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Hello guys,
This post is related to this post, where I remember that an episode of the 90s TV series Highlander was shot in Bordeaux in France, where I live.
In this TV series, the main character, Duncan McLeaod have a ponytail (spoiler: he cuts his hair at the beginning of the last season). By this time seeing a long-haired guy on TV was very uncommon, and Highlander was a rare show where you can see a long-haired guy. There was also another TV series, Renegade, with two long-haired guys.
Bill even mentions in the “On being a longhair” the Highlander ponytail holders you can see in the movie: https://www.choisser.com/longhair/three.html
In the 90s it was the period when I started to have the idea to have long hair. Long-haired guys were rare, but each time I saw one, I more and more wanted to have long hair. The McLeaod character has a nice look with his ponytail, and I wanted the same look. The Highlander TV series was still aired when I decided to grow my hair in 1998.
I finally found this episode, which was shot in Bordeaux, and I wasn't ready for what I've found; it's just unbelievable! I even recreated a scene from the movie at the same location.
This is the 12th episode of season 5 titled "Revelation 6:8" and you can watch it here.
I well remember that they were saying something like "we go to Bordeaux", in fact, they're saying "hotel of Sèze, Bordeaux" it's at 13:20
Timestamps format is minutes:seconds
It's filmed on a beach on the Atlantic coast; this sand dune is typical of the beaches of the region.
In the movie they say "Ukraine," but I recognized the Landes forest. This is an artificial pine forest planted in the 19th century to dry the area and exploited for wood. I doubt this place still exists today because there were two mega fires in 2022 and August 2026.
This building was built by the Nazis during WW2 to protect and service German submarines, U-boats. There are 5 buildings like this in France in the cities of Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Saint-Nazaire, Lorient, and Brest. A sixth base was under construction in Marseille, but we are near the end of the war, and the work on the construction site was stopped in August 1944 when the Allies landed in Provence.
These submarine bases are bunkers with several meters thick walls and roofs of reinforced concrete in order to resist bombings because they were obvious targets that were heavily bombed by the Allies. These bunkers are made with such reinforced concrete that the demolition cost would have been prohibitive, so nobody attempted to destroy them. It remains abandoned for many decades because nobody knows what to do with this heavy heritage from the past.
They titled it "abandoned submarine base", it was partially true. By this time a part of the base (left side) was used by a boat museum, which closed the following year, and the other part remained unused. Today this is mainly used for a permanent indoor video mapping show and other rooms for concerts or artistic shows.
In the TV series the submarine base hosts the bad guys' headquarters, I recognize the indoor architecture of the base.
It's the hotel name said in the dialogs: "Hotel of Sèze, Bordeaux". This hotel is located in the midtown of Bordeaux, and it's a luxury hotel. I remember the hotel, but I thought it was the palace hotel in front of the opera because in my souvenirs I remember seeing the opera when they were on the balcony, but this hotel is located next to the palace hotel and the opera.
I've always found this hotel name funny because in French you are hearing "hotel of sixteen" like "wrench of sixteen" if you do some mechanic. I checked their website to see if they mention some filming, but it's not the case. I learned that the name of the hotel comes from the name of the Sèze street on the side of the hotel, and Sèze is an 18th/19th century politician.
Hotel website: https://en.hotel-de-seze.com/
They park the car next to the hotel; it's clearly a fiction! In real life you can't find a free parking spot. I had already tried; it's impossible to find a free parking spot in the midtown. You'll just waste time and gas; it's better to use public transportation.
It's interesting to see how the city has changed since. The city was dirty; as you can see in the movie, the hotel building is dark like the other buildings.
When I was little, I remember that Bordeaux was a dirty city with dark buildings, and even some are just black, the result of years of coal heating and pollution.
In 2000 started the building of a new tramway network. There had already had a tramway network in the past, which was dismantled in the 50s to be replaced by city buses, a synonym of the modern era.
The building of the tramway network took 3 years, and it was heavy working; the city looked like a war zone with holes and mud everywhere. The city was heavily transformed, and the front of buildings was cleaned; today it's way more enjoyable than in the past.
Behind the McLeadod head you can see the Bordeaux Opera, it's the scene I remember. We can also see city buses and cars in front of the Opera, today it's a pedestrian zone with a tramway.
A Ferris wheel...
WHAT??? I read “Place des Quinconces”? OK, a Ferris wheel, the Quinconces, it can be only one thing: the "Foire aux Plaisirs", the fun fair of Bordeaux. Yes, I'm a fun fair enthusiast, and it's the fun fair where I spend my holidays twice per year for 20 years now!
The Ferris wheel you see on all following images is the same, decoration was modified over the time.
This TV series was shot in the USA and Paris. Where are the probabilities the crew comes to the Bordeaux fun fair? It's just unbelievable.
A small detail gives me the shooting date of this episode.
I can say it was shot during the October fun fair because trees have leaves and fountains have water. Water is removed during winter, so it's not the March fun fair. The year is 1996 because of the star-shaped ride you see in the background under the wheel. This ride is called a Top Scan, made by Dutch company Mondial Rides and the first model of this ride was made in 1996. Moreover, in the end credits you can read 1996.
So it can only be filmed in October 1996.
I recognized a fair booth, which is a restaurant; another one is "Mignon," who is a candy maker, but it was closed, and on the other one I can read "Segonzac" who is also a candy maker. Where it's more interesting is did the showmen remember when it was shot?
I had often seen Segonzac on small village fairs, but he had stopped the fun fair maybe two years ago, so that's a dead end. Now, the restaurant. This restaurant doesn't come any more on the fair, but the showmen family is still here. I asked them if they remember when the Highlander scene was shot, and the response was YES!
They told me an anecdote about this:
The restaurant owner was playing cards inside the restaurant with his friends when he saw someone run through the outdoor seating pushing chairs. This guy has a problem? He left his chair and ran toward the guy to fight with him, but he saw another guy with a camera and the film crew, and he realized that they were just shooting a movie! If he had fought McLeod, the showmen would have won! Imagine that it would happen and put this scene in the episode!
Another showman told me that he saw the actor at the night club.
But it's even more incredible. The location where McLeod jumps into the fountain is the exact location I used to sit! I used to sit, if I wanted some rest, away from the crowd and noise, to eat an ice cream or to upload big video files because it's where your phone have the highest speed. I don't know why, but in the rest of the place you have poor reception.
I don't believe that McLoead was here at the place where I used to sit for a long time.
At the end of the scene, the fountain activates; it's unlikely to happen and was clearly done for the movie. The fountain is controlled by a timer that activates the fountain in the morning and powers it down in the night.
A powerful projector was put on the left of this image because there is no light like this in real life. Lighting conditions are poor here even for today hardware, it's difficult to take a good photo without proper lightning, see this selfie. The road next to the fountain is now a tramway track.
Fighting scene on the Sèze street next to the hotel. On the left you can see the Quinconces fountain lights; the fair is closed because it's all dark. They put a projector on the left; this lightning doesn't exist in real life.
They are on a bridge with an identifiable architecture, which we call "Eiffel bridge". The name comes from Eiffel who was a bridge engineer and has built these types of bridges and the Eiffel Tower, of course. There are just a few bridges like that in the area; I quickly find the filming location on Street View. It was in the city of Cadillac-sur-Garonne
All fighting scenes are shot inside the submarine base
I've recreated the scene at the fun fair. I did this quickly, taking on one shot with the help of a showman who holds the camera and like I said, lightning conditions are difficult here and I didn't bring a cinema set projector! I hesitate a little to jump over the fence because there are kinds of spikes, and I didn't want to finish in the fountain. No, I hadn't jumped in the fountain because I didn't want to be wet, and water is a little cold!
