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Re: Steve mcqueen.. chase scene on GPS
Car chase
Detective Bullitt spins his tires for the chase.Two 1968 390 CID V8 Ford Mustangs (325 bhp) and two 1968 V8 Dodge Chargers (375 bhp) were used for the chase scene, both owned by Ford Motor Company and part of a promotional loan agreement with Warner Bros. The Mustangs' engines, brakes and suspensions were highly modified for the chase by veteran car racer Max Balchowsky. The Dodge Chargers were bought outright from Glendale Dodge in Glendale, California. The engines in both Chargers were left largely unmodified, but the suspensions were upgraded to cope with the demands of the stunt work.
The director called for speeds of about 75–80 mph (120–130 kmph), but the cars (including the ones containing the cameras) reached speeds of over 110 mph (175 kmph) on surface streets. Driver's point-of-view angles were used to give the audience the "feel" of the ride as the cars jumped the hills. Filming the chase scene took three weeks, resulting in 9 minutes and 42 seconds of film. During this film sequence, the Charger loses six hubcaps and has different ones missing in different shots. As a result of shooting from multiple angles simultaneously, and some angles' footage used at different times to give the illusion of different streets, the speeding cars can seen passing the same green VW bug four different times, and the same blue sedan with black top three times. The Charger also crashes into the camera in one scene and the damaged front fender is noticeable in later scenes. After the charger hits a parked car, it disappears for a split second from the screen before the scene is changed.
Though it is widely believed that Steve McQueen—who was an accomplished driver—did the bulk of the driving stunt work, actually the stunt coordinator, Carey Loftin, hired famed stuntman and motorcycle racer Bud Ekins to do most of the risky stunts in the Mustang, he is also the stunt man who lays down his bike in front of a skidding truck during the chase (Ekins also doubled for McQueen in the sequence of The Great Escape in which McQueen's character jumps over a barbed wire fence on a motorcycle). The Mustang’s interior rear view mirror goes up and down depending on who is driving: when the mirror is up (visible) McQueen is behind the wheel, and when it is down (not visible) Ekins is driving. The black Dodge Charger was driven by Bill Hickman, who also played one of the hit-men and helped with the choreography of the chase scene. This nearly-10-minute film sequence was voted the best car chase in film history in a poll of 5,500 British film enthusiasts.
Of the two Mustangs, one was scrapped after filming due to liability concerns and the surviving backup car was sold to an employee of Warner Brothers' editing department. The car changed hands several times, and Steve McQueen at one point made an unsuccessful attempt to buy it. Currently in non-working condition, the Mustang is rumored to have been kept in a barn in the Ohio River Valley by an anonymous owner.[2] The Ford Motor Company has twice reproduced the dark green Mustang for sale to the public; once in 2001, and once in 2008. The 2008 model has a 4.6-liter V8 engine, 315 hp. Both were made available in Dark Highland Green, a color similar to that used on the film's automobile.[3]
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