Philippe Petit on his 1974 high-wire walk between the World Trade Center towers. (Jean-Louis Blondeau / Polaris Images)
In the early morning light of August 7, 1974, an almost unbelievable thing happened in the skies above lower Manhattan.
One hundred and ten stories above the streets far below, 24-year-old Frenchman Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire secretly pulled between the twin towers of the World Trade Center and for 45 minutes, as police raged and pedestrians looked on dumbfounded, danced in the sky.
Now, of course, the towers are gone — since 9/11, just a memory above Ground Zero.
That absence has changed the context and meaning of Petit’s story. But in a way, that brings only more mystery and awe to it.
This Hour, On Point: Philippe Petit and a new documentary about his legendary New York performance, “Man on Wire.”
-Tom Ashbrook
* * *
Guests:
Joining us from Shokan, New York, is Philippe Petit, world renowned wire-walker. In his youth, he planned and executed a number of daring, unsanctioned wire walks — between the towers of Notre Dame in Paris, off the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia, and between the 110-story World Trade Center towers. Now 58, he continues to perform and lecture and write. His 2002 book “To Reach the Clouds” is a memoir of his World Trade Center experience.
And joining us from New York City is James Marsh, director of the new documentary “Man on Wire.” It won the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize for World Documentary at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. The New York Times’ A.O. Scott calls it “thorough, understated and altogether enthralling.” It has just opened in New York, and will be hitting theaters across the country over the next month.
Click below to watch the trailer of “Man on Wire”:
Tags: documentary, film, World Trade Center
Marvelous! Can we obtain a copy of this July 28 interview with Philippe Petit?
Posted by Quitman Marshall, on August 1st, 2008 at 10:26 am EDTPlease let us know. Thank you.
Interesting program, about something I knew nothing about.
I do wish, however, that Mr. Ashbrook (or a caller) had at least challenged Mr. Petit at several points. Mr. Petit’s stunt was not only illegal (involving trespassing, which apparently is acceptable if done in the name of “art”–perhaps a defense that peeping toms could use), but it also diverted police resources that could’ve been put to better effect, say, fighting actual crime in the city at the time.
It is this same kind of unwillingness to challenge a guest at any turn that contributed to the Margaret B. Jones debacle several months ago. I commend Mr. Ashbrook for holding a program after the initial interview with “Ms. Jones” to discuss the issue–something I didn’t see much of in the rest of the media–but lessons must be learned.
Posted by Coby, on August 3rd, 2008 at 4:06 pm EDTI remember well when Mr.Petit made this walk. Vietnam was in a Grave downward spiral, Nixon would resign 2 days later and the economy was in the process of bottoming out. Mr. Petit’s walk was a needed breath of fresh air for people like myself who had become very disillusioned with the direction our country had been going in. It was inspirational and gave one the feeling that, in spite of the odds, you can follow your dreams. I get the impression that coby, the previous commenter was not around in 1974 or, if he was, was perhaps content with the status quo of that time.
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Posted by dnbhe xltjqvnu, on August 7th, 2008 at 8:53 pm EDT