raywest

21st Apr 2021

Bullitt (1968)

Question: What character did the actor John Aprea play in the movie? The credits at the end lists him as 'The Killer', but who did he kill? He wasn't one of the two hit men at the hotel.

Answer: Notice: Aprea is credited as "Killer", not "The Killer." I think this confuses reviewers, as they assume he must be one of the hit men. However, the hit men are credited as "Phil" (Bill Hickman) and "Mike" (Paul Genge). Genge is much older than Aprea and Aprea does not look like the grey-haired hit man, as another contributor has pointed out already. There is no other killer in the plot. Perhaps Aprea's scenes were cut.

Answer: The doctor that alerts Bullitt that the grey-haired hitman is in the hospital looks like Aprea. He calls himself Dr. Kenner, and that character is uncredited. Maybe "Killer" was supposed to be "Kenner" in the credits?

Answer: Aprea portrays the Organization hood who shoots wildly at Johnny Ross as Ross' car careens out of the parking lot into and down the alley during his getaway in Chicago.

Answer: In a Bullitt movie clip on the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) website, it identifies John Aprea as the killer who goes to the hospital to murder the witness. Bullitt chases him to the basement toward the end of the film.

raywest

The killer that Bullitt chases is Paul gange (listed in the credits in the role of "Mike") despite the TCM website. Aprea is listed in the movie's credits as the killer, but also lists gange as Mike. Look the name up on IMDB and you can see from his photo that he is the guy Bullitt chases. Why John Aprea - at least 20 years younger than the killer in the movie - is credited as the killer, I have no idea. And I have no idea where in the movie Aprea really appeara.

9th May 2021

Bullitt (1968)

Question: In the surgery scenes, it actually appears to this nurse that the scrub nurse may be a real one. Is she?

Answer: No, she's played (uncredited) by Barbara Bosson, an actress who had an extensive TV career.

Answer: She was the wife of Steven Bochco. He created the TV Shows, Hill Street Blues, Doogie Howser, L.A. Law, N.Y.P.D. and countless other shows. All of which influenced TV programming today, with hard hitting stories, ripped from the headlines and subject matter.

Answer: The film was extensively shot on location in San Francisco, foregoing a sound stage for interior scenes, and was noted for depicting realistic police and medical procedures. The scene in the E.R. used real doctors and nurses as extras. The actress, Barbara Bosson, was likely coached by the medical staff.

raywest

30th Jul 2019

Bullitt (1968)

Question: How did the bad guy have a gun on the flight? He pulls a gun in the airfield chase scene so he had to have it on the plane as he jumped off it.

Answer: Airport security in the late 1960's was not nearly as thorough as it is in present day. Metal detectors didn't become commonplace at airports until the early 1970's.

BaconIsMyBFF

It was the D.B. Cooper hijacking of a Boeing 727 commercial jet in 1971 that radically changed how airport security was handled. Before that, there was virtually little to no pre-boarding security checks.

raywest

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