The thirteen minute car chase is the famous centerpiece of the movie. It starts off in slow cat-and-mouse style, accompanied by a nerve-tingling Lalo Schifrin score, as Bullitt is tailed by two hit men. It then explodes into an all-out high speed frenzy, accompanied only by the snarl of overworked engines, after Bullitt deftly gives them the slip - the hunted becomes the hunter! The route traverses many neighborhoods, jumping from place to place and often doubling back. It begins in Bernal Heights, moves to Potrero Hill then tours North Beach and Russian Hill. It then progresses through the Marina, continues into McLaren Park and concludes south of San Francisco from Daly City through San Bruno Mountain State Park, dramatically culminating in Guadalupe Valley, Brisbane. Professional drivers Bill Hickman (in the Charger) and Loren Janes, Bud Ekins and occasionally Steve McQueen himself (in the Mustang), delivered the audacious stunts.
Go here for an interview with stuntman Loren Janes for an insider’s take on the filming of the chase.
To spare the soles on CitySleuth’s gumshoes these 59 location shots are identified but not presented Then and Now. Go here to see 16 highlights from the chase in Then and Now format.
Nick calls his fiancé Polly (Barbara Lawrence) and asks her to join him in San Francisco. When she arrives by ferry she is somewhat taken aback to find that Nick, who is still groggy from his mugging, has sent Rica to meet her.
Then ... Polly arrives at the Ferry Building whose clock tower was inspired by the 12th century Giralda bell tower in Seville, Spain. The view below must have been filmed from the rooftop of the Wellman Peck Coffee building on the corner of Jackson and Embarcadero (see it here). It's interesting to see the north entrance to the underpass that ran below the the Ferry Building plaza - it opened in 1925 but has long since been filled in.
... and Now, the exterior hasn't changed (below) but the interior recently underwent an ambitious four year renovation which has reinvigorated the building into a bustle of upscale food stores, restaurants and offices as well as a still operational ferry terminal.
... from 1965 ... in between 'Then' and 'Now' as shown above, the Ferry Building went through a dark period when a double-decker freeway was built, isolating it from the city (below) - what were the city planners thinking? (Providentially the 1989 earthquake damaged and doomed the freeway and it was pulled down. Nature rules!).
Then ... Polly descends the central main stairway of the building and anxiously looks outside for Nick ...
... and Now, the same spot viewed from the street.
Then ... She is still looking for him as Rica approaches. Behind them, across the plaza, is the start of Market Street.
... and Now, the plaza used to be a turnaround for Market Street streetcars. Today the Muni E-Embarcadero, F-Market, N-Judah and T-Third trams run along the Embarcadero.
... from 1956 ... this archival photo, taken from the Ferry Building seven years after the movie was released, shows a wider view across the plaza, including the streetcar turnaround. The arrow-straight Market Street disappears into the distance and at far left you can just see part of the south entrance to the plaza underpass.
... on location ... Here's a fun photo of Barbara Lawrence and Valentina Cortese acting out this scene in front of a gawk of onlookers.
Rica takes Polly to see Nick but when she learns that he has been robbed of all of his money she storms out of his life.
Archie's friend Barney invites him to his home, hoping to cheer him up after Petulia's brutal beating. He and his wife Wilma show him old slides of them from the days when they hung out with Archie and his ex, Polo, but they can't snap Archie out of his depression.
Then ... Barney's home is a fine residence in an upscale neighborhood. During his visit we get to see Archie's car parked outside two homes, presumably one of them is Barney's but there is no indication which of those two front doors he entered.
... and Now, These homes are 3234 (on the left) and 3232 Pacific Avenue (on the right) bordering the Presidio in the Presidio Heights neighborhood. 3234 was undergoing a teardown interior renovation when the recent photo (below) was taken but the exteriors remain the same. Unchanged too is the red brick parking strip which enabled Citysleuth to find this location.
... and Now, the homes are very close to the Presidio Gate at the junction with Presidio Ave. Below is another look at the two homes today; the gate on the right, the homes on the far left.
Then ... On a trivia note - a decade earlier, James Stewart followed Kim Novak's Jaguar through the Presidio Gate in the 1958 movie Vertigo, shown below and detailed here. Note the iron gates which allowed the road to be closed off back then when the Presidio was a U.S. military installation.
... and Now, the same gate today taken from the same spot. Now that the military have left and the area is run by the National Park Service (since 1994) the iron gates are gone, no longer needed.
A horse-drawn carriage is next shown entering Central Park.... but, these scenes weren't filmed in Central Park at all. The location was re-created on the Columbia Pictures' Columbia Ranch backlot in Burbank, Southern California.
Then ... None of Central Park's entrances match up exactly with the view below - instead, these street blocks appear to be loosely based on Central Park South as viewed from the Merchant's Gate entrance near Columbus Circle with the 5th Avenue junction at far left.
... and Now, the real Central Park South (part of W. 59th Street) looking east towards 5th Avenue from 7th Avenue. Central Park is on the left.
Then ... The carriage is carrying the stunning Elsa Bannister (the normally redheaded Rita Hayworth now with short platinum-blonde hair). Michael O'Hara (Orson Welles), an Irish journeyman seaman with a philosophical take on life, is walking in the park and engages her in conversation.
... and Now, today, carriage rides are a popular tourist attraction in Central Park but the drivers now are up front and sitting down.
O'Hara is immediately smitten by the enigmatic beauty. In Irish brogue voiceover he confides "That's how I found her and from that moment on I did not use my head very much, except to be thinking of her". Neither is he fazed when she hints at a racy background, having lived in Shanghai (hence the movie name) and gambled in Macao.
