Going back to the OP, one thing ought to be remarked on. The OP mentions that Roger Ebert gave four stars to this film. That’s true, but it doesn’t actually mean very much. It doesn’t mean that it’s among his 100 favorite films. It doesn’t even mean that it’s among his 1000 favorite films. Ebert gives out four stars rather promiscuously. Here’s a list someone has made of the 742 movies that he gave four stars to from 1967 to 2007:
If you consider all the movies both before and after that time period that he has ever seen, Ebert probably considers more than a thousand of them as worthy of four stars.
Loathe the chase in Bullit because I grew up in the area and it made no sense. Loved the chase in The French Connection because there is no sens of “huh? how did they get there from here?” I enjoy a good car chase.
I agree with those who say it does not hold up that well, but once again you are comparing it to everything that has followed. Talking about the chase scene in “Bullitt” it is one of the greatest ever, but it is easy to get distracted by the fact that both cars pass the same green Volkswagen 5 times in about 5 seconds as it is crawling down the same street. They then drive past the Marina Safeway twice without turning around. You don’t have to be from San Francisco to note these irritants, but the overall scene is still the greatest.