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| Man on Wire | 
 enlarge | Director: James Marsh
Actor: Philippe Petit
Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $26.98
Buy New: $18.99
You Save: $7.99 (30%)
Buy New/Used from $15.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  (26 reviews)
Sales Rank: 134
Format: Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Ntsc, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 94 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 10156
UPC: 876964001564
EAN: 0876964001564
ASIN: B001E5FYS8
Release Date: December 9, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire and illegally rigged between the New York's twin towers. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. This documentary complies Petit s footage to show the numerous extraordinary challenges he faced in completing the artistic crime of the century.
Amazon.com
Native New Yorkers know to expect the unexpected, but who among them could've predicted that a man would stroll between the towers of the World Trade Center? French high-wire walker Philippe Petit did just that on August 7th, 1974. Petit?s success may come as a foregone conclusion, but British filmmaker James Marsh?s pulse-pounding documentary still plays more like a thriller than a non-fiction entry--in fact, it puts most thrillers to shame. Marsh (Wisconsin Death Trip, The King) starts by looking at Petit's previous stunts. First, he took on Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral, then Sydney's Harbour Bridge before honing in on the not-yet-completed WTC. The planning took years, and the prescient Petit filmed his meetings with accomplices in France and America. Marsh smoothly integrates this material with stylized re-enactments and new interviews in which participants emerge from the shadows as if to reveal deep, dark secrets which, in a way, they do, since Petit's plan was illegal, "but not wicked or mean." The director documents every step they took to circumvent security, protocol, and physics as if re-creating a classic Jules Dassin or Jean-Pierre Melville caper. Though still photographs capture the feat rather than video, the resulting images will surely blow as many minds now as they did in the 1970s when splashed all over the media. Not only did Petit walk, he danced and even lay down on the cable strung between the skyscrapers. Based on his 2002 memoir, Man on Wire defines the adjective "awe-inspiring." --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
Magic on Wire January 8, 2009
Determination, patience, obsession, talent, and lots of hard work. These are the words I can think of to describe this wonderful film. The incredible story of Phillipe Petit and his helpers is something to behold. Both the interviews with them and the re-enactetment of their incredible adventure that took place thirty-five years ago are beautifully captured and told. It is pure poetry. Plus, as a bonus, the viewer will be able to watch his previous experiences as well.
This is a most enjoyable experience!
Can't Get Higher January 8, 2009
All true. They just don't get better than this one. Funny, surprising, thrilling, touching, thought-provoking.... I can't recommend this too highly.
Man on Wire is Spellbinding! January 8, 2009
Man on Wire is technically a documentary but feels like a good drama with humor, suspense and character development. I was only vaguely familiar with the actual history so I was completely blown away by Petit's incredible feats. I originally saw it on the big screen; I think the DVD will be best appreciated on as large a flatscreen as you can get.
A documentary equal to its subject January 7, 2009
Imagine this: a man stretches a cable between two buildings at a height of a quarter of a mile, walks out to the middle, and lays down on it. What kind of a man could do such a thing? That is the question director James Marsh asks, and answers, in this superb documentary.
In doing so, he skillfully blends present-day interviews with footage and photographs from the past and re-enactment that is so good it takes most of the film before one realizes that some of these scenes could only have been re-created with actors. This is documentary storytelling at its very best.
 An Amazing Individual January 6, 2009
Amazing documentary - not so much for the filming, which is rather amateurish, but for the capturing of the spirit of an extraordinary individual. One man soaring above the dominance of the physical structures, almost angelic compared to the demons who could only destroy them 27 years later.
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