The Cannonball Run (1981)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Hal Needham

Writer:

Brock Yates (written by)

Release Date:

19 June 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy

Tagline:

You'll root for them all...but you'll never guess who wins.

Plot:

A wide variety of eccentric competitors participate in a wild and illegal cross-country car race.

Plot Keywords:

Race | Cross Country | Car | Racer | Motorcycle

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Burt Reynolds	...	J.J. McClure
Roger Moore	...	Seymour Goldfarb, Jr.
Farrah Fawcett	...	Pamela Glover
Dom DeLuise	...	Victor Prinzim / Captain Chaos
Dean Martin	...	Jamie Blake
Sammy Davis Jr.	...	Morris Fenderbaum
Jack Elam	...	Doctor Nikolas Van Helsing
Adrienne Barbeau	...	Marcie Thatcher, Lamborghini Babe #1
Terry Bradshaw	...	Terry
Jackie Chan	...	Jackie Chan, Subaru Driver
Bert Convy	...	Bradford Compton
Jamie Farr	...	The Sheik
Peter Fonda	...	Chief Biker
George Furth	...	Arthur J. Foyt
Michael Hui	...	Subaru Engineer

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Cantonese | Japanese | Arabic

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Netherlands:12 (original rating) | Netherlands:6 (re-rating) | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1982) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

King Harbor, Redondo Beach, California, USA

Company:

Golden Harvest Company

Trivia:

To get material for this movie, Brock Yates ran the final Cannonball in 1978. The move cost him his editorial position at Car and Driver magazine which has since been reinstated.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When the pick-up truck is trying to outrun the police and jump over the moving train, the ramp is visible.

Quotes:

Organizer: I'd like to welcome you all to an event that's sometimes been called the Automotive counterpart to the Bay of Pigs.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Thunderball (1965)

Soundtrack:

If And When

Burt & Company In Their Element

Burt Reynolds made a fortune in this area with these goofy "chase" movies (this and Smoky and The Bandit plus all the sequels). They featured a an irreverent '70s attitude toward about anything decent with an emphasis on a sleazy atmosphere, all covered up with a lot of humor, and they worked. They worked because they were fast-moving generally fun movies to watch.....certainly not any great works of art.

Cannonball Run had an all-star cast of Reynolds, his good buddy Dom DeLuise, Farah Fawcettt, Jack Elan, Roger Moore, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Farr, Jackie Chan, on and on....pretty amazing.

Reynolds, of course, was Mr. Cool/Mr. Macho.....at least in his eyes. Fawcett and Barbeau meant beauty and boobs whom all men - especially dimwitted cops which Hollywood loved to feature - drooled over. The Japanese were made to look stupid (this was pre-PC days) as were priests (nothing's changed there with filmmakers). The movie is filled with really profound statements such as, "Why do we take all these risks? Oh, just for the hell of it." Yes, words to live by.

Yet, as dumb as this movie can be at times, is does provide a lot of laughs and speaking of that, DeLuise's laugh always made everyone do the same. Sometimes the best part of these films were the outtakes at the end with DeLuise cracking up and Reynolds slapping him!