Nissan got a bit cool and edgy again when it rebooted the Z-car series in 2002. So in 2003, to promote the new 350Z, it created a cool and edgy promo film of the rear-drive sports car that very obviously (and very honestly, to be fair) paid homage to one of the most iconic car-vid classics of all time: C’etait un Rendezvous from 1976.
Rendezvous depicts a highly illegal, high-speed run through Paris, as an unseen driver in an unseen car (the camera is mounted on the front of the vehicle) speeds towards a date with a woman on the other side of the city.
The Run has the same premise, showing a 350Z (in obligatory 2000s searing orange) speeding through Prague in the early morning.
Couple of key differences to Rendezvous, though: being a promo film, you actually see the car. A lot. And being shot very much legally (Czech police even get a cameo at the end), the streets are of course officially closed, although parked cars, carefully choreographed trams and pedestrian extras still add a bit of visual jeopardy to the drive.
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Much of the style of Rendezvous is replicated, including the low angles and “unexpected” obstacles such as road works. Yeah, right. But there’s also a fair bit of camera rig-work, perhaps inspired by BMW’s hugely popular promo films of the same era (including Star, previously featured on these pages).
It’s all a beautiful showcase for the Zed and each shot in the 9.17km run was done in real time, using a total of 14 cameras. So it all fits together as a single “run”; there’s a pleasing element of authenticity.
In this Fast/Furious era, The Run cops a fair bit of keyboard-warrior criticism for lacking drama and looking a bit, well, slow. But given the finished film is real-time, the average speed over the cobbled, narrow streets is still more than 80km/h and the car reportedly hit 200km/h in places (a single shot of the digital speedometer shows 123mph at one point). It’s a cool car-vid if you like a bit of class.