C'était un rendez-vous
Or "It Was an Appointment", was a little known art house film before 2002 when it was released on DVD. The premise is that a car is driven across Paris to enable the driver to meet with some French strumpet on the steps of Montmartre.

It's also nine minutes long... And filmed in a single take.

So why include it here?

Well, the story is thus. French director Claude Lelouch bought himself a new type of camera which filters out vibration so the result is rock steady. The camera had a capacity of nine minutes of film, perfect for filming brief action scenes, but the clincher was that Lelouch had also bought himself a Ferrari too and reckoned that the car could be driven from Porte Dauphine to Montmarte before the reel of film was used up.

The end result is a hair-raising blat across sleepy early morning Paris, with no soundtrack aside from twelve highly tuned tenor Italian cylinders revving and barking along to the action, with throttle blipping downchanges, missed gears and the exhaust note bouncing off the nearby walls. It's actually even better than say; driving your Alfa Romeo V6 through the Dartford tunnel in second gear with the windows wound down (hypothetically speaking of course).

Shortly after the release of the film, Lelouch was arrested for reckless driving. He wasn't at any point seem driving the car and indeed rumours persist that an anonymous Formula One driver was actually behind the wheel. Whatever the truth, the case was dropped and C'était un rendez-vous earned itself considerable notoriety.

- Spoiler Alert

Alas, it wasn't a Ferrari 275 GTB what was driven across Paris, but an altogether more clumsy Mercedes SEL. The soundtrack from a real Ferrari was cleverly dubbed over the top, along with screechy tyre effects, the latter sounding somewhat less than realistic given the change in road surface from tarmac to cobbles in places.

The location of the camera, just below bumper level enhances the impression of speed - indeed several independent groups testify that the car did not exceed 85mph at any point in the film.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Mon 21 Jul 2008, 11:39, 5 replies)

Regardless of the whole sound dubbing thing
It's still got some pretty silly driving in it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfePhSLdVM8

Also, Snow Patrol used it for one of their videos, the bastards.
(Mr. In-Between has regretted posting this ever since, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 11:44, closed)

That is a tremendous piece of footage.
It's scary how many red lights he drives through though.

Wasn't it featured in the b3ta newsletter a while back?
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 11:49, closed)

Nice one
Ghost rider 1976
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 11:58, closed)

Good post, forgot about this!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AgzZd8Lr64

This is "Le Prince Noir" the "Peripherique" in Paris in 1989 - on a 1989 Suzuki GSX-R 1100, in a similar spirit (esprit?)to "C'etait".

This guy (girl?) was the inspiration for "Ghostrider's" attempt several years later. Legend has it he/she killed him/herself trying to do it even faster.
(Bridger.S.Toilet, Mon 21 Jul 2008, 12:51, closed)

...an altogether more clumsy Mercedes SEL...
But with a whopping 6.9l v8 in it!
(apologies_for_length, Tue 22 Jul 2008, 10:45, closed)