11 years after his last theatrical feature (and far longer since the last one anyone saw), the passing of British director Peter Yates likely won’t leave much of a dent on contemporary audiences. Not knowingly, anyway — though his innovative visual and editing schemes in the iconic 1968 Steve McQueen thriller “Bullitt” helped change the shape of the prototypical Hollywood action sequence. It was, of course, his quieter work on “The Dresser” and “Breaking Away” that landed him four career Oscar nominations. But since those, along with that car chase from “Bullitt,” are all being amply covered in the obits, I thought I’d spotlight a more neglected pleasure: his frisky 1972 caper “The Hot Rock.”