WTF! Man walked on tightrope between the NYC WTC twin towers in 1974!
 

Saw a great documentary called "Man on Wire" whilst flying to USA yesterday.

In the early 70?s, New York?s World Trade Centre towers were nearing completion, and French tightrope walker Philippe Petit's dream of walking between these twin towers was also close to reality. This daring but illegal, high-wire routine has been considered "the artistic crime of the century? as Petit astonished the world by succeeding the walk early one morning in 1974.

http://www.branchagefestival.com/upl...onwire1jpg.jpg

Talk about living life on the edge, great movie, what a guy!

I am sure someone will the say the obvious soon, but it is not going to be me.

is was still so young when i performed that stunt

was the wire already in place, or did they have to string it across?

See trailer: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EIawNRm9NWM

Saw the film the other night. Amazing footage and a great documentry/film.

Welcome to 30+ years ago ;)

lucky bastardo :)

"Life should be lived on the edge. See everyday as a challenge and then you live your life on the tightrope." :winkwink::thumbsup

that nigga crazy

lol yeah I was only nine at the time and never know about it until yesterday. Guess many here not even born then lol

Damn, that dude has some brass ones... 1974? 10 years before my time!

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/h...s/old_news.jpg

If you posted evidence that just came out that he placed explosive charges which brought down the WTC, then THAT would be newsworthy... :winkwink:

ADG

Stop you are giving the nutballs ideas

Well I can guarantee that won't ever happen again.

lol old news maybe ADG, but it was news to me...

I thought one of those guys died back then trying to do that.. maybe it was the empire state building or something. Was some old old B&W footage of the guy falling off the wire.

pretty impressive :thumbsup

My thoughts exactly. Proof that you can achieve pretty much anything, if you are determined enough...

the thing that interested me most about this documentary was the untold story - what the fuck went on between him and his friends?

At the end of the movie, his friends openly cry about losing him as a friend - I want to know wtf happened after that climb..

Reminded me of a surely forgotten tightrope walker called Charles Blondin:

"Blondin went to the USA in 1855.[1] He especially owed his celebrity and fortune to his idea of crossing the gorge below Niagara Falls on a tightrope, 1100 feet (335 m) long, 160 feet (50 m) above the water. This he accomplished, first on 30 June 1859, a number of times, always with different theatric variations: blindfold, in a sack, trundling a wheelbarrow, on stilts, carrying a man (his manager, Harry Colcord) on his back, sitting down midway while he cooked and ate an omelet."

Indeed, and how he financed it all. Flights to and from Europe were pretty pricey in those days...

Not to mention also: his training was glossed over - it was just 'assumed' throughout the film he could do it - and what became of this guy?

To do something as grand as this, with no follow up, nothing mentioned after is highly curious for me..

I don't know if he was crazy,stupid or extremely courageous. I guess I have to see the movie to have some kind of an opinion

I did some more digging.. seems after everything died down, he's never really done much since. Only went back to France once in 2000 because he 'couldn't afford the fare'.

I'm somewhat disappointed by it all. It's like an artist who paints a painting that becomes famous - and never paints again. Were they just painting to become famous or?

Nothing can take away his achievement, but I still feel a little short changed that he never attempted to really continue. But what the fuck does he care :D

lol yes but as a tightrope artist, how can you top the twin towers?

good doc

Looks like me doing a field sobriety test... :winkwink:

ADG

Height isn't the only thing.

Read the history of Blondin:
He crossed niagara falls multiple times:

- Blindfolded
- Carrying a man on his back
- In a sack
- Walked out, cooked an omlette, sat down and ate it.

I'm not sure if a 'true artist' would ever really believe they had reached perfection...

It won the Best documentary feature at last night's oscars and rightly so:thumbsup

yep, saw the trailer few months ago, crazy stuff

I believe that was one of the Walendas. They were an amazing family.

He was on the stage to get the Oscar last night.

<insert timeline>

Welcome to 1974.