Finally got a chance to see this, forty years later. Man was I disappointed.
Well, not disappointed so much as unimpressed. Yes, the car chase is great (though looking at it now it's hard to remember these sort of things did not happen in movies till then, so it's the original but still) but the plot is flat, the ending is terrible and McQueen, for me, just sleepwalks through the movie, barely showing any emotion and just concentrating on being the tough guy. I suppose that's how he is, but for me Robert Vaughan stole the movie with his masterly portrayal of the unprincipled senator who's ready to roll over everyone to keep himself in office. Just found it hard to care about McQueen.
I note the scenes on the runway and flash forward to Die Hard II, though I do wonder if you could duck under taxi-ing jets without your eardrums bursting. Jackie Bisset was almost invisible too, not sure what the hell she was doing in the movie other than as the obligatory totty.
Much prefer Dirty Harry. I waited four decades for
this???
