This Cut in BULLITT (1968) Drives Me Crazy!

The notorious "disappearing car" finally explained by rare behind the scenes footage!

[AFTER_MIDNITE]

Bill Hickman hit the parked car and the camera, but Steve McQueen missed the turn entirely. According to IMDB, Steve needing to backup wasn’t in the script.

[stainmasterzinc]

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.

[craigw.scribner]

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!

[stejer]

Everyone is talking about this scene and the VW bug scenes... and no one is talking about the number of hubcaps the Charger loses?

[davel]

Despite its technical flaws (which I had never noticed) it remains one of the best car chases ever filmed.

[TheMrShinagami]

That cut has always bugged me, thank you for explaining it.

[terryschnereger]

This Bullitt scene drives me crazy Larry.

[Pancho-villa]

Also, the front left fender gets smashed on hitting the old parked car, then later on other scene the same fender is intact.

[craigster]

You fixed it! Good for you. That 'cut' has always bugged me.

[charlesnye]

Interesting. If you notice, the same Volkswagen appears in many of the scenes.

[jacksrbetter]

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..

[Habs]

Crazier still is the editor, Frank Keller, won an Oscar for it.

[John_Redcorn_]

I like how McQueen totally missed the turn and played it off like ‘yeah, i meant to do that’. True professional that guy👌

[RetroCarsForever]

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.

[Marc]

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.

[eugenegilleno]

Always wondered about that at least I can go to my grave happy ! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[LITTLE]

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.

[kevinlloyd]

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.

[EducatedSkeptic]

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.

[miguelcastaneda]

You forgot the vw bug that apparently outruns both cars and appears just ahead of them at each scene