PAM 'n' JACK - EV-fanciers extraordinaire(s) - both known to like a clean ride...
Let's burn some rubber baby! (..figuratively speaking, of course).

Electric Vehicles and the Dream Factory

Many of Hollywood's mighty movers and shakers are backing California's tough ZEV mandate. Unlike so many of the Washington/Iron Triangle set, this dangerous, subversive bunch of environmentalists and loose-living liberals cannot be silenced or bought off by special interests or lobby groups. We've put together a by no means exhaust-ive list of relEVant Hollywood productions that have dared to deal with the clean air/clean fuel issue. If you'd like to suggest any other tasty Hollywood titbits, feel free to mail us and we'll add them to the page! (among other sources we also used the excellent search engine of the award winning Internet Movie Database - highly recommended!).

Harry Potter - our little wizard 'wizzes' around on a state-of-the-art "ZEB" - "Zero Emission Broomstick" the one-and-only "Nimbus 2000" , a veritable clean sweep of a broom. But to avoid chafing and sore-spots in embarrassing high places - why not straddle an e-scooter instead - like the super-lightweight, Nimble, Nimbus-like, NiMh-powered Xootr-EX3 - a wicked little hot-rod for which no flight-training at Hogwarts is required....See also Anti-Gravity GreenGlow Project. . See also: Homer Simpson and the EV-il truth plus "Harry Potter meets the Simpsons" Pity the Moller Flying Car and the one-person Flying Solotrek aren't emission-free..(..yet?)
Thanks to our Silicon Valley Wizard for the Harry Potter EVUK exclusive EVUK gif(t).

: Naked Gun 2 1/2 - starring Leslie Nielsen (...and electric car). Plot involves attempt to thwart clean energy policies.

: Beverly Hills 90210 - electric vehicle stars in one episode.

: Nash Bridges - co-starring sassy Zebra electric Roadster.

: On Deadly Ground - starring Steven Seagal. and Michael Caine. Caine as dastardly oil baron, abuses Alaskan Inuit tribe , steals land etc. Seagal the Saviour, delivers great five minute anti-oil, anti-ICE tirade at end of film with accompanying original eco-documentary footage.
NEW! Now - listen to Real Audio of Seagal's speech! Moving stuff - but is it enough to make a Bush blush? (Teachers everywhere - please beg ,steal, borrow or just plain rent this video!)

: The Day After Tomorrow - the ultimate Global Warming Global Warning from acclaimed German(no surprise!) director Roland Emmerich(Independence Day). We look forward to seeing a Hollywood spin-off thriller/farce(new genre?) on the related theme of ZEV/EV procrastination titled "The Year/Decade After Next, Possibly". See official 'The Day After Tomorrow' website.

: Ocean's El-EV-en, SEVen/S7ven. Brad Pitt. OK - there are "EV's" in the titles...though not in the films - BUT George Clooney is now(2005) the proud owner of a 150 mph Tango T600 EV(see EVUK report(Oct '05) From Banbury to Burbank - Clooney with new Tango") - and Brad Pitt is definitely a major EV believer...
... To quote IMDB: "Eco-friendly Brad Pitt is urging President George W. Bush to use the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the subsequent war in the Middle East to push through new environmental breakthroughs. Brad is appalled that no politician is promoting oil alternatives - so America no longer has to rely on imports from the Middle East.
   
Pitt says: "We keep going back into the history of these extremists, these fundamentalists, and understanding the Islamic culture, and understanding foreign policy. We're embracing religion, which is a beautiful thing to see, but the thing no one is talking about is oil. Why don't we set ourselves free? We have the technology for electric cars, and we have other power sources. Yes, it would be expensive to make the switch over, but we could, and we would have complete autonomy from our need for oil. We would not have to rape Alaska, and we wouldn't have to be dependent on those guys over there. In the long term, if we could free ourselves from the dependency of oil, we'd be alright."
For more on Brad Pitt and EV's etc. see Independent UK (May 9, 2005) feature Save the Planet? That's so cool...".

: Enemy of the State(State of the Enemy?) - Gene Hackman, Will Smith, Jack Black, Jon Voight.

The film's poster-tagline(left - click to enlarge) reads:
"It's not paranoia if they're really after you".

Watch: Enemy of the State trailer.
The words "electric car" are uttered once(hmm - why?) in this must-own film. And link two? Well, let's just say that for years electric vehicle advocates have been made to feel like "enemies of the state". We can relate.
See EVUK/Grist headline(Nov '05), "Electric car driver was not eco-terrorist - FBI admits".

: The American President - Michael Douglas gets involved with environmental lobbyist...film at one point dares to predict imminent demise of internal combustion engine - almost a 'capitol' offence in real-life Washington. "10 years from now (= 2005) any car with an Internal Combustion Engine's gonna be considered a collector's item!" screams eco-star Annette Bening's character mid-way through the film - heretical words rarely risked by journalists and politicians here in the UK of course. Very nearly a sackable offence.

: 1)" Insider, The" & 2)"Insider" - type the word "Insider" in the Internet Movie Database search-box and these two 'Insider' films are found. The first exposes the cynicism and lies of the tobacco industry, the second tells the 'fictional' ( no, honestly!) story of a mysteriously thwarted attempt to manufacture a clean/emission-free car....Similar titles, similar subjects. So, question: BIG TOBACCO, BIG AUTO - BOTH TARRED WITH THE SAME BRUSH?! The IMDb's sole reviewer slams the film's quality but in our opinion it deserves a special Oscar-award for 'Bravest Theme Regardless of Entertainment Value'. Michael 'the' Mann...when can we expect "Insider II", the low-down on the car giants??!.

:The Saint - plot centres around quest for zero-pollution fuel.

: Charlie's Angels - full-length revamp will apparently feature an electric vehicle.

: Million Dollar Hotel - Mel Gibson to co-star with as yet unspecified EV.

: Erin Brockovich - Julia Roberts takes on water-table- polluting gas and electricity company. Can we now (please!) expect armies of Erin Brokovich-style Class Action Heroes and Heroines to soldier forth and start suing the oil giants and automakers for gross environmental negligence for failing to eliminate toxic, carcinogenic emissions like benzene, MTBE. Or will America's blind love for the car once again provide the auto industry with that familiar special immunity from prosecution? Where is the public outrage as with GM foods, CJD and mad cows, Insiders and Big Tobacco lies, mobile phone radiation etc.etc.
Where indeed is the US CAR/OSCAR -targeted screenplay?

: Minority Report - Science-fiction blockbuster set in 2054 in which Tom Cruise co-stars with a 'science-fact', all-electric Lexus supercar(0-60 in 4.5 secs). What a pity the film's 'pre-crime', 'pre-cog' psychics don't also have the power to arrest those responsible for the death of the planet ...before it happens. See EVUK full report.

: The Green Mile - OK - there are actually no electric vehicles in this death-row fantasy - but star Tom Hanks does still drive many a 'green mile' in his beloved RAV4 EV. See also EVUK article and clips: Tom Hanks appearance(22 Mar 04) on Dave Letterman Show plugging electric vehicle joint venture with AC Propulsion.

*Coming soon to a cinema near you!! Bruce Willis stars as a fuming-mad catalyst plant worker and union prize-fighter (and of course single dad) afflicted with mysterious mutagenic disease. Yes, in "Die Hard - Sue Harder" Bruce, ably-assisted by gravel-voiced, nearly-retired small-town lawyer Goldie Hawn punches heroically 'above his weight' against the dark forces of automotive secrecy to exact bloody retribution (...or a reasonable settlement) following the work-related deterioration of his personal health and the loss of assorted bodily functions.....

Forget nicotine ("The Insider") and Chromium 6 (Erin Brockovich) - this film dramatically depicts one-man's epic, cataclysmic and truly exhaust-ive struggle to expose the untold perils of Palladium, Platinum and Rhodium... OK - we made this one up. But there is nothing fictional about the potential health and environmental risks posed by the use in all catalytic converters of the above three Platinum-group heavy metals. See CEPLACA Heavy Metal report Oh - if there are any Oscar-chasing Hollywood directors out there brave/suicidal enough to risk dishing the BIG dirt on America's No.1 Favourite Toy - ie. the Automobile - this could be your ticket to Golden Glory(...though, on second thoughts, maybe Demi would work better 'chemistry' than Goldie...).

....and then there's America's real First Family - The Simpsons...:

In 'Homer The Great', Homer is elected as the head of a sinister secret society - the Stonecutters. This is their rabble-rousing fraternity hymn: The Stonecutters' Song (Click Homer & select "Stonecutters' Song" for original audio !) Who controls the British Crown? Who keeps the Metric System down? We do! We do! Who leaves Altantis off the maps? Who keeps the Martians under wraps? We do! We do! Who holds back the electric car? Who makes Steve Guttenberg a star? We do! We do! Who robs cave fish of their sight? Who rigs every Oscar night?* We do! We do! *Even the Oscars has seemed like a clean contest in the past few years - when will the automakers clean up their act??

Lisa For President Isn't it wonderful to see how Hollywood cartoons these days seem to have more freedom and determination to speak the truth than the assorted muppets and puppets in Washington or Westminster? We have had a wooden B-Movie actor at the Whitehouse but...could a cartoon - non-white and female - have the intellect, integrity and basic humanity of a Bush a Reagan or even an Al Gore? You better believe it, people! She's got more sax-appeal than a Clinton, more idealism than a JFK and she's more in 'toon' with the people than most of the sold-out and bought-off yellow-livers of (brain-)Washington DC. Vote Lisa, the first yellow President! - Incidentally, we're seriously thinking of setting up "lisaforpresident.com" - who's up for it? Please let us know. Failing that, maybe Ralph - no, not that Ralph, Simpsons-pseuds - but, dogged watchdog Ralph as in 'Nader' ....yes, maybe this green/far from yellow campaigner can keep Washington's Big Guns, and the nation's Giant Corporations and TV Networks on their toes - their fingers hovering nervously over those 'Nader-fader' panic-buttons and 'Independent Thought Alarms'( see "Lisa Goes Veggie" , terrifies teacher/Meat Producers, meets Sir Paul and Linda in the flesh). Earth Mother Lisa - more green than yellow... - In 'Bart After Dark' Lisa , watching the TV news, says worriedly to Homer: "Dad, Dad an oil-tanker has lost its load of oil off the coast - it's terrible" . Homer: "Don't worry Lisa - I'm sure they'll find plenty more where that came from..." - Lisa as Leader of the Free World! In another episode: at a trade-fair, a stand with a large 'SOLAR ENERGY' sign above it is summarily demolished - and the attendant beaten up - by two burly oil-industry heavies who then immediately install their own man plus a new large sign that reads 'OIL - USE US AND NOBODY GETS HURT'!! In a later episode "Beyond Blunderdome" " - with Mel Gibson co-starring - Homer actually decides to test-drive an electric car called the "Elec-taurus" - but only 'cos he hopes to win a free gift. A couple of quotes: Lisa: I'm proud of you dad! Buying an electric car will help clean the air and protect the Earth's supply of....You're only faking this to get the gift, aren't you? and... Marge: Boy - that quiet engine sure makes conversation a lot easier. Homer: Yeah, it's got a lot of other problems, too. (EVUK comment: not half as many problems as the Internal Combustion Engine - including the Ford Explorer - or gridlocked, fuming-mad UK/European drivers paying "thru the nose" and $5 dollars a gallon etc. etc.....)