HAVING FUN WITH PHOTOS!

The famous blown turn in "Bullitt" (1968) with a right turn onto Chestnut Street in San Francisco was a mistake that Director Peter Yates decided to leave in the Steve McQueen film. The late Bud Ekins handled the bone-jarring jumps in the Russian Hill District (between Taylor and Filbert Street) as well as laying down a motorcycle on the Guadelupe Canyon Parkway during cinema's most famous car chase. Carey Loftin and Steve McQueen divided the rest of the driving. Veteran stunt driver Bill Hickman drove the black 1968 Dodge Charger R/T with actor Paul Genge in the passenger seat as the gunman. The script is still hard to follow, but the chase itself has never been equalled 40 years later--and likely never will be.

Ah, yes: The less famous remake from our documentary, "Turning Back Time: Celebrating the 35th Anniversary of 'Bullitt'" (Unreleased 2003--Thank God). Here I am barreling through an intersection onto Wareham Street in Mt. Adams (Cincinnati), then applying 275 horsepower in reverse before speed-shifting up the hill. This stunt cost me a $3,000 transmission and dry cleaning bills from the stench of overheated transmission fluid that remained in the car for weeks. Do NOT this at home! An expensive lesson in Independent film making, I blogged about this years ago. We shot 8 hours of film--then took 8 hours to edit it down to a mere 10 minutes. I approached 30 videographers before I found one who was up for the challenge. There were 13 film locations and I drew story boards for two weeks. Ford Motor Company executives in Dearborn, Michigan actually showed the film over a closed feed circuit to corporate staff members only and they actually loved it! The three executives I interfaced with have since retired. The film was ordered by a former cable television production manager in Philadelphia. He too has gone on to other adventures and so have I (which is a blessing). Now back to some fun...

March 21, 1967 Grauman's Theater, Los Angeles, CA.


Steve McQueen with wife Neile


Signing the Wet Cement!

Then...

September, 2007 Grauman's, Los Angeles, CA. A Wonderful Day for Me during a 33 day business trip from Hell. This day was one of the few enjoyable activities I allowed myself. In hindsight, I should have splurged.

I saw my first McQueen film, "The Great Escape" at age 10. How many of we fans have had the enjoyment of finally making this trip to L.A.? Plenty!

-
(All McQueen Photos by the amazing Donna Redden)

(All Manning Photos by Jill Munroe-Google her on Wikipedia!)


-


We're 110 DAYS out from our "Annual Steve McQueen Film Festival" !


-


HAVE A NICE WEEKEND!