In an homage to the 1968 film Bullitt starring Steve McQueen, organisers of the Silverstone Classic have recreated cinematography’s most famous movie scene involving a car, the Bullitt car chase scene.
There’s no doubting that the car chase from the 1968 film Bullitt is still the hands-down best in movie history. So, as a homage to the original film (and further celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Ford Mustang), which starred Hollywood legend Steve McQueen driving a Ford Mustang GT fastback – the organisers of the Silverstone Classic (25-27 July) have recreated the street chase in, er, the sleepy village of Silverstone, ending at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.
Doesn’t sound naff at all, does it. Only it isn’t. Well, not very…
Okay, so the 2min 58sec YouTube clip to promote the Silverstone Classic isn’t even close to the brilliance of the 10min 53sec original, but it’s still pretty cool. For a start, the remake has tried to adhere to the ‘visual style and events’ of the original, well, as much as you can when you’re filming in Silverstone and then on a race track and not on the hilly streets of San Francisco.
There are a few nods to the original film with the ‘baddie’ buckling up and wearing leather gloves and thick, black rimmed glasses and, of course, he’s in a black Dodge Charger R/T while the Steve McQueen character is driving a stunning Highland Green Mustang GT Fastback. In reference to the original, the Mustang ‘pops up’ in the bad guy’s rear vision mirror, there’s a random green VW Beetle in the background of a few scenes, and the Mustang eventually forces the Dodge off the track ending in a fiery explosion.
“It’s hard to imagine a better way for us to celebrate the Mustang’s forthcoming 50th birthday party than by making this special homage to the classic car chase in Bullitt,” said Nick Wigley, Silverstone Classic Event Director. “As you can imagine, we had a lot of fun making this film – not least as it gave us all a great excuse to watch the original movie once again.”
