“You sell whatever you want, but don’t sell it here tonight.”
Steve McQueen based his character of Bullitt on San Francisco homicide inspector Dave Toschi, made famous for his work on the Zodiac killings. McQueen had a copy made of Toschi’s custom fast-draw shoulder holster for the film, though he doesn’t take his gun out until the very end of the movie. Director Peter Yates was personally selected for this movie by Steve McQueen because Yates had filmed a realistic car chase a year earlier through the streets of London in Robbery (1967). Bullitt’s famous chase scene wasn’t originally in the script. In the first draft of the script adapted from Robert L. Pike’s novel “Mute Witness”, Detective Frank Bullitt was a Boston policeman who ate a lot of ice cream and never solved a case. The book had originally been bought with Spencer Tracy in mind to play Bullitt, but with Tracy’s death in 1967, the property fell into the hands of Steve McQueen and producer Philip D’Antoni. D’Antoni changed the location to San Francisco and added the car chase. Robert Vaughn, who plays politician Walter Chalmers, at first refused to do the film because he didn’t like the script and felt that there was no plot or a sensible story-line. McQueen insisted Vaughn be in the film so the studio offered him more money. Later Vaughn said his performance contains some of his best work that he is most proud of. Bud Ekins, McQueen’s motorcycle racing buddy, drives Bullitt’s modified Mustang for the bulk of the stunt driving. Ekins also did the famous motorcycle jump for Steve McQueen in The Great Escape (1963).
