This Week’s Best Video: “C’était un rendez-vous”
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Having grown up in the Detroit area, I came from a car family. My Father was an auto designer, his brother was an auto designer, my cousins were designers, and if my other family members didn’t work in design, they still worked for one of the big three. Growing up in an environment where cars were a way of life, I was privy to some very cool things which led to develop my own interest in automobiles and design at the same time. One of them is the video you’ve seen above. At three years of age, I remember watching this film on videocassette with family, over and over, sharing the excitement of a city-wide cannonball. If Steve McQueen is the King of Cool, filmmaker Claude Lelouch is the Emporer of Ice. His film “C’était un rendez-vous” not only got him arrested after its first publication, it later forced him to betray the identity of the mystery driver in the film, whom Lelouch protected as a “professional Formula 1 racer”. Turns out, it was Lelouch himself who drove through the streets of Paris with a reckless abandon. What makes this video even more complete– is to find out what he’s in such a hurry for at the end… Enjoy the video, GearCravers, as I have enjoyed it for more than 25 years.
Update- More info on this film can be found on Wikipedia, yet as I point out in the comments I highly doubt the audio for this film was overdubbed… Feel free to suggest otherwise, I could be wrong!
Thursday, June 26, 2008 10:14AM
My god the sound that thing makes is amazing, what car is that?, when did they make it?
Do you have any more info?
Thursday, June 26, 2008 10:36AM
Hey Steven. The sound you hear in this vid is a Ferrari 275. However, it has been suggested that Lelouch drove this route in a markedly less sexy Mercedes Benz 450 SEL 6.9. Supposedly, the sound was overdubbed in post-production, but I personally find this a little hard to believe. Its just too well done, in my opinion…
I’ve updated the story with a link to the Wikipedia entry for the film.
Friday, June 27, 2008 9:10AM
As Mike’s dad, I’m delighted he enjoys this video as much as I do. The film starts out along Avenue Foch and takes a turn onto Avenue Grande Armee’ toward the Arch de Triomphe. Streets I used to traverse while working in Paris as a car designer. Then the car runs past the Arch and heads down the Champs Elysee’ before turning right at Place Invalides and quickly turning left to run along the bank of the Seine and miss a bus before turnining into the forecourt at the Louvre. From then on it is a race to the final destination at Mont Ste. Michele.
I doubt there was much audio editing in this video. Maybe a bit of volume enhancement but nothing more. The car sounds like a Ferrari to me, but what do I know about cars???
Phil Payne
Friday, June 27, 2008 11:39AM
Wow….I detect extreme levels of batshit crazy from this run right here. And the sound in the first 5 seconds, the rev up…I mean the SOUND….good grief. Great post.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008 3:28PM
J’taime cette film!! J’ai habitue’ en Paris et ici est un tour magnifique!! Bravo M. Payne!!