riding in the motorcycle chase in The Great Escape. All but the big jump. In addition, he was the German who hit the tripwire that Hilts set up to get a bike to ride, and if you look closely and can recognize McQueen's riding style, you'll notice that he was also one of the Germans who was chasing him!

I love the fact that the original Mustang survives, it's a great story, Man sees car for sale in back of magazine, recognizes that Bullitt is improperly spelled, makes offer and not only buys the car but drives it, daily and is smart enough to keep it.

He gets a letter from McQueen trying to buy it back.... and says no... actually says no to McQueen...

Kids finally get everything in order and take it to Mecum Auction in Kissimmee FL and someone drops $3.74 million on it.

Thought about going down to the auction but it was as you'll see in the video, Packed...

The security, crowds, fans, intensity, you'd have thought McQueen himself came back and was in the car.....

Arguably one of the most famous auctions of a celebrity car ever!

Bullitt Mustang Selss

Lotsa Pictures at the link




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...N9U&feature=youtu.be

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:
Bullitt's car chase scene is the best to date - if only for the sound. A blind person could enjoy it.

I might agree with you on the audio, but the best of the best IMO is Popeye Doyle chasing the assassin in Frankenheimer's The French Connection.

Bullitt simply outdrove his prey, but Popeye Doyle is the personification of determination. Hackman was more dynamic behind the wheel and was more fun to watch in his chase sequence. You might say that being a car/train chase, this doesn't qualify, but just watch.

The music for The French Connection was done by the incredible jazz musician Don Ellis, sadly deceased too soon, and his orchestra. The film's soundtrack has become a collectors item and is available on CD and BluRay. However it was first recorded and issued in full analog on 33 1/3 LP vinyl and I can attest that that version is awesome as I still have it. His band had many extraordinary musicians who later became recognized and accomplished on their own. Much of his very innovative music was considered pretty esoteric in its era.

Bullitt.
French Connection.
The Seven Ups.
All great chases. Bill Hickman drove in all three.

Yeah, Bill Hickmam. He was following James Dean the day Dean died.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:
Bullitt's car chase scene is the best to date - if only for the sound. A blind person could enjoy it.

I might agree with you on the audio, but the best of the best IMO is Popeye Doyle chasing the assassin in Frankenheimer's The French Connection.

Bullitt simply outdrove his prey, but Popeye Doyle is the personification of determination. Hackman was more dynamic behind the wheel and was more fun to watch in his chase sequence. You might say that being a car/train chase, this doesn't qualify, but just watch.

[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="408" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZnKmIhi89ww" width="725"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]

You've named my two favorite chase scenes. I saw both more than once in their original runs in the theaters, and have always had a hard time deciding which was my favorite. Bullitt was the first, and set the standard. Being a McQueen fan, and given the elements of that chase, including the cars, the sound, the way it was filmed (including the interior shots in the car, making you feel a part of the chase, and almost sick when the car came over those rises in the street, or bottomed out in the downhill flats), and the novelty of such a chase scene, it made quite an impact and probably prejudiced me towards anything that followed.

But then came The French Connection. Not McQueen and his cool character of Frank Bullitt, and his cool car, and the beautiful streets of San Francisco and beyond, and all the effects of that chase, but sloppy, funky, rude and crude Popeye Doyle and whatever (admittedly pretty hot-running Pontiac Le Mans) car he could commandeer in the street, the street being the dirty, grimy, under-transit-rails streets of New York. But, damn, it was intense. I have always remembered the way Hackman's foot stomps on the accelerator (and/or brakes, but I remember best the accelerator), after any need to slow down. That and his manic determination behind the wheel. It was truly seat-gripping stuff. From that standpoint, I'd have to agree "best". Jury still out on which is my favorite.

EDIT: Yes, I mentioned Hickman, too, but saw Yooper's comment before I posted. Didn't know he was behind James Dean that fateful ride.

William Friedkin directed The French Connection and its chase. Another one of his excellent chases is in To Live and Die in LA.
Mainly going the wrong way on an LA Freeway.

Oh, sorry. Yes, of course, you're correct. I said Frankenheimer, but it's Friedkin's film, of course.

I want a Charger that comes with 8 hubcaps. And I’m pretty sure they passed the same VW about a dozen times.

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
I'm not sure if those guys understood that first you kill the intended target, then you try and get away. And it's easier to kill him if you're not running from him.

And why wasn't the passenger's shotgun already loaded if they were on a hit?

Another interesting thing is the man standing at 5:55. He seems to be motioning to the drivers to go left instead of staying straight.

Great chase scene in the French Connection, too. Something I didn't know about it:

THE SCENE IN REAL LIFE
The chase scene was filmed in Brooklyn using the D-train line. It’s true that the scene was filmed without a permit, but they had something almost as good: Egan and Grosso. The cops served as advisers for the film, and they still had a lot of connections in the NYPD, getting the department’s support without having to go through official channels. Real MTA employees were used in the train scenes as the transit system required trained staff to operate the train during shooting. Despite the preparations, a local accidentally drove onto the shoot on his way to work and was struck by the Le Mans. The accident made it into the final cut.