Very up-to-date and just as exciting as the screenplay is the music Lalo Schifrin wrote for the film, which embeds the characters, places and events in a musical context. For example, “Bullitt”: the metrically angular main theme portrays a mysterious, cool character who sums up a situation with keen alertness and then makes his attack with the speed of lightning.
Initially the music travels through easy-going Latin terrain. But gradually the rhythmic texture changes and takes a rougher path, with clicks, knocks and hammering. Legendary flute lines create a compensatory placidness with airy clouds floating above the sharp mix. A really special track is “Shifting Gears”: here you can listen to Schifrin tuning the car, how he manipulates a jammed springy bossa to take on the sound of clean, smooth-running rock.
“Bullitt” (OST) – Lalo Schifrin (arr, cond); John Audino, Bud Brisbois (tp, fgh); Milt Bernhart, Dick Noel (tb); Bud Shank, Bill Perkins (reeds); Mike Melvoin (p, org); Mike Deasy (g); Ray Brown (b); Carol Kaye (el-b); Stan Levey (dr); Larry Bunker (perc) & strings
Recording: December 1968 at Western Recorders, Hollywood, by Lee Herschberg
Production: Jimmy Hilliard
