A 1978 short film by New Wave director Claude Lelouch* may be the most thrilling single piece of driving ever filmed. The director, who had no permits to film or to stop traffic, hooked a camera to the front bumper of a Mercedes-Benz (in the only bit of film trickery, the sound of the motor was played by a five-speed Ferrari) and filmed the entire movie in a single cinema-verité take: He drove through the streets of Paris at five in the morning, through red lights, around the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs-Élysées, against one-way traffic, over sidewalks, at speeds up to 140 miles per hour.You'll never guess which brother of mine I thought of while reading that description.
(And I think 140 mph is 7 terrameters but I could have that wrong.)
6 comments:
I haven't seen such a callous disregard for human life since the last time I rode with Hans.
Also, kudos to the Paris police department, who were apparently sleeping in while all this went on.
Chris and I did 140 mph through Paris when we were there.
140 mph is approximately 17 kilograms, by the way. I get confused, too.
This actually feels like the speed in which I was forced to take in Paris...too quickly!
Hey, lay off of Hans--he's only gotten one ticket and two warnings in the last 18 months!
He likes to point out that I was the last member of this family to get a ticket stateside, but I like to point out that I don't know ANYONE else who has gotten two tickets on the same day!
Frankly, I admire Hans; he taught me how to get through Iowa when I was visitng a friend in St. Louis-as quickly as possible after figuring out what the state troopers looked like.
Also, he performed the Miraculous Deceleration on the way to Vikings training camp, which has to count for something.
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