The Official "Rendezvous" (C'était un rendez-vous) Thread

Thanks, Ed. It is interesting, isn't it?

I'm really suprised that more people didn't respond. Rendezvous was a hot topic not so long ago.

 

Unfortunately, the link to the movie has been removed from one of the related sites.

Rendezvous was used in theaters as a short to accompany many French films shown in the 1970s, and I saw it several times as a companion to Thief of Paris, Stavisky, Robert & Robert, etc. I can't remember a time when it was buried -- it just simply wasn't available, just like Lindsey Anderson's great movie "If ..." (starring Malcom McDowell) hasn't been available for years.

Other sites have said that Lelouch never identified the car used (I have never seen an interview where he specifically identified the car), and there have been many doubts whether it was a 275, let alone a Ferrari. Also, parts of the film have always appeared to me to have been sped up. I wouldn't trust any of the transit times or speeds listed in the analysis, although the movie is fun to watch.

Mark

 

For the non-French speaking Ferrari engine lovers amongst you, this means
'it was a date'. It is the famous movie from Claude Lelouch about an insane
8 minute ride through the streets of Paris with a Ferrari 275 GTB. I found this on another site and hope all will enjoy it.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2851488008488190547&q=lelouch

 

Appeared on FChat several times before. Latest version: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84211&highlight=rendez-vous

 

Can anyone prove it is a Ferrari, let alone a 275?

Mark

 

i ve heard it was a Mercedes but which one i don t remenber.

 

I heard it was :

A Mercedes with an F1 sound dubbed over
An Alpine with an F1 sound dubbed over..

 

25 or more years ago I bought a 16 mm copy of Rendezvous from a commercial film house for a center I ran. The label on the can identified the film as having been made by Director Claude LeLouche in his Ferrari 275.

O.G.

 

Yes the film is by Lelouch but there has been much speculation on the car and speeds it drove. It seems that LeLouche also had a Mercedes at the time and many speculate that he used it, not a Ferrari.

For those who may not know LeLouch is a serious car guy. He counted Jean-Louis and Maurice Trintignant as friends. Maurice ran Le Mans numerous times with the likes of Paul Frere. He won Le Mans with Jose Gonzalez in 1954 in a 375 Ferrari (see picture). I believe that Jean-Louis (Maurice's nephew), in addition to starring in Lelouch's films also drove a GT40 at the 1966 Targa Florio.

A carful listen suggests that the Rendevous sound track was dubbed in. The car's speed and motion do not seem to match the sound. A lot has been said about this. I recall one study which concluded that the maximum car speed was about 60 mph after diividing the film time by the actual route length.

All the same it remains a great ride!
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LeLouch states that there has been no editing

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2005/Rendezvous.shtml That web page does the math, the majority is about 60MPH I guess, but there are bursts near 100 and one at 130

 

Art - you got it right.

 

I've also heard it was actually a Matra sports prototype! Who knows for sure?

 

There have been some threads on this before. Search for "Rendezvous" and you will find most of it.

The car used was a Mercedes and NOT a Ferrari 275. The sound (from a Matra sports racer ??) was dubbed in and you can hear it clearly if you watch the movie; at some points it just does not match the cars motion/movement. However, it was well done for its time and it remains a cult film among car fanatics.

 

If you think that the sound came from a Matra engine, I think you never heard a real one !!

 

The change in sound as the car goes through the short tunnel seems pretty realistic to me. Watch it again.

 

The proof that the sound was added later is easy :

Look the straight line towards the arc de Triomphe : the car passes on several bumps which make jump it.
But the sound is linear and no jump can be heard.

I have videos of F40LM and FXX on a track. Believe me, each bump can be heard in the engine sound.

 

If you observe the final scene when the car comes to a stop, you'll notice that the tries are still squealing...even after the car has stopped. Even the opening scene has him at full throttle, but the sound indicates an acceleration.

Lot's has been said and written about this cult classic, but like Enzo Ferrari once said: "History is made up of a dash of truth....and much fiction/fantasy."

Still a great video and a great ride. If you could, pick yourselves up a copy on DVD, it's absolutely amazing.

 

I've loaned my DVD to someone so I can't pull it out-certainly possible I guess parts are worked on-Would the sound be recorded separately anyway? I remember something in the notes for the movie that the length of the drive was a function of the number of minutes the camera could film without a reload. Having made some movies of a car driving myself, it is sometimes disappointing that the car seems to be going more slowly on the video than real life-maybe the movie needed some extra sounds of speed.
Still a very cool movie, and (assuming it is a 275) a nice view back to a time when they were just cars, and you really might put it up on the curb to get around something or drive against traffic to get around someone.
According to the DVD, the director was arrested when it was shown the first time, but compared to some of the driving movies on the web today like the ghostrider movies, pretty tame.

 

it may be a repost but i am sure glad it was posted. this was the first link that ever worked for me, and now i have finally seen it for the first time !

 

My CD never sounded like a Ferrari to me. That does not sound like a 12 and I have spent my life listening to them as a primary way to tell if they are running right.

 

Art:
I agree, in some places the sound matches the action, while in other places it does not, including the final stop. The observation that the engine sound does not change at the intersections where the car would be light is interesting too. Also, when he brakes for the garbage truck and goes up onto the curb, the timing is off. I wander if it is not a matter of dubbing the sound from another car, but the timing is off a bit. Maybe, the sound recording got thrown off a bit in production. It sounds reasonably similar to my V12, but consider that the camera and microphone were mounted on the front bumper or grill, so would not capture accurately the exhaust note in the rear. I have viewed it only 20 times, so have some work to do to catch up to you.
Ed

 

No, never heard one of those in real life. Too bad! I was not stating that it is the sound of a Matra, but this has been mentioned in some of the earlier threads on this subject and there seem to be different answers to which car the sound came from.

 

OK, here's the truth.

Claude used my dad's bread van.