You'll notice the '68 Charger R/T used in the car chase in the background.

I was 15 years old when I first saw a scratchy VHS copy of “Bullitt.” The sound skipped, the picture was soft and I was being forced by my best friend’s dad to watch because, “We didn’t know what the hell we were talking about” when it came to cool movie stars.

We didn’t know who Steve McQueen was. We had no idea of the film’s legacy as being the single best car chase ever captured on film. We, for all intents and purposes, didn’t know what the hell we were talking about.

I sat alone on the couch that Saturday afternoon and watched a film that was less about the ill-plotted mafia witness/informant switcheroo and more about coolness.

Sure, McQueen’s Frank Bullitt was a cop – a San Fransisco detective – but he was a cool cop. He had a cool car, a ’68 Mustang GT390. He had a cool San Fransisco two-story flat. And Frank had a cool girlfriend, Cathy a British architect played by the ridiculously, unnaturally beautiful Jacqueline Besset.

“Bullitt” isn’t a great film, but it sure as hell is cool.

While only a mere device in the film, the car chase in “Bullitt” earmarked this movie as an action film while it and its somewhat tame finale are the only two “action” sequences. Nonetheless, what that near 10-minute chase did to my teenage brain was enough to direct me to where I am today. Unlike most viewers, McQueen’s handling of the Highland Green pony car didn’t convert me to the Blue Oval camp.

Rather, it was the low droning of the 440 Magnum powering the hitmen’s black-on-black-on-black R/T Charger flipped my Mopar switch. Sure the bad guys met their demise in a fiery mess, but it was that ’68 Charger that did me in.

We eyed these rare behind-the-scenes snapshots of Mr. McQueen making cool look easy. Enjoy.