do action, so I think the studio had another motive in letting me come over. I think the reason they let McQueen bring me in was because if they let him have his way, they'd get him out of the studio – and out of their hair – for a while." Yates moved to New York. "A filmmaker must go where the stories are," he said. Bullitt was a huge success. Yates signed a contract with the Mirisch Company to make four films over seven years. Yates followed Bullitt with a romantic comedy, John and Mary (1969) with Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow. "I like to change the kind of stories I do," said Yates. "If you're not careful, you get pigeonholed and sooner or later someone better will come along." In 1970, Yates said he would make Don Quixote with Richard Burton but the project stalled. Instead he did a war film with Peter O'Toole produced by Deeley, Murphy's War (1971). Yates did another heist film, The Hot Rock (1972), based on a novel by Donald Westlake starring Robert Redford from a William Goldman script. After this he was going to make The Leatherstocking Saga and Jonathan Schwartz's Almost Home but neither was made. In 1972 he signed a four picture deal with Paramount which was to start with Deadly Edge from a Westlake novel. Yates stayed with crime with The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) starring Robert Mitchum. He then did two comedies: For Pete's Sake (1974) with Barbra Streisand, and Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976); he produced the latter along with writer Tom Mankiewicz. Yates had a big commercial success with the adventure film The Deep (1977), where Mankiewicz did some uncredited writing. Breaking Away Yates used his clout from The Deep to raise finance for Breaking Away (1979), written by Steve Tesich, whose play The Passing Game, Yates had directed in New York. Yates produced and directed the film. Breaking Away was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Film for Yates. It led to a short-lived TV series that Yates also produced. Yates and Tesich were reunited on the thriller Eyewitness (1981) starring William Hurt. He tried fantasy with Krull (1983), but it was not a success at the box office. The Dresser Yates also produced and directed The Dresser (1983), an adaptation of the Ronald Harwood stage play. The film received