In The Original Movie, the Missing Frames were actually shown. For brief, fractions of a second there was red flashing on the Screen. The audiences SAW the flashes and knew the camera was clobbered. I'd LOVE to see a Blu-Ray with the missing red flashes restored.
The red flashes are still present on the CED (RCA Videodisc) and might even be on the Laserdisc. But, I'm going to wager all modern remasters of the film have cleaned that section up.
I recall that too. The original clip is on this page: FXRant at Blogspot for Sunday, November 15, 2020. RUclips won't let me post the actual link. You can see the clip with the red flash, which was actually a light leak that damaged the film. I understand why it was removed - it takes you out of the movie because you know the camera got clobbered. Maybe it was originally left in as an homage to the camera that sacrificed itself for the scene.
Bill Hickman hit the parked car and the camera, but Steve McQueen missed the turn entirely. According to IMDB, Steve needing to back up wasn’t in the script.
I understand that it’s considered one of the best car chases ever. But they reused the same film at least three times passing the Volkswagen bug. I feel it’s a little overrated. go watch French connection car chase
@@EvanMoonI’m not sure that TFC has a better chase, but you are right about the VW. My understanding is that there were (at least) two “safety cars” used to “control” traffic , a white Pontiac and a green VW. These two cars appear several times during the chase as every separate scene that makes up the chase was filmed by several different cameras from different angles (as shown in this clip where one camera has caught the Dodge crashing into another camera). These were then spliced together in the film so in effect you are seeing the same piece of action multiple times but from a different viewpoint. It’s fun to count how many times the Mustang passes the VW on the same point of the same road as the chase progresses!
@@EvanMoon Actually some of the annoying 21speed transmission shifting and ratty, over level audio exhaust note from Bullitt was also used in the French connection.
@@EvanMoon They reused it twice . Once for the in car shots and once for the external shots . The VW and the other car were used as block cars for the intersections
yeah, check out the skid marks on the pavement. As for everyone saying this got reused...look up "seven ups chase scene" and listen to THAT audio. sound familiar? you can also catch the entire movie here for free (a cop drama with Roy Schieder? why not)
I saw this movie in the theater with my folks when it first came out. Believe it or not, I noticed this back then, when I was 13 years-old! Thanks for clearing it up for me and everyone else!
@@whospuss My favorite scene of that movie is during the SF chase. There's a spot where the Charger does a mean left hander in an intersection while going downhill. That turn shows great skill.
@@buzzedalldrink9131 lol It's true! I actually talked my dad into taking me back to see it again the next weekend and I still couldn't figure it out. Loved the movie, though, and still do!
@stejer Actually, Everyone Talks About that, ALL THE TIME!!!!! This film cut situation IS one, that extremely few people, ever talk about. It is rarely discussed; but, should be, far more often. I, frankly, have heard enough about hubcaps, to last me a long while.
Are you telling me your car doesn't have an automatic hubcap dispenser behind each wheel, which automatically deploys a new hubcap when one goes flying?
I watched this movie every year on KGO ABC Channel 7. The DVD and digital copy still show the rough cut of the crash. That is part of the CLASSIC chase that took 7 days to film for only about 10 minutes of frames.
The Dodge Charger, it's one of the fastest cars in a straight line I ever took a ride in as a teenager back in the 70's, however when it came to cornering at speed it had all the grace of a dump truck. I have to say regardless of that it is one of my all time favorite cars of my youth. I wish I had it back..
Then it's really simple. The charger YOU rode in did not have top of the line suspension. I owned a 69 383 4 speed Roadrunner, and my namesake, a 70 440-6. THAT car had the best suspension and brakes you could order. Heavy duty everything, front disc, and "trak pac" suspension option. Night and day difference, even between the two cars, and even the 383 was worlds better than say, a 318 belvedere
When I finally saw bullet and realised the famous chase scene was against a charger I was immediately hyped having been very familiar with its handling difficulties when cornering. I was absolutely not disappointed.
This "Cut" actually got ruined by an overzealous restoration! Originally (DVD release and older), when the car smashed into the camera, you saw kinetic black flashes as the car barreled into the actual camera, and it worked great. But then some technician came in and REMOVED those flashes, probably to make a more stable image. BUT, now it looks like the car just disappears! They should have either left that image alone, or at least cut out a few frames like you did here.
@@RetroCarsForever I can confirm that. My dvd copy has the black flashes rather than the jump cut. The black flashes actually add to the feeling of the impact.
I always knew they collided with that parked car. What I've never seen before is a different camera angle of the crash. That was cool as hell! From one of my favorite movies, thanks.
The best part is racing through Guadaloupe Canyon Parkway in the later stages of the chase .... you'd think it went for miles and miles. In the time they were speeding through this, you can practically WALK the entire length of the road! (Well, not quite, but it's nowhere near as long as you'd think from watching the movie!) I've walked it many times, and actually watched them film the crash scene that appeared at the end of this chase. Used to take students there - there was a great exposure of a small fault in the rocks at the base of the hill, where you could demonstrate how to tell which way the rocks moved on either side of the fault when it last was displaced.
I never really took any notice of that before seeing this. Thanks. Next time I'm watching the movie, I'll pay special attention to this scene. Cheers 🇦🇺
I have always wondered about this. I agree with you, this is the way I would have cut it too. Has there ever been an interview with the editor or the director about this specific part?
Thanks for concurring:) Was beginning to think I was alone on this. Never saw anything about it from Yates or Frank Keller (who cut it). I’m actually a director myself (Jack Perez), and during my time in the biz, never heard a word - until I came across the BTS ftg that explained it.
I saw this in the theaters (yes, more than once). And I did hear of this. The SFPD assigned to the movie crew must have told my father about this. Because he would point this out as the scene played. There was a couple of other cool things too. Besides that those scenes can’t really connect, because the streets don’t connect. But I can’t remember what they all were. Between getting old & the memory fading, my father has been gone so long we never got to sit down together and watch them on VHS, or DVD. Rest in Peace Dad. You were taken from us too soon.
When I first saw Bullitt in 1969, those 8 frames were in the movie shown in a theater in Stamford, Ct. You could see the Charger's left front fender crumpling back against the tire. At first I thought that was the end of the chase.
Honestly, I wished this was kept in the modern home video releases. It makes the chase more dramatic, even if it was an accident during filming. Only the people who seen the original 1968 theater or the VHS were lucky enough to witness that.
As another tidbit, once you know what happened, if you watch McQueen shredding the Mustang after locking the brakes and backing up, you will see they did not pick up all the remnants of Bill Hickman's mishap. Something black is still on the ground. They cleared the tripod away but a piece of the broken camera made it into the final film (I assume it was a piece of camera - it sure did not "belong" in the middle of the footpath - sidewalk for US readers - I am from Australia). I am guessing they were more concerned about the lens since it looks like a broken camera body.
I never knew that. And after watching this a couple of times, I was wondering what's the problem. Sure, then you slap up the text. Good thing you did that, because I'd probably be still watching and replaying it. So 8 frames = one-third of a second (right? 24 frames/second). Thanks. Worth a sub.
Originally in the Cinema, VHS and DVD R1, that detail was not corrected, it was left as it is shown in the last video, and for the more Remastered versions it was decided to completely remove that accident, making it look uglier, the behind cameramen said it was a small accident, and they decided to leave that mistake, just as it happened in the 007 movie live and let die 1973, in the boat chase when one crashes into the sherift patrol
There’s a documentary on the Dr. No Blu-Ray about the restoration Lowry took on the Bond movies. They said they could digitally remove any filming mistakes, but the makers of the series decided to leave them the way they were originally shown. It’s a shame that they just didn’t leave Bullitt alone in this example.
Steve McQueen apparently did a fair amount of the stunt driving for this particular chase scene. In one scene, McQueen tromped on the throttle of the car, and the engine torque was enough to break the axle free from the rear leaf springs. The movie production had three green fastback mustangs built as back up cars for the movie. So after McQueen wrecked the one car, they rolled out one of the two spares. Incidentally, a few years back, one of the green fastback McQueen mustangs, was found in a personal collection, sitting in a barn for decades. It's sold at auction for a rather pricey sum of money.
@@socalltd The chase car was found in a wrecking yard in Baha California and restored . It was confirmed by Ford that it was the actual car from the movie . The other Mustang was sold at Mecams a few years ago for over $3mill from memory
The Dodge Charger literally hit the Vanishing Point.😆 I love Bullitt, but I always found it a strange choice to keep that take. As well as the reappearing Beetle. At least they could’ve had different colour Bugs to retain some believable continuity.🤔 Still one of the most epic chase scenes ever though.🎥🤌🏼
It is clear to me McQueen, saw the car crash and stayed clear deliberately missing that turn that would have put him on top of the accident. That caused McQueen to have to back up and accelerate once he saw the black charger was back on the road...
@@peted2770 Certainly, I'm not an expert, but having grown up in the fifties, every model year change was kind of a big deal as cars transitioned from antique to modern. The big debut of the next year's models was always a big deal each fall. I actually like the '55's better than the '56's in both Ford and Chevrolet. Best regards.
I caught this the first time I saw the movie, and I always thought something catastrophic happened like someone got hurt and it was in frame. I didn't think about the camera getting destroyed, but I agree with your re-edit it looks a lot better.
I still wonder about the scene later in the chase where the bad guy in the Charger opens up on Bullitt with a shotgun and the windshield of the Mustang shatters. Looks very real.
...probably because it was. According to an article I read many years ago now, the shotgun was loaded with "chain balls" of some sort. The actor (who was terrified of guns, by the way) shot them into the Mustang's windshield. The article writer remarked that it made Ford windshields look a lot better than they actually were.
@@anonymousplanetfambly4598 That type of load would be called a bolo load, and the shatter pattern in the glass looked like it was a bolo indeed. But I don't think the actor in the Charger fired it. I think the gun that fired the live round was mounted on the front of the Mustang, on the RH side pointed straight back at the RH side of the windshield to insure the trajectory would not be toward the driver for obvious safety reasons. I think the actor in the Charger fired a blank. I seriously doubt they'd give the actor in the Charger a live round to fire toward the general direction of Steve McQueen from a moving car into another moving car, and tell him just make sure you hit the RH side of the windshield, don't miss and accidentally hit Steve. That would be flipping insane. It was already insane enough that Steve was even driving in the first place. I looked carefully at the scene and went frame by frame at the moment the bad guy fired. There is a puff of smoke from his shotgun. Then on the next frame there is another puff of smoke coming from the front of Mustang, which is out of frame, but the smoke can be seen coming from the front of the car. And that is the moment when the windshield shatters. They had to somehow time the 2 events and the timing is very close. You have to advance 1 frame at a time to see it. Some of the glass fragments enter the car when the windshield shatters and Steve reacts to that. Good thing it was away from his face because he was not even wearing sunglasses. Today I'm sure they can time the 2 events electronically or just use cgi but I doubt they did that in 1967. They probably had a guy riding in the back seat of the Mustang sitting behind the driver with his thumb on a button to fire the gun at the moment when he saw the actor fire the blank from the Charger.
I saw this in the cinema on release. No matter how large your TV, you have to watch the chase in the cinema to experience the ups and downs of the streets.
Yeah, I saw it in the theatre for the first time too when it was first released. I almost got carsick, and that never happens to me . TV doesn’t do it justice..
Great film and i have watched it dozens and dozens of times is TRULY the CLASSIC of ohALL CLASSIS! i remember back in July or AUG 2007 AMC tv network played this film ALL DAY LONG and as the GOOD LORD would make it 4X in a Row EVERYTIME i decided to walk back in the house THERE IT WAS AGAIN! the beginning of the CHASE SCENE. Wow i could not believe i got to watch the FRANK BULLITT CHASE SCENE 4X IN A ROW ALL IN ONE DAY! totally amazing and a MIRACLE
Great film and great chase! And so much to get your teeth into that justifies watching it over and over again such as how many times do the white Pontiac that emerges from the junction and the green VW on the hill appear (it’s actually the same piece of action filmed by different cameras from different angles. The Pontiac and the VW were “safety” cars controlling the traffic). How many hubcaps does the Dodge lose? Can you spot the connecting pole between the Mustang and the Dodge just before the Dodge is released to crash into the garage? Why do the garage petrol pumps explode when in fact the Dodge misses them entirely and passes behind them ( it was a mistake because no one, of course, was actually in the Dodge steering it)? Brilliant film that is one of my favourites!
In regard to the Dodge losing its hubcaps, I remember sitting with my friends watching the film at the school cinema club . We knew of the issue and as the hubcaps started to come off we all shouted out together counting “One…two..three…four….five….”! Takes me back!
You could go on and on here. Here’s another one . How is it that you can clearly see the Dodge crashing into the building behind the petrol pumps while coming to rest upright on all four wheels and well away from the fire, when the next cut shows the car upside down and the two hitmen being incinerated inside?
No no..what have they done here? I remember clearly watching this very moment years ago and at the very moment of impact the picture went red and shakey for a split second before the cut. THIS footage has been cleaned up to make a much neater cut moment!
Perfect! It's as if back then they thought, well that camera hit wasn't supposed to happen, so we'll make it look like it didn't... by making the dent pop back out? This never made any sense to me.
In "Walking Tall 3" when Stud Pardee slides his blue Camaro centerscreen into the BBQ House parking lot he overcuts the radius taking out the hidden camera planted just out of view sending it skating across the tarmac...
I have watched that chase scene probably 50 times with the speakers cranked up and never caught that. Doubt if many others would if it wasn't a 'thing'
Rental. The production companies rented their camera gear from outfits like Panavision. It ensured they always had the latest technology in perfect working order. You do NOT want to find out after shooting a complex scene that a defective camera you've (ab)used a lot left a scratch along the entire length of the film.
Much "pro" camera gear is still rental. I don't think you can buy a Arri Alexa, or a Panavision, and why would anyone do it? For your next film project, you want the newest, upgraded version. For lower budget productions, it makes sense to buy a Sony Venice or a Panasonic Varicam.
Has gotta be the very best ever car chases in history and I reckon the benchmark for all others that followed. Second to this has to be 'The French Connection'
The cut in the movie bugs me because it has such an obvious fix, as you showed. It had to be intentional on Keller's part to include it; I just don't see how Keller and Yates could do everything else so incredibly well done and accidentally left in those 8 frames. I'm actually surprised they didn't include the shot of the camera being destroyed. Audience would have those it was just a parking meter. All that said, I love that the other driver has thick, black framed glasses. And I LOVE that they cut out the musical score once the chase really kicks in!
Definitely intentional. Everybody was ok with it?!? And it’s an editorial choice without precedent. So it’s not like this specific kind of jump cut was something audiences had seen and accepted from past films. Or would be inclined to consider “intentionally groovy”, as every other cut in the sequence is traditional. Just bizarre.
@whospuss I remember watching this scene a few months ago, getting to the disappearing car and thinking "Well there is no way this won the Oscar with that edit." But they won it with the edit, which, in a way, makes it even more frustratingly funny. But really, several of the other nominees that year don't make sense. I am shocked The Thomas Crown Affair wasn't even nominated for editing that year
I think they left it in there to experiment and give it a gritty movie feel. Philip D'Antoni, producer of this film, went on to produce The French Connection and The Seven Ups, which definitely tried to be as gritty as possible.
I understand that the stunt driver , Bill Hickman, was not originally intended to be shown as the driver of the Dodge but they then quickly came to realise he would make the perfect “man in black” at the wheel of the Dodge so he was elevated to “actor” status. He doesn’t actually say a word in the film, but says it all with his expressions!
It has always annoyed me. I would have thought they could have done better even though it was the old cut and splice analogue days. And now that I have seen how much better your cut is, I hope you don't mind me doing the same to my own bluray version of the film when I transcode it via Movie Studio to H.265 for my Zappiti media player in a couple of weeks time. To be fair, the more I muck around with vintage film and audio extracted from my bluray and DVD collection, the more I admire the work they did in the old days. It was way harder with a razor blade and clapper board than it was with an editing workstation, mouse and all digital video and cameras synced with a time code. And back in the old days, you didn't get 50 chances to get something perfect - it was like an operation - you had to get it right the first time and if you didn't, you were stuck with it. I am mainly frustrated with lip sync problems though - the bane of movies made in the days of nagra analogue recorders totally separate to the camera transport. I have become so sensitised to lip sync problems that as a routine now, when I transcode a bluray for my media player, I will make sure the lip sync is 100% even if it means making a lot of minuscule edits that amount to a mere handful of milliseconds. If you own the Patton bluray, you will know what I mean - I must have made about 80 adjustments to that - anyone can see how bad that title is. Same with Episode 7, Season 2 of the original Lost in Space on bluray. The lip sync changes literally in every scene with a big jump in sync before the titles and after the titles. And it too would be very noticeable even to someone not sensitive to it. And before anyone asks, yes, my workstation and TV setup have perfect lip sync calibration. And no, when I buy a movie made since they went all digital with time code sync of video and audio, I obviously don't need to do anything - the lip sync is obviously perfect with no intervention involved.
Peter Yates the director off bullit said bill Hickman lost control off the charger in 4 wheel drift and hit the car and destroyed the camera.and Steve McQueen over shot the same turn and Told them too leave the shots in the movie because it added realism too the chase also Steve McQueen made sure too stick his head out the window off the mustang on the reverse burnout sow the audience would know he was actually driving the mustang this is also the scene we’re they decided Steve couldn’t do all his own stunt driving .also the scene were the charger takes the bumper off the truck was not in the script .thanks for the upload 👍✌🏿
Since Steve McQueen was one of the producers, I think this is where he took this chase personally since he would be partly on the hook for the camera. It ended up with both actors really burned up at the end...
I understand that McQueen and Hickman practised the manoeuvres for a very long time out on a race track/airfield particularly the parts where the Mustang and the Dodge come in very close proximity towards the end of the chase. It must have been exhausting.
Typical Warner Brothers home video screw job. There should be a few flashing frames, registering the impact, but they screwed up on the remaster and snipped them out. This is not how the film originally screened, and I hope someday, it'll get fixed. But probably only if someone like Criterion licenses it. Warner Brothers don't care.
The old studio system was dying by the late ‘60s, and films became technically sloppy for a time. Bad edits, overdubbed, production values lowered. Around 1975 things started to pick up again, but you see mistakes like this a lot from around 1968-1975 or so.
Each shot was done over and over again. While shooting the film, the city goverment refused to permit shooting the entire middle third of the chase scene. To compensate for this, much of the takes of the first and last segments were edited together to create a proper length. Thus, the same cars in the same intersections are seen again and again.
Why not just cut it with the behind the scenes footage of the camera getting hit? People would just assume the camera was parts of the other car's bumper flying off.
The car chase in Bullitt always felt wrong to me when I watched it. And I know why now: The streets are virtually empty. There is nobody walking around, there is no traffic, nothing to avoid ot to give tension to the scene, just two cars driving fast. Take other chases, like in The French Connection where the car is chasing the train across the streets of New York. We see other cars driving in the streets, we see pedestrians, we see the driver trying to avoid all this, its all chaotic, the chase scene gives all this tension and you can feel the stakes. Here is all "meh".
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
In The Original Movie, the Missing Frames were actually shown. For brief, fractions of a second there was red flashing on the Screen. The audiences SAW the flashes and knew the camera was clobbered.
I'd LOVE to see a Blu-Ray with the missing red flashes restored.
They probably took those out because of risks to folks with epilepsy.
The red flashes are still present on the CED (RCA Videodisc) and might even be on the Laserdisc. But, I'm going to wager all modern remasters of the film have cleaned that section up.
@@That_AMC_Guy Pity, The audience in the Theater nearly cheered with those flashes of red when on the screen. Nobody was playing or acting then.
@That_AMC_Guy Good, I was beginning to think the red flash cut was another piece of lost media.
I recall that too. The original clip is on this page: FXRant at Blogspot for Sunday, November 15, 2020.
RUclips won't let me post the actual link. You can see the clip with the red flash, which was actually a light leak that damaged the film. I understand why it was removed - it takes you out of the movie because you know the camera got clobbered. Maybe it was originally left in as an homage to the camera that sacrificed itself for the scene.
Bill Hickman hit the parked car and the camera, but Steve McQueen missed the turn entirely. According to IMDB, Steve needing to back up wasn’t in the script.
I understand that it’s considered one of the best car chases ever. But they reused the same film at least three times passing the Volkswagen bug. I feel it’s a little overrated. go watch French connection car chase
@@EvanMoonI’m not sure that TFC has a better chase, but you are right about the VW.
My understanding is that there were (at least) two “safety cars” used to “control” traffic , a white Pontiac and a green VW. These two cars appear several times during the chase as every separate scene that makes up the chase was filmed by several different cameras from different angles (as shown in this clip where one camera has caught the Dodge crashing into another camera). These were then spliced together in the film so in effect you are seeing the same piece of action multiple times but from a different viewpoint.
It’s fun to count how many times the Mustang passes the VW on the same point of the same road as the chase progresses!
@@EvanMoon Actually some of the annoying 21speed transmission shifting and ratty, over level audio exhaust note from Bullitt was also used in the French connection.
@@EvanMoon They reused it twice . Once for the in car shots and once for the external shots . The VW and the other car were used as block cars for the intersections
yeah, check out the skid marks on the pavement. As for everyone saying this got reused...look up "seven ups chase scene" and listen to THAT audio. sound familiar? you can also catch the entire movie here for free (a cop drama with Roy Schieder? why not)
I saw this movie in the theater with my folks when it first came out. Believe it or not, I noticed this back then, when I was 13 years-old! Thanks for clearing it up for me and everyone else!
Right on. My pleasure!
@@whospuss
My favorite scene of that movie is during the SF chase. There's a spot where the Charger does a mean left hander in an intersection while going downhill. That turn shows great skill.
I don’t believe you😊
@@buzzedalldrink9131 lol It's true! I actually talked my dad into taking me back to see it again the next weekend and I still couldn't figure it out. Loved the movie, though, and still do!
@@craigw.scribner6490 ok now I believe you
Despite its technical flaws (which I had never noticed) it remains one of the best car chases ever filmed.
The Mustang sold for $3,400,000 in 2020. The owner had it for 45 years. Wonder if he hated to sell it!!!!
That cut has always bugged me, thank you for explaining it.
Everyone is talking about this scene and the VW bug scenes... and no one is talking about the number of hubcaps the Charger loses?
Lots of hubcaps 😂
👏👏👏👏
@stejer
Actually, Everyone Talks About that, ALL THE TIME!!!!!
This film cut situation IS one, that extremely few people, ever talk about.
It is rarely discussed; but, should be, far more often.
I, frankly, have heard enough about hubcaps, to last me a long while.
Are you telling me your car doesn't have an automatic hubcap dispenser behind each wheel, which automatically deploys a new hubcap when one goes flying?
@@bellowphone This better be on the options list when I buy my next car or there will be no sale.
This Bullitt scene drives me crazy Larry.
i saw what you did there dirty mary.
Watch out for that train.
You fixed it! Good for you. That 'cut' has always bugged me.
I watched this movie every year on KGO ABC Channel 7. The DVD and digital copy still show the rough cut of the crash. That is part of the CLASSIC chase that took 7 days to film for only about 10 minutes of frames.
The Dodge Charger, it's one of the fastest cars in a straight line I ever took a ride in as a teenager back in the 70's, however when it came to cornering at speed it had all the grace of a dump truck. I have to say regardless of that it is one of my all time favorite cars of my youth. I wish I had it back..
Then it's really simple. The charger YOU rode in did not have top of the line suspension. I owned a 69 383 4 speed Roadrunner, and my namesake, a 70 440-6. THAT car had the best suspension and brakes you could order. Heavy duty everything, front disc, and "trak pac" suspension option. Night and day difference, even between the two cars, and even the 383 was worlds better than say, a 318 belvedere
When I finally saw bullet and realised the famous chase scene was against a charger I was immediately hyped having been very familiar with its handling difficulties when cornering. I was absolutely not disappointed.
Camaros of that vintage aren’t any better.
Actually when it came to cornering and handling, Mopars beat the competition. Just grab a 60s car magazine and read the road tests
Im surprised to hear that American car magazines from the 60s had glowing praise for American muscle cars
This "Cut" actually got ruined by an overzealous restoration! Originally (DVD release and older), when the car smashed into the camera, you saw kinetic black flashes as the car barreled into the actual camera, and it worked great.
But then some technician came in and REMOVED those flashes, probably to make a more stable image. BUT, now it looks like the car just disappears!
They should have either left that image alone, or at least cut out a few frames like you did here.
Would have been cool if he edited in a SpongeBob-esque "My leg!"
You’re absolutely right! I remember it working better in a print. Thanks for pointing that out!
Bad QC (an improvement in the wrong direction). To your point, we should check out an early VHS transfer. See if the original “good glitch” is there!
@@whospuss You don't even have to go that old. I know the original 2000s era DVD had the "good glitch" intact.
@@RetroCarsForever I can confirm that. My dvd copy has the black flashes rather than the jump cut. The black flashes actually add to the feeling of the impact.
I always knew they collided with that parked car. What I've never seen before is a different camera angle of the crash. That was cool as hell! From one of my favorite movies, thanks.
My pleasure!
This scene reminds me that I wanna see my old classmates…
I like how McQueen totally missed the turn and played it off like ‘yeah, i meant to do that’. True professional that guy👌
Also ,the front left fender gets smashed on hitting the old parked car, then later on other scene the same fender is intact.
and it loses about 6 hubcaps in the whole chase
@@AndrewBurbo-zw6pf and passed the green bug several times !
Thank you. This scene always bothered me. The disappearing frames came 30 years later.
The best part is racing through Guadaloupe Canyon Parkway in the later stages of the chase .... you'd think it went for miles and miles. In the time they were speeding through this, you can practically WALK the entire length of the road! (Well, not quite, but it's nowhere near as long as you'd think from watching the movie!) I've walked it many times, and actually watched them film the crash scene that appeared at the end of this chase. Used to take students there - there was a great exposure of a small fault in the rocks at the base of the hill, where you could demonstrate how to tell which way the rocks moved on either side of the fault when it last was displaced.
I never really took any notice of that before seeing this.
Thanks. Next time I'm watching the movie, I'll pay special attention to this scene.
Cheers 🇦🇺
You are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, but still one of the best car chases of all time IMO !
I owned two Dodge Chargers. A 1973 with a shift on the column, and a 74 automatic. I loved them both! That's when cars were cars!!!
Crazier still is the editor, Frank Keller, won an Oscar for it.
can you add anything about Frank? I think folk would appreciate your insights.
Great catch! Do more of these!
You forgot the vw bug that apparently outruns both cars and appears just ahead of them at each scene
I have always wondered about this. I agree with you, this is the way I would have cut it too. Has there ever been an interview with the editor or the director about this specific part?
Thanks for concurring:) Was beginning to think I was alone on this. Never saw anything about it from Yates or Frank Keller (who cut it). I’m actually a director myself (Jack Perez), and during my time in the biz, never heard a word - until I came across the BTS ftg that explained it.
I saw this in the theaters (yes, more than once). And I did hear of this. The SFPD assigned to the movie crew must have told my father about this. Because he would point this out as the scene played. There was a couple of other cool things too. Besides that those scenes can’t really connect, because the streets don’t connect. But I can’t remember what they all were. Between getting old & the memory fading, my father has been gone so long we never got to sit down together and watch them on VHS, or DVD. Rest in Peace Dad. You were taken from us too soon.
When I first saw Bullitt in 1969, those 8 frames were in the movie shown in a theater in Stamford, Ct. You could see the Charger's left front fender crumpling back against the tire. At first I thought that was the end of the chase.
ב''ה, Stamford gets different cuts of all sorts of films
Interesting. If you notice, the same Volkswagen appears in many of the scenes.
YES!!! Now that you mentioned it...
It was a control car. The VW and Camero made sure no one came into the scene.
The VW keeps appearing because it's the same action filmed from different angles.
Honestly, I wished this was kept in the modern home video releases. It makes the chase more dramatic, even if it was an accident during filming. Only the people who seen the original 1968 theater or the VHS were lucky enough to witness that.
Always wondered about that scene.....thanks, at least I can go to my grave happy ! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
As another tidbit, once you know what happened, if you watch McQueen shredding the Mustang after locking the brakes and backing up, you will see they did not pick up all the remnants of Bill Hickman's mishap. Something black is still on the ground. They cleared the tripod away but a piece of the broken camera made it into the final film (I assume it was a piece of camera - it sure did not "belong" in the middle of the footpath - sidewalk for US readers - I am from Australia). I am guessing they were more concerned about the lens since it looks like a broken camera body.
That's when I fell in love with US muscle cars. Still love V8s. Love my fPace SVR.
That really brings me back
Squealing tires, engine roaring.
💥 BOOM
I never knew that. And after watching this a couple of times, I was wondering what's the problem. Sure, then you slap up the text. Good thing you did that, because I'd probably be still watching and replaying it. So 8 frames = one-third of a second (right? 24 frames/second). Thanks. Worth a sub.
Originally in the Cinema, VHS and DVD R1, that detail was not corrected, it was left as it is shown in the last video, and for the more Remastered versions it was decided to completely remove that accident, making it look uglier, the behind cameramen said it was a small accident, and they decided to leave that mistake,
just as it happened in the 007 movie live and let die 1973, in the boat chase when one crashes into the sherift patrol
There’s a documentary on the Dr. No Blu-Ray about the restoration Lowry took on the Bond movies. They said they could digitally remove any filming mistakes, but the makers of the series decided to leave them the way they were originally shown. It’s a shame that they just didn’t leave Bullitt alone in this example.
Steve McQueen apparently did a fair amount of the stunt driving for this particular chase scene.
In one scene, McQueen tromped on the throttle of the car, and the engine torque was enough to break the axle free from the rear leaf springs. The movie production had three green fastback mustangs built as back up cars for the movie. So after McQueen wrecked the one car, they rolled out one of the two spares.
Incidentally, a few years back, one of the green fastback McQueen mustangs, was found in a personal collection, sitting in a barn for decades. It's sold at auction for a rather pricey sum of money.
they had two of each i believe.
There was a question to one of the other cars and it's believed to have been found in a junkyard outside the border east of San Diego not to long ago
They had two Mustangs
@@socalltd The chase car was found in a wrecking yard in Baha California and restored . It was confirmed by Ford that it was the actual car from the movie . The other Mustang was sold at Mecams a few years ago for over $3mill from memory
It HAD to be sold into Mexico as it's damage would not allow it to be sold into the USA!! interesting story.
That film won an Oscar for best editing, I believe.
The Dodge Charger literally hit the Vanishing Point.😆
I love Bullitt, but I always found it a strange choice to keep that take. As well as the reappearing Beetle. At least they could’ve had different colour Bugs to retain some believable continuity.🤔
Still one of the most epic chase scenes ever though.🎥🤌🏼
And still the cameraman survived.
The multiple shots of a slow crawling Green vw bug , always gave me a chuckle .
It is clear to me McQueen, saw the car crash and stayed clear deliberately missing that turn that would have put him on top of the accident. That caused McQueen to have to back up and accelerate once he saw the black charger was back on the road...
This is a great video. Thanks!
Thanks! You’re welcome!
Love the 1960 El Camino!
YES!!!
That’s one reason I really liked Police Squad. They put flubs in on purpose.
And the owner of the 55' Ford was so pissed they bought him a brand 68' Ford Galaxie LTD.
'56 Ford. '55 had round parking lights.
@@jbj27406 Car nerd knowledge levels always impress me. I respect the passion you have for your interest.
@@peted2770 Certainly, I'm not an expert, but having grown up in the fifties, every model year change was kind of a big deal as cars transitioned from antique to modern. The big debut of the next year's models was always a big deal each fall. I actually like the '55's better than the '56's in both Ford and Chevrolet. Best regards.
Well, he went from a 55 foot car to a 68 foot car, so I guess he made out.
@@daryllect6659 It's amazing how many people put the apostrophe in the wrong place.
I caught this the first time I saw the movie, and I always thought something catastrophic happened like someone got hurt and it was in frame. I didn't think about the camera getting destroyed, but I agree with your re-edit it looks a lot better.
I agree! But it was the first serious car chase in movie history so there were a few bugs.
It is the best, till now, but there were some serious car chases before. "It's a mad, mad, mad world", "Thunder Road" for instance.
Yeah, many green VW bugs. 😉
@@stephenholland5930 😂
I still wonder about the scene later in the chase where the bad guy in the Charger opens up on Bullitt with a shotgun and the windshield of the Mustang shatters. Looks very real.
...probably because it was. According to an article I read many years ago now, the shotgun was loaded with "chain balls" of some sort. The actor (who was terrified of guns, by the way) shot them into the Mustang's windshield. The article writer remarked that it made Ford windshields look a lot better than they actually were.
@@anonymousplanetfambly4598 That type of load would be called a bolo load, and the shatter pattern in the glass looked like it was a bolo indeed. But I don't think the actor in the Charger fired it. I think the gun that fired the live round was mounted on the front of the Mustang, on the RH side pointed straight back at the RH side of the windshield to insure the trajectory would not be toward the driver for obvious safety reasons. I think the actor in the Charger fired a blank. I seriously doubt they'd give the actor in the Charger a live round to fire toward the general direction of Steve McQueen from a moving car into another moving car, and tell him just make sure you hit the RH side of the windshield, don't miss and accidentally hit Steve. That would be flipping insane. It was already insane enough that Steve was even driving in the first place.
I looked carefully at the scene and went frame by frame at the moment the bad guy fired. There is a puff of smoke from his shotgun. Then on the next frame there is another puff of smoke coming from the front of Mustang, which is out of frame, but the smoke can be seen coming from the front of the car. And that is the moment when the windshield shatters. They had to somehow time the 2 events and the timing is very close. You have to advance 1 frame at a time to see it.
Some of the glass fragments enter the car when the windshield shatters and Steve reacts to that. Good thing it was away from his face because he was not even wearing sunglasses.
Today I'm sure they can time the 2 events electronically or just use cgi but I doubt they did that in 1967. They probably had a guy riding in the back seat of the Mustang sitting behind the driver with his thumb on a button to fire the gun at the moment when he saw the actor fire the blank from the Charger.
@@anonymousplanetfambly4598 That was Paul Genge. I read that he was scared stiff of guns & hated them, but you wouldn't know that from his acting!
Bill Hickman behind the wheel 😂
In the Charger, he said in an interview he had to keep slowing down to wait for the slower Mustang ;
I saw this in the cinema on release. No matter how large your TV, you have to watch the chase in the cinema to experience the ups and downs of the streets.
Yeah, I saw it in the theatre for the first time too when it was first released. I almost got carsick, and that never happens to me . TV doesn’t do it justice..
Even better sitting up the front in a cinema . Especially the in car shots . Feels like you are there . Well it did as a 12 year old in 1968
Great film and i have watched it dozens and dozens of times is TRULY the CLASSIC of ohALL CLASSIS! i remember back in July or AUG 2007 AMC tv network played this film ALL DAY LONG and as the GOOD LORD would make it 4X in a Row EVERYTIME i decided to walk back in the house THERE IT WAS AGAIN! the beginning of the CHASE SCENE. Wow i could not believe i got to watch the FRANK BULLITT CHASE SCENE 4X IN A ROW ALL IN ONE DAY! totally amazing and a MIRACLE
Cool. Good to finally know why.
when Frank chases the gunman in the hospital and when at last he gets out to the street you can see the gangsters' black car parking in the distance
The last edit is how it should’ve been done, don’t know why the editor didn’t just tighten up the cut and run the sound of impact into the next cut.
You can tell how well the shoot is going by how many skid marks are on the corner. Quite well in this case 🙂
Great film and great chase! And so much to get your teeth into that justifies watching it over and over again such as how many times do the white Pontiac that emerges from the junction and the green VW on the hill appear (it’s actually the same piece of action filmed by different cameras from different angles. The Pontiac and the VW were “safety” cars controlling the traffic).
How many hubcaps does the Dodge lose?
Can you spot the connecting pole between the Mustang and the Dodge just before the Dodge is released to crash into the garage?
Why do the garage petrol pumps explode when in fact the Dodge misses them entirely and passes behind them ( it was a mistake because no one, of course, was actually in the Dodge steering it)?
Brilliant film that is one of my favourites!
In regard to the Dodge losing its hubcaps, I remember sitting with my friends watching the film at the school cinema club . We knew of the issue and as the hubcaps started to come off we all shouted out together counting “One…two..three…four….five….”! Takes me back!
You could go on and on here. Here’s another one . How is it that you can clearly see the Dodge crashing into the building behind the petrol pumps while coming to rest upright on all four wheels and well away from the fire, when the next cut shows the car upside down and the two hitmen being incinerated inside?
No no..what have they done here? I remember clearly watching this very moment years ago and at the very moment of impact the picture went red and shakey for a split second before the cut. THIS footage has been cleaned up to make a much neater cut moment!
Still the greatest Hollywood car chase scene ever
That poor '56 Ford.
I love that you know it's eight frames things like this drive me nuts too especially when noone else notices them
I haven’t seen bullitt in a few years!
I think, that I’m due!
Good catch!!
I am so glad with this movie that they finally got rid of that stupid rear projection technique!
Perfect!
It's as if back then they thought, well that camera hit wasn't supposed to happen, so we'll make it look like it didn't... by making the dent pop back out? This never made any sense to me.
Bet the neighbors loved all that noise. 😄
In "Walking Tall 3" when Stud Pardee slides his blue Camaro centerscreen into the BBQ House parking lot he overcuts the radius taking out the hidden camera planted just out of view sending it skating across the tarmac...
I have watched that chase scene probably 50 times with the speakers cranked up and never caught that. Doubt if many others would if it wasn't a 'thing'
I'm certainly not unusualy "bright", but I noticed that the first time I saw it as a teenager in the 80s
Someone just happened to dump invisible paint on the car at that exact moment, making the entire car completely transparent.
That also explains the reason McQueen missed the turn . The Charger was still there after hitting the parked car
That was a lot of money. Any movie camera was a major purchase until the early 2000's.
Rental. The production companies rented their camera gear from outfits like Panavision. It ensured they always had the latest technology in perfect working order. You do NOT want to find out after shooting a complex scene that a defective camera you've (ab)used a lot left a scratch along the entire length of the film.
Much "pro" camera gear is still rental. I don't think you can buy a Arri Alexa, or a Panavision, and why would anyone do it? For your next film project, you want the newest, upgraded version. For lower budget productions, it makes sense to buy a Sony Venice or a Panasonic Varicam.
I’m more upset that that ‘56 Ford got schmucked…but of course, in 1968, it was just another 12 year old car…
Yes , wasn't a classic then
Has gotta be the very best ever car chases in history and I reckon the benchmark for all others that followed. Second to this has to be 'The French Connection'
In The French Connection, Bill Hickman stood in for Gene Hackman.
In a documentary, the driver of the charger had to slow down so the mustang could catch up.
The great Bill Hickman.
Nice I never new that! Thanks.
My pleasure!
I'm a car chase fiend and never noticed this...thanks.
Much better. It shows what really happens when chasing thru a city. Have to make those small adjustments.
Yes, I agree, however as I recall there was a white frame put there, a kind of flash effect.
The cut in the movie bugs me because it has such an obvious fix, as you showed. It had to be intentional on Keller's part to include it; I just don't see how Keller and Yates could do everything else so incredibly well done and accidentally left in those 8 frames. I'm actually surprised they didn't include the shot of the camera being destroyed. Audience would have those it was just a parking meter.
All that said, I love that the other driver has thick, black framed glasses. And I LOVE that they cut out the musical score once the chase really kicks in!
Definitely intentional. Everybody was ok with it?!? And it’s an editorial choice without precedent. So it’s not like this specific kind of jump cut was something audiences had seen and accepted from past films. Or would be inclined to consider “intentionally groovy”, as every other cut in the sequence is traditional. Just bizarre.
@whospuss I remember watching this scene a few months ago, getting to the disappearing car and thinking "Well there is no way this won the Oscar with that edit." But they won it with the edit, which, in a way, makes it even more frustratingly funny. But really, several of the other nominees that year don't make sense. I am shocked The Thomas Crown Affair wasn't even nominated for editing that year
I think they left it in there to experiment and give it a gritty movie feel. Philip D'Antoni, producer of this film, went on to produce The French Connection and The Seven Ups, which definitely tried to be as gritty as possible.
I understand that the stunt driver , Bill Hickman, was not originally intended to be shown as the driver of the Dodge but they then quickly came to realise he would make the perfect “man in black” at the wheel of the Dodge so he was elevated to “actor” status. He doesn’t actually say a word in the film, but says it all with his expressions!
@@PaulWhite-zn9xx And then goes on to act in The French Connection!
As good as this car chase is, the one in The French Connection (under the train overpass) is even more tense.
It has always annoyed me. I would have thought they could have done better even though it was the old cut and splice analogue days. And now that I have seen how much better your cut is, I hope you don't mind me doing the same to my own bluray version of the film when I transcode it via Movie Studio to H.265 for my Zappiti media player in a couple of weeks time.
To be fair, the more I muck around with vintage film and audio extracted from my bluray and DVD collection, the more I admire the work they did in the old days. It was way harder with a razor blade and clapper board than it was with an editing workstation, mouse and all digital video and cameras synced with a time code. And back in the old days, you didn't get 50 chances to get something perfect - it was like an operation - you had to get it right the first time and if you didn't, you were stuck with it.
I am mainly frustrated with lip sync problems though - the bane of movies made in the days of nagra analogue recorders totally separate to the camera transport. I have become so sensitised to lip sync problems that as a routine now, when I transcode a bluray for my media player, I will make sure the lip sync is 100% even if it means making a lot of minuscule edits that amount to a mere handful of milliseconds. If you own the Patton bluray, you will know what I mean - I must have made about 80 adjustments to that - anyone can see how bad that title is. Same with Episode 7, Season 2 of the original Lost in Space on bluray. The lip sync changes literally in every scene with a big jump in sync before the titles and after the titles. And it too would be very noticeable even to someone not sensitive to it.
And before anyone asks, yes, my workstation and TV setup have perfect lip sync calibration. And no, when I buy a movie made since they went all digital with time code sync of video and audio, I obviously don't need to do anything - the lip sync is obviously perfect with no intervention involved.
Good work sir! As a picture car wrangler I watch this stuff closely. Fix it in post...
My pleasure. I’m a director myself. Maybe we’ve worked together:)
It disappears. I didn't know other people saw that too
The part when Steve backs up and smokes the tire is awesome… even if there was a smoke machine in the trunk!!
I'm glad that charger didn't hit that 1960 El Camino in the background!
I'd prefer the 56 Ford Coupe, now, If that El Camino was a 59.....
YES! I was actually starting to fear that...
Peter Yates the director off bullit said bill Hickman lost control off the charger in 4 wheel drift and hit the car and destroyed the camera.and Steve McQueen over shot the same turn and Told them too leave the shots in the movie because it added realism too the chase also Steve McQueen made sure too stick his head out the window off the mustang on the reverse burnout sow the audience would know he was actually driving the mustang this is also the scene we’re they decided Steve couldn’t do all his own stunt driving .also the scene were the charger takes the bumper off the truck was not in the script .thanks for the upload 👍✌🏿
You ain’t wrong!
Since Steve McQueen was one of the producers, I think this is where he took this chase personally since he would be partly on the hook for the camera. It ended up with both actors really burned up at the end...
I understand that McQueen and Hickman practised the manoeuvres for a very long time out on a race track/airfield particularly the parts where the Mustang and the Dodge come in very close proximity towards the end of the chase. It must have been exhausting.
And another thing: that was a real accident that was not in the script. They kept in the movie to add to the realism
You chase scene affectionados should watch the chase scene in the movie "Short Time"!
still the greatest car chase in film
Typical Warner Brothers home video screw job. There should be a few flashing frames, registering the impact, but they screwed up on the remaster and snipped them out. This is not how the film originally screened, and I hope someday, it'll get fixed. But probably only if someone like Criterion licenses it. Warner Brothers don't care.
Steve McQueen nearly obliterates the differential with his reverse if I remember rightly 🤣
The old studio system was dying by the late ‘60s, and films became technically sloppy for a time. Bad edits, overdubbed, production values lowered. Around 1975 things started to pick up again, but you see mistakes like this a lot from around 1968-1975 or so.
Each shot was done over and over again. While shooting the film, the city goverment refused to permit shooting the entire middle third of the chase scene. To compensate for this, much of the takes of the first and last segments were edited together to create a proper length. Thus, the same cars in the same intersections are seen again and again.
If I remember correctly during this chase, didn't shots with other camera setups made it into the movie?
Hey, it's a Driver 1 sounds archive!
Why not just cut it with the behind the scenes footage of the camera getting hit? People would just assume the camera was parts of the other car's bumper flying off.
Good fix. Love it.
Thanks!
The car chase in Bullitt always felt wrong to me when I watched it. And I know why now: The streets are virtually empty. There is nobody walking around, there is no traffic, nothing to avoid ot to give tension to the scene, just two cars driving fast. Take other chases, like in The French Connection where the car is chasing the train across the streets of New York. We see other cars driving in the streets, we see pedestrians, we see the driver trying to avoid all this, its all chaotic, the chase scene gives all this tension and you can feel the stakes. Here is all "meh".
There was a guy in Ireland trying to sell a smashed movie camera, which he claimed was the camera from this clip. It was maybe ten years ago.
Neat.
Don't look at the Dune '84 cut of the sweeper tripping on the floor during the navigator entrance scene.
I didn't know this was a high priority problem until now. But thanks.
It’s more of a marginal priority.
Your cut has better visual continuity.