In the wake of West Side Story and the upcoming semi-autobiographical The Fablemans, Steven Spielberg has clearly been on a mid 20th Century kick in which he’s mined memories of his youth. This is continuing with news that he and screenwriter Josh Singer are developing an original feature based on the character of Frank Bullitt, the San Francisco plainclothes detective played by Steve McQueen in Peter Yates‘ Bullitt (’68).
Translation: Spielberg wants to re-shoot that legendary car chase. And it might be cool to see him try to top what Yates and McQueen created as that Mustang and Dodge Charger burned rubber all over town.
But nobody can make that unique Bullitt thing happen again. The film was shot 55 years ago in a fairly simplified, lean-and-mean, flying-hubcaps style, but the San Francisco of that era (when the psychedelic revolution was being felt big-time) no longer exists, of course, and no actor can replicate that impeccable McQueen cool. And how many Bullitt-like car chases have been shot in the decades since?
It would be fascinating if Spielberg and Singer decided to set their film in mid ’60s San Francisco, but God, the expense!