Mustangs in the Movies: Bullitt
There have been a lot of great movie Mustangs, but not many of them have their own special edition. Steve McQueen’s Highland Green 1968 GT390 2+2 fastback from Bullitt is that kind of movie Mustang — the one that inspired the modern classic SN95 and S-197 variants, and the king of all movie Mustangs.
Bullitt is actually a pretty darn good thriller from start to finish. It won an Oscar for Best Editing, but all anyone remembers is the fastback, specifically as driven in what has come to be known as “The Chase,” the scorching ten minutes it takes for Lt. Frank Bullitt to turn the tables on a couple of awful ’68-Charger-driving bad guys trying to damage such a pristine vehicle as a ’68 GT.
Certainly the editing was serviced by the photography, which captures the beauty of the ’68 from every possible angle. The creative camera angles serve up “The Chase” inside and out. The footage inside the car is like playing the very best driving game around, because you don’t just get to be a first-person driver, but you get to be Steve effin’ McQueen. The medium shots are all garage-lining poster worthy. And then director Peter Yates (of “Krull” fame!) pans out wide to put the performance on full drool-inducing display. That the scenery and terrain of San Francisco are just as closely identified with “The Chase” as the fastback is further proof of its quality.
Part of the heightened drama of “The Chase” comes from the fact that it’s set to the score of natural screeching, downshifting, and 390 V8 big-block vroom-vrooming. The lack of music in “The Chase” certainly helps make it one of the best driving sequences ever put on the big screen, and it probably helped account for the film’s Best Sound Oscar nom, too.
Though it was tops at the time, in 2004 McQueen’s Mustang mystique grew even greater when Ford released what may very well be the finest Mustang commercial ever made. Heck, it may just be the finest car commercial ever (perhaps not truck, though). Paying homage not only to Bullitt, but also to Field of Dreams through the magic of computer imagery, McQueen (who had died 24 years earlier) emerges from a corn field and gets behind the wheel of a growling 2005 Mustang GT. Not like we needed it, but we are, yet again, reminded of why McQueen is the quintessential image of a man and his Mustang, and also why we need to start wearing more turtle neck sweaters.