Vive le tour

Louis Malle's 19 minute take on the Tour de France is a masterpiece. I loved it. Rapid cutting puts you into the Tour in ways that modern coverage have not matched, partly I think because we know better than to let crazy people near the riders. With narration that is made up of commentary of the riders and the event we see the joys of winning, the agony of losing and just whats its like to ride. Since the film is not about a race or a stage of the race, rather about what its like to race we have time to see what it must be like to ride. We see the riders up close and see the pain on their faces. We see crashes, drink raids (stopping at roadside bar and stealing drinks), the crowd whizzing by and the people who help the riders. Its a whirl wind 19 minutes and I was ready to start the film all over again once I finished it.

"Vive Le Tour" is an intimate, bizarre, somewhat humorous- and very cinematic- look at the intricacies and internal politics of the Tour de France. Existing somewhere between comedy and documentary, Malle gives us the privilege of observing the tour, it's riders, the fans, and even the journalists like never before. Chock full of non-diegetic sounds and epic musical numbers we watch as journalists feast, sleep and basically live on their motorcycles while they cover the racers; as injured racers are airlifted in coffins attached to the outside of an oldschool medivac copter; and as racers stop, run into restaurants and raid everything from beer to soda, which they carry with them and drink as they ride (after which the Tour is billed). If you aren't impressed by how some riders are able to urinate without stopping...then I don't know what will impress you!!! A truly bizarre and entertaining look at the Tour de France like you've never seen! Interesting to note that "doping" was a serious problem that was threatening the sport even in 1962!

One of Louis Malle's early efforts is this short documentary chronicling the Tour de France. "Vive le tour" is a pretty straightforward documentary, showing the cyclists traveling down the road throughout the tournament with varying degrees of luck. It'll probably be mainly of interest to those who wish to see every one of Malle's movies (his more famous works include "Atlantic City", "My Dinner with Andre" and "Au revoir les enfants").

Basically, it's no masterpiece but it offers an in-depth look at a sporting event that we in the US only loosely understand. Available on YouTube.

I bet most people never predicted that the man behind these shorts would get married to the daughter of a famous ventriloquist.

If you are a fan of cycling and fascinated with bicycle race history this is a must see short film. Shown in the film are a number of the all time great racers - such as Jacques Anquetil (first 5-time winner of the Tour De France). But, this film does not focus on heroes by any means. Most of the footage shows the and seldom considered and rarely seen moments which made this famous race such a unique part of French culture.

We can observe groups of racers dashing into small cafés along the route where they literally steal any glass bottles of beer or wine which they can carry away stuffed in their Jersey pockets. Then they share their loot with riders of opposing teams as they all ride on. Then, of course, nature calls. Now we see dismounted racers stopped in private moments as they stand at the roadside to relieve themselves and another even executes the awkward pose from his saddle while a teammate riding beside pushes the bike. We would never see Lance Armstrong stopping to dip his overheated shoes in a village fountain, and riders today would never happily drink from a crude plastic container offered by a fan along the route or stop to fill water bottles from a public fountain or a fan's garden hose. Reporters at days end type their copy on portable manual typewriters (not laptop computers)... and they phone in press reports from rows of tables trailing miles of phone wires and fitted with small canopies to shield each telephone from the loud multilingual din during this era long before the ever present cell phone and satellite video links.

Nuns and priests flock to the roadside and cheer on the racers passing through rural villages right along with what must be the entire population of France. It is not simply a race but joyous national event. Colorful corporate sponsored vehicles (comparable in their local familiarity to the Oscar-Meyer "Weinermobile" in the US) follow the tour, some throwing publicity trinkets into the crowds of fans, and a carnival like atmosphere is present all along the route.

Some racers still carry extra sew-up tires wrapped over their shoulders just as they did many decades earlier. On the dark side, each day, some riders claiming a dinner of "bad fish" but in fact exhausted from taking too many amphetamines slump at the roadside unable to continue. Helmets were simply never worn. One rider bleeding badly from his head but still riding, is aided by his team car... they just stuff a bit of bandage against the wound to be held down by a cotton cycling cap. And the famous "Broom Wagon" which follows the main convoy of official vehicles is seen as it stops to "sweep up" the occasional straggler who has finally given up his race.

The film is like a collection of countless candid snapshots from a time and Tour which we will never see again. I would guess a 16 mm. Arriflex would have been all anyone could have mounted on any following vehicle and the quality of the footage is not flawless. The film was later copyrighted by the director in 1976, but it was shot 14 years earlier. So, this was not a polished work by the same director of later years. He was only 30 years old at the time and with only 2 feature films under his belt. But he clearly had a Frenchman's passion for cycling and a keen eye for the whole atmosphere surrounding the event. I think it is a truly wonderful little treat and one which I am still pleased to have found - and have watched repeatedly.

This short documentary offers a glimpse into the cycling world, but it's more of a curiosity than a must-watch. The footage is interesting if you're a cycling fan, but the way it's presented feels outdated and a bit flat.

It's fine as a piece of history, but as a film on its own, it doesn't leave much of an impression.