The Cannonball Run

This film is best summarized as a live action version of Wacky Races. Burt Reynolds leads on all star cast of freaky drivers competing in a no-holds-barred race competition called the Cannonball Run. The standouts in this film are Roger Moore who seems to enjoy spoofing his own James Bond character, Jackie Chan as a kung-fu foreign race champ, Jack Elam as the twisted doctor riding along in Burt's ambulance, and Jamie Farr as a mad sheik trying to show Islamic superiority by defeating his opponents.

This is not a movie to be taken seriously, especially with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. cruising around dressed up like priests. There are a lot of good stunts and chase scenes in this movie, as well as a long brawl towards the end with all the Cannonballers against a gang of bikers, led by Peter Fonda!

To quote the Brain Gremlin from Gremlins 2: "Check it out one time, won't you!" You won't be disappointed.

"The Cannonball Run" is a wild and crazy ride of a comedy about an illegal cross-country auto race. This movie was the third time star Burt Reynolds teamed up with director Hal Needham. Before "Cannonball Run" they made the first two "Smokey and the Bandit" pictures, and afterwards they made "Stroker Ace" and "Cannonball Run II". "The Cannonball Run" and the original "Smokey and the Bandit" are my favorites. Made back when Reynolds was hitting box office gold, "The Cannonball Run" auto race begins in Connecticut and features the goofy all-star cast passing each other up until they get to their final destination, California. In addition to Burt Reynolds, the movie also stars Dom DeLuise as Reynolds partner, Roger Moore pretending to be himself, Farrah Fawcett as the woman Reynolds and DeLuise pick up at the beginning of the race, and two late great entertainers: Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. as two phony priests driving a red Ferrari. All are involved in the race, and its a wild ride all the way to the finish. Adrienne Barbeau, Jackie Chan, Jamie Farr, Mel Tillis, and former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw also star. Great fun.

*** (out of four)

Burt Reynolds, Hal Needham and crew capitalized on the success of the first two Bandit movies, threw in some hot babes along with recognizable stars for a blast of a film. Who needs plot with all the eye candy? Also, you can tell that everyone on screen's having a blast doing this movie which adds to its enjoyability. Having the original Rat Pack reunite in these films perhaps signaled a passing of the torch to the new Rat Packers of that time, lead by Burt Reynolds. Being from Pittsburgh, Terry Bradshaw's involvement fueled his fan support as this was made after he won his fourth Super Bowl. This movie inspired my friends and I to take off on two cross country road trips. Although we could not find any spandex Lamborghini babes we almost had as much fun as these guys!

Captain Chaos, The Rat Pack, Terry Bradshaw and Mel Tillis! Burt, Roger Moore, and Mr...um...Foyt! Some say this isn't a masterpiece, there are no digital effects or Oscar nominated performances. Please! It's just fun watching some of the greats who have passed on and some others who were in their prime having a blast doing a movie that makes little sense and that's just the way I like it. I promise you will laugh and you won't know why, but you won't care! Great movie for anyone who wants to have a beer with his friends and watch a funny, pointless, silly movie. Unfortunately, I also recommend Peter Jackson's King Kong for the same reasons.

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!