Arrow Video's 4K Ultra HD Edition Of Director Peter Yates' Bullitt Starring Steve McQueen Rockets Home On Dec. 8

You can’t really talk about director Peter Yates’ Bullitt without first taking a look at filmmaker Norman Jewison’s The Thomas Crown Affair.   They are connected at the hip.

In 1966, first time screenwriter Alan Trustman had come up with a gem which he titled “The Crown Caper.”   At about the same time, Jewison was teaming up with Harold Mirisch for a three-picture production deal and it was announced (summer of 1966) that Jewison had cut a deal with a “Boston attorney” (that would be Trustman) for a story that was described as a “love story set against a suspenseful crime back-ground.”   This would become part of the Mirisch deal.

Trustman had envision Sean Connery as Thomas Crown, but in February of 1967 it was announced that Steve McQueen would be starring and production would begin in May.  It was something of a family reunion as Jewison had worked with McQueen on The Cincinnati Kid and Mirisch had produced both The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape.   The May start date was pushed back until June when Faye Dunaway joined the cast for filming in Boston.   

The Thomas Crown Affair didn’t open theatrically until June of the following year.   During that time, Trustman had written Bullitt (an adaptation of Robert L. Pike’s novel titled “Mute Witness”), which was acquired by Steve McQueen’s “Solar Productions” — McQueen liked the way Trustman had reworked “The Crown Caper” for him and was ready for more. 

Production began in San Francisco in February of 1968 and “The Adventures of Thomas Crown and Company” still hadn’t opened yet (in April of 1968 it was finally titled The Thomas Crown Affair) … in the interim, Faye Dunaway had become an overnight sensation in Bonnie and Clyde.

It was the perfect storm!  Everything was coming together for Steve McQueen to become a superstar in 1968 … The Thomas Crown Affair in June, followed by Bullitt in October!

And speaking of “coming together,” the round-about introduction to Arrow Video’s 4K restoration of Bullitt (from the original 35mm camera negative) will do just that, come together, on Dec. 8 with its 4K Ultra HD debut.   Domestic sales and distribution expertise will be provided by MVD Entertainment Group.

Bonus goodies kick off with two separate commentary options.   The first is an archival commentary by director Peter Yates and the second is a newly minted one featuring film critics Jason Bailey (crookedmarquee.com) and Matt Zoller Seitz (editor at large for RogerEbert.com).

Also included is documentary filmmaker Wendy Apple’s 2004 feature-length film festival documentary titled The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing (perfect … Frank P. Keller won the Oscar for his editing work on Bullitt).

Arrow is also providing a newly-produced featurette titled “The Sound of Cool,” the vintage featurette, “Bullitt: Steve McQueen’s Commitment to Reality” and an archival video session (circa 1996) with Yates.