Take five - BMW website has clips of action classics

By DAVID LINKLATER

"Please," says the sultry female. "You've got to help me."

"Buckle up," replies the driver in a deadpan voice.

The surreal world of movie car chases has hit the Internet, on BMW North America's www.bmwfilms.com website.

It features a series of free-to-view five-minute action films directed by some of the movie world's big names: John Frankenheimer (Grand Prix), Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Wong Kar-wai (Happy Together), Guy Ritche (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and Alejandro Gonzalez (Amores Perros).

The BMW series is collectively called The Hire. It can be viewed with Quicktime or RealPlayer, but also via the BMW Film Player, which incorporates DVD-like features such as director commentaries and sub-stories.

Through the former, the movies are streamed from source and can be viewed instantly.

With the BMW Film Player there's a long one-off wait to download each movie, but after that you have instant access and don't have to be on-line to watch them.

Each of the five movies features a different BMW model. Naturally.

But it's more product placement than obvious advertorial, since the cars are seldom referred to directly.

Instead, they just do what they're supposed to do in car chases: smoke tyres, slide sideways and get shot to bits by Machine guns.

There's a cryptic storyline for each mini-movie and one recurring character: the driver, otherwise known as Croupier, played by British actor Clive Owen. Supporting players include Mickey Rourke, Thomas Milian and Madonna.

The Hire will please car enthusiasts. There's careful attention to detail and the high-performance driving often has a gritty, realistic feel.

For example, the website goes to some trouble to explain that the dynamic stability control (DSC) fitted to the BMW 7-series can be switched off so that experienced drivers can exercise their skills - hence the on-limit antics of a rather battered 740i in John Frankenheimer's Ambush.

The BMW website movies belong to a strong tradition of movie car chases established in late 1960s and early 1970s.

Movies like Bullitt (1968) and Vanishing Point (1971) are acknowledged as classics, but there has also been a strong run of car-focused films in the last few years.

Frankenheimer is no stranger to smashing up BMWs. His 1997 film Ronin contains some of the best car chase scenes ever filmed.

The set pieces include an Audi S8 and 1970s Mercedes S-class pursuing a Citroen XM through the South of France.

The big action sequence is a no-holds barred chase through the centre of Paris involving a Peugeot 406 and BMW 5-series.

All of the stunts were filmed in real time, often with the actors in the cars. One wrong-way-down-the-motorway scene required 300 stunt drivers.

Last year's remake of Gone in 60 Seconds was panned by critics, but it did contain some intriguing machinery and a fast-paced finale.

The performance of the star car, a classic Mustang GT500, was certainly a lot less stolid than that of leading man Nicholas Cage.

The 1974 original boasted one of the longest chase scenes ever filmed and a huge count of wrecked cars.

The year-2000 version borrows only the basic plot line; a gang has to steal a lot of cars in a very short space of time.

But the big chase showcases plenty of entertaining driving, some of it by Cage himself.

Gone in 60 Seconds ends with a spectacular jump - albeit a computer-generated one.

As the GT500 escapes the police it leaps over an entire traffic jam on the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Long Beach, Southern California.

It looks great, but it's not real. A stunt driver digitally creates most of the sequence, though the landing is real thanks to a 60-metre jump in the Mustang. The same bridge features in the tongue-in-cheek Charlie's Angels movie - and it too involves an airborne car.

This time it's a chicken run between two single-seat racing cars, which results in one being catapulted over the top of the bridge and into the water.

This time, the car really was shot skyward for the camera, courtesy of a very large cannon.

There are some other interesting vehicles in Charlie's Angels, though most of them seem too precious to have been used for serious stuntwork.

The 1969 Camaro SS driven by Dylan (Drew Barrymore) is an ex-Indy 500 pace car, while director McG claims that the Mustang shown in one of the kidnapping scenes was a back-up car for Bullitt.

Natalie (Cameron Diaz) also drives a bright red Ferrari 360 Modena, which was unintentionally smashed into a tunnel wall during filming. That's entertainment!

Others? No Bond movie is complete without a car chase, but they often lean too heavily on the gadgetry to please car-chase purists.

A notable exception is Goldeneye (1995), where the classic Aston Martin DB5 of Pierce Brosnan's Bond pursues a hard-driven Ferrari F355 down a mountain road towards Monaco.

Romeo Must Die (2000) features a superb showdown between a Mercedes C36 AMG and a karate-kicking motorcyclist.

And despite the gravity-defying antics of much of the machinery in John Woo's Mission Impossible:2 (2000), there are some genuinely hair-raising automotive moments as well.

If nothing else, it's worth seeing several Australian Ford Falcons get blown sky-high.