Bullitt (1968)

Steve McQueen did better work in his tragically shortened career, but this is one of the films that helped make him a screen icon. He's at his deadpan best as the maverick cop who's assigned to protect a key government witness against a crime syndicate. Director Peter Yates gives it more, in terms of urban reality, than the predictable script deserves, and Frank P Keller won an Oscar for editing the famous San Francisco car-bouncing hill chase. But it's always McQueen's movie. He's snappy, laconic and cynical in equal doses, and his performance is complemented by the assured support of Robert Vaughn as a sleazy politician.