Vive le tour

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.

"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!

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.

A decent documentary focusing largely on the endurance test of the tour de France. The photography followed the individuals. It showed how many racers succumb to exhaustion. It also displayed the popularity of the race among the town folk along the race's route. Pretty cool. 5.5 stars.

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.