Movie of the Week 22

C’était un Rendez-vous 1976 adventure French (short film)

Available free on Youtube here

Since its 1976 debut, Rendez-vous has rightfully become legendary in the car culture. The short film is simply a high speed, eight minute daredevil race across the heart of Paris.  One scene, one take. No dialogue and (shockingly) no cops. When I share this film with first time rookies they shrug and say, “I can tell it is virtual. It’s fake.” To which I reply, “Wrong. It was made in 1976 long before CGI existed.” Duh? The film is only eight minutes, so take some time to watch it here via YouTube.    

Extra information for fellow Paris lovers: Opening scene – At dawn, the car enters Marshall Foch Blvd at Porte Dauphine circle and roars to the Arc de Triomphe circle, enters the magnificent Champs-Élysées straightaway, and hits peak speed on way to Place de la Concorde, then speeds to the Louvre where the car slows, then off to Opéra Garnier, speed on to Trinity Cathedral and finally we hang on as we weave our way through a maze of cobblestone, narrow streets ending at the Basilica Sacre Coeur. Along the way, the driver runs 18 stop lights and zig zags around buses, cars, trucks, bikes, people and pigeons. BTW this film is banned in France on social media.

More details for car and film fans - I built a custom Google map (see below) to estimate total driving distance at 11.9km (7.38mi). Run Time = 8min 24sec. Overall average speed = 52 mph. Using a stopwatch and my trusty calculator, I refined the speed estimates. First I divided the drive into two parts: Part 1 – Porte Dauphine to the left turn at the Louvre gate(5.8km) time 3min. Average speed = 72 mph. Part 2- Louvre Rivoli gate to Basilica Sacre Coeur (6.1km) time 5.5 min. Average speed = 41 mph.

Paris “Right Bank” map via Google Maps

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House Clark author touring around Paris at a much slower pace.

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