THE HIRE - BEAT THE DEVIL & STAR

 

The Hire was a series of short films (around 10 minutes each) that BMW released on the internet in 2001 and 2002 for promotion of their autos. Each film was helmed by a famous director and each film starred different people with one exception: Clive Owen was "The Driver" in all the films. They later released the films on a dvd which was available for a short time at some dealerships. While all 8 films are well worth watching two of the films feature musicians.

Beat The Devil was directed by Tony Scott and stars James Brown. James has hired The Driver to take him to Las Vegas, so he can renegotiate a deal he made with The Devil (Gary Oldman). It seems James made a deal with The Devil for fame and fortune, but now that he has gotten old and can't do splits anymore, he doesn't think the deal is fair. James bets his driver's soul in a race against The Devil and his henchman (Danny Trejo). James Brown and Gary Oldman are both hilarious in this short film. There's a surprise appearance by another musician at the end of the film. (Beat The Devil is available on youtube). I get a real kick out of Beat The Devil no matter how many times I watch it.

Star was directed by Guy Ritchie and stars Madonna as the bitchiest star imaginable. Unbeknownst to Madonna, her manager has hired The Driver to give her the ride of her lifetime, tossing her all about the car and unceremoniously dumping her onto the sidewalk at the end. This short film is also hilarious and just like Beat The Devil, I can't help laughing out loud each time I watch it. (Star is also available on youtube).

SKI PARTY

Ski Party is the beach party entry into the "Some Like It Hot" category, since Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman spend a good part of the film in drag. Frankie and Dwayne are college buddies who are losers with their gals (Deborah Walley and Yvonne Craig). Speaking of gals, Annette has a cameo as a professor at the school. Were Frankie and Dwayne so dumb that by the time they made it to college, Annette had already graduated and became a professor? Anyway, watch for a pretty good gag with Annette in the film... Back to the story...when Frankie & Dwayne hear there's going to be a ski trip sponsored by the school's playboy, they decide to tag along and see if they can change their luck. On the trip up, Lesley Gore is on the bus and sings the infectious "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows" and everyone else on the bus joins in on the chorus.

Once at the ski lodge, which just happens to have a heated pool, all the girls get into their bikinis, and Frankie sings  a nice upbeat song "Lots, Lots More" as he lies on the diving board. Frankie doesn't fare as well on his other number, which also includes Hickman, Walley and Craig, entitled "Paintin' the Town", which is just a terrible song and doesn't match up to the quality of any of the other songs in the film. Later, Walley and Craig sing "We'll Never Change Them," which almost sounds like a song left off an old Ronnettes album. It was actually previously titled "I'll Never Change Him" and sung by Annette in the initial release of Beach Blanket Bingo, but the song was cut from all home movie releases.

And now we come to the THE BEST REASON to watch Ski Party... James Brown. James has a comedic skit as a ski ranger and then sings "I Got You" with The Flames as his backup dancers. At the end of the song, he dances out the door and does a split as his finale. This is the highlight of the movie and you really owe it to yourself to check it out. If you don't won't to watch the whole film for his performance, it's on youtube just google "james brown ski party". A bit of trivia I gleaned from imdb "James Brown said out of all the times he did splits, the only time he ever ripped his pants was in this movie."

At the end of the film, the gang winds up back at the beach where The Hondells (who also sing the title song of the movie, but do not perform it in the film) are hanging out on the beach singing "The Gasser", a pretty decent surf/hot rod song.  Of course, this gives the filmmakers another chance to have girls dancing in bikinis. At the end of Ski Party there's a note to stay on the lookout for the next film in the series "Cruise Party", a film that was never made, since "the beach party series" had pretty much run its course by 1965/66.