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It
takes a while for The Cannonball Run
to get going because we have to introduce everybody first. And
it’s quite an eclectic bunch. We start with two shapely gals in a
Lamborghini (Adrienne Barbeau &
Tara Buckman).
They have four (snicker)
secret weapons to get out of speeding tickets (and
I ain't talking about no fuzz-busters.)
Next
we have the Sheik (Jamie
Farr), a
"mad camel jockey" in a souped up Rolls Royce, who plans
to buy his way to victory if necessary. There’s also a guy who
thinks he’s 007 and even looks like Roger Moore (Roger
Moore). He even
drives a tricked out Astin Martin, complete with spy gizmos.
The
Japanese have an entry, too, a rocket propelled Subaru driven by
Japan’s premiere racecar driver (Jackie
Chan). A
millionaire (Bert Convy)
enters his motorcycle and along with
his mechanic, disguise themselves as newlyweds hoping the cops will
leave them alone. (The
problem is, the mechanic is so overweight they go across the country
in a perpetual wheelie.)
Two
drunks, Jamie Blake and Fenderbaum
(Dean Martin & Sammy Davis Jr.)
dress as priests, so the almighty can
be their co-pilot. (This
only confuses Blake because their Ferrari only has two seats.)
Two bumpkins (Mel Tillis &
Terry Bradshaw) are
in the race, too. That is if
they can get their car out of the motel swimming pool in time.
There
are others but the main focus is on two men (well,
maybe three if you count...HIM!)
J.J. McClure (Burt Reynolds)
and his mentally unstable pal, Victor (Dom
DeLuise) (along with his alter
ego, the fearless Captain Chaos),
commandeer an ambulance and pose as paramedics. They luck out in
finding their patient, Beauty (Farrah
Fawcett), but
god only knows where they dug up the doctor (Jack
Elam). (The
syringe toting proctologist who graduate of the Knoxville Tennessee
School of Faith Healing.)
After
the intros are finally out of the way, the race begins and soon
they're all hell bent, with the pedal to the metal, for California.
When they’re not dodging smokies, they’re dodging each other’s
sabotage attempts. They're also doggedly pursued by Mr. Foyt (George
Furth), a
government agent, whose obsessed with stopping them.
Somehow
they all wind up at the same roadblock a few miles from the finish
line. A motorcycle gang conveniently shows up and we’re treated to
a nice long brawl.
(C’mon it’s a Hal Needham flick, there had to be a brawl
eventually.)
And just when you think it’s over, Jackie Chan treats us to a nice
karate demonstration. (You
knew that was coming, too.)
The
roadblock opens up and the Cannonballers race for the finish line.
There is a massive pile up near the end, so it all boils down to a
foot race to determine the winner.
The
end
Some
of you may not know this but there really was an actual Cannonball
Run. Sponsored by the ultra car enthusiast, Brock Yates, it’s
better known as "The Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea
Memorial Dash." That’s when it was an actual race, and highly
illegal. These days it’s the calmer "One Lap of America"
(or more technically, a parade.)
The
event has been translated to film several times. They started
popping up around the same time the national speed limit was set at
55 mph. (Coincidence?)
Roger Corman gave us Cannonball
and the wonderfully demented Deathrace:
2000, where the
drivers are rewarded extra points for the roadkill they produce.
The
Gumball Rally
seems to be everybody else's favorite but mine is The
Cannonball Run.
Yates wrote the screenplay himself, based on alleged events that
actually occurred during the annual race.
Race,
chase and crash movie veteran Hal Needham was given the task to
direct it and he did a remarkable job. When you have a cast this big
the film is usually a train wreck, doomed to bog down so everyone
can get their screen time. Aside from the main team, the film
balances its supporting characters sufficiently.
Martin
and Davis are hilarious as they, and the other secondary characters,
are what really make this film great. Characters like Elam and the
team of Tillis and Bradshaw, who get busted out of the race way too
soon, are just as hilarious.
The
Cannonball Run is at it's best when
it's going full throttle and clunks along during the obligatory
romantic scenes between Reynolds and Fawcett. The booze will help
you through the romantic parts, and the scenes where Dom gets a
little too nostalgic about his childhood trauma. (Dahn-dahn-daaaaaaaaahhhhnnnn!)
Gear
up and enjoy.
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