<P> At the time of the film's release, the car chase scene generated prodigious excitement . Leonard Maltin has called it a "now - classic car chase, one of the screen's all - time best ." Emanuel Levy wrote in 2003 that, "Bullitt contains one of the most exciting car chases in film history, a sequence that revolutionized Hollywood's standards ." In his obituary for Peter Yates, Bruce Weber wrote, "Mr. Yates' reputation probably rests most securely on Bullitt (1968), his first American film--and indeed, on one particular scene, an extended car chase that instantly became a classic ." The editing of this scene likely won editor Frank P. Keller the Academy Award for Best Editing . </P> <P> The chase scene starts at 1h: 05m into the film . The total time of the scene is 10 minutes and 53 seconds, beginning in the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco, at Columbus and Chestnut (although Bullitt first notices the hitmen following his car while driving west on Army, now Cesar Chavez, just after passing under Highway 101), followed by Midtown shooting on Hyde and Laguna Streets, with shots of Coit Tower and locations around and on Filbert and University Streets . The scene ends outside the city at the Guadalupe Canyon Parkway in Brisbane . The route is geographically impossible to take place in real time . </P> <P> Two 1968 390 V8 Ford Mustang GT Fastbacks (325 hp) with four - speed manual transmissions were used for the chase scene, both lent by the Ford Motor Company to Warner Bros. as part of a promotional agreement . The Mustangs' engines, brakes and suspensions were heavily modified for the chase by veteran car racer Max Balchowsky . Ford also originally lent two Galaxie sedans for the chase scenes, but the producers found the cars too heavy for the jumps over the hills of San Francisco . They were replaced with two 1968 375 hp 440 Magnum V8 - powered Dodge Chargers . The engines in both Chargers were left largely unmodified, but the suspensions were mildly upgraded to cope with the demands of the stunt work . </P> <P> The director called for maximum speeds of about 75--80 miles per hour (121--129 km / h), but the cars (including the chase cars filming) at times reached speeds of over 110 miles per hour (180 km / h). Driver's point - of - view shots were used to give the audience a participant's feel of the chase . Filming took three weeks, resulting in nine minutes and 42 seconds of pursuit . Multiple takes were spliced into a single end product resulting in discontinuity: heavy damage on the passenger side of Bullitt's car can be seen much earlier than the incident producing it, and the Charger appears to lose five wheel covers, with different ones missing in different shots . Shooting from multiple angles simultaneously and creating a montage from the footage to give the illusion of different streets also resulted in the speeding cars passing the same vehicles at several different times, including, widely noted, a green Volkswagen Beetle . At one point the Charger crashes into the camera in one scene and the damaged front fender is noticeable in later scenes . Local authorities did not allow the car chase to be filmed on the Golden Gate Bridge, but did permit it in Midtown locations including Bernal Heights and the Mission District, and on the outskirts of neighboring Brisbane . </P>

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