Man on Wire (2008)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

James Marsh

Writer:

Philippe Petit (book)

Release Date:

1 August 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary | Crime

Tagline:

1974. 1350 feet up. The artistic crime of the century.

Plot:

A look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, "the artistic crime of the century."

Plot Keywords:

Tower | Juggler | Friend | Passion | High Wire

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 27 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Philippe Petit	...	Himself
Jean François Heckel	...	Himself (as Jean-François Heckel)
Jean-Louis Blondeau	...	Himself
Annie Allix	...	Herself
David Forman	...	Himself
Alan Welner	...	Himself
Mark Lewis	...	Himself
Barry Greenhouse	...	Himself (as N. Barry Greenhouse)
Jim Moore	...	Himself
Guy F. Tozzoli	...	Himself (as Guy Tozzoli)
Paul McGill	...	Philippe - Drama Reconstructions
David Demato	...	Jean-Louis - Drama Reconstructions
Ardis Campbell	...	Annie - Drama Reconstructions
Aaron Haskell	...	Jean-François - Drama Reconstructions
Shawn Dempewolff-Barrett	...	David - Drama Reconstructions (as Shawn Dempewolff)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and nudity, and drug references.

Runtime:

USA:94 min | USA:90 min (Sundance Film Festival)

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Ireland:12A | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (British Columbia/Ontario) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Australia:PG | UK:12 | Portugal:M/6 | Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva)

Company:

Discovery Films

Trivia:

The helicopter reporter heard describing the tightwire walk (at 1:20:50 on the DVD) is Neil Bush, traffic helicopter pilot/reporter for WCBS NewsRadio88.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Philippe and his friend are hiding from the night watchman at the WTC, a box on the floor has a present-day USPS logo.

Quotes:

Philippe Petit: If I die, what a beautiful death!

Movie Connections:

Featured in 81st Annual Academy Awards (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Dreams Of A Journey

A perfect heist film

I saw this at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan.

Man on Wire is an exciting documentary about Philippe Petit who, thanks to his friends, managed to sneak into the World Trade Center in 1974 and do a high-wire act between the Twin Towers.

From the very start of the film it pulls you in, this is an amazing story and Petit is an amazing person to document. Sure, he's a reckless person and has a wild personality, but he's fascinating to watch. The interviews with him and his friends and "team" who helped pull off the stunt are extremely interesting and great to watch. It's fun watching old footage of Petit performing some of his previous acts, this guy really has talent, and may be a bit too determined and crazy. The reenactments are also well filmed and a nice job of telling the story.

This documentary plays like a classic heist film. It's filled with suspense and has many of those caper moments of mistakes that may ruin the entire job. Even though the final outcome is already known, it's still thrilling and you don't know if they will pull it off.

A well crafted film that does a wonderful job of telling the story of one man's dream and how he managed to make it a reality.