Just over a year ago, when I was writing my latest history of San Francisco, I went searching online for the famous car chase scene from Steve McQueen’s 1968 movie thriller, Bullitt. (You will find that particular video clip embedded here.)
For the sake of comparison, I decided more recently to look for another film chase sequence that I remembered well: John Wayne’s careening through Seattle in the 1974 crime drama McQ. You can watch that video below. It takes fewer liberties with Seattle geography than Bullitt did with the heights and sights of San Francisco, but there’s a lot of running around in circles, and at least one glaring continuity problem. Still, it’s a pretty engaging sequence--and it lets you see what Washington’s Emerald City was like before it got to be quite so popular and touristed. Whoever uploaded this McQ clip helpfully labeled some of the places by which Wayne speeds in his 1970 Firebird.
READ MORE: “Shall We Gather at the River?” by Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times); “Sort-of Related: McQ (1974)/Harry in Your Pocket (1973),” by Vince Keenan.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
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I had never heard of this movie until last weekend when I stopped by a nearby church sale. Someone who must have been a John Wayne fan had donated movie tie-in paperbacks of McQ as well as Big Jake and Cahill. Couldn't resist them at 25 cents each and just as I was ready to pay, one of the workers announced that everything was half price. Also got a Gunsmoke PB with James Arness on the cover. McQ appeasr to be unread and I'll admit that I'll never read it or the others.
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