Cannonball Run II

This movie is a perfect example of guilty pleasure. Sure, it is not well written (or is it?). It isn't well acted (or was it?). My point, this movie was a literal "winkathon". In other words, it was meant to be corny, goofy, silly, and down right fun to watch. That being said, go back and watch it again and you will see my point. Where did a (current) 4.X rating come from? All I can figure that is comes from votes from clueless suburbans, or maybe teens that don't realize how iconic this movie is, or how this movie was one of the last blasts of the drive-in culture of America. Sure, it's not Citizen Kane...but should merit an easy 6 on cast names alone.

That said, what really makes this movie great is the talent in it! It may be the best collection of screen legends and icon ever assembled. The point in time when this movie was made allowed this phenomenon to be possible. In 1984, most of these actors were slightly past their peak, but still in the acting game...so this may explain the ability to cast all of them (without a billion dollar budget). Try to replicate this today with an equivalent assortment of actors, and it would not be possible.

What makes this A-list super-fest even more golden is the fact that nearly every major player in this picture is now gone, or well up in years. Think of this movie as a video history of screen legends, or even a vague record of the car culture of the 70's and the phenomenon the actual Brock Yates cross country races were.

But if you are too young to know who these actors are, know nothing about the real Cannonball races, and don't appreciate drive-in type cinema/comedy, skip this one (rather than give it an unfair vote). Do that for me, and I won't give movies like Twilight or Lord of the Rings a 2.

RELEASED IN 1983 and directed by Hal Needham, "Cannonball Run II" is a car chase comedy about a second Cannonball Run race from the West Coast to the East Coast. The teams include JJ & Victor (Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise), Blake and Fenderbaum (Dean Martin & Sammy Davis Jr.) with other teams involving Jackie Chan & Richard Kiel in a submersible Mitsubishi Starion and Mel Tillis & Tony Danza accompanied by an orangutan. There are at least a dozen other notable co-stars in various roles: Jamie Farr, Telly Savalas, Sid Caesar, Tim Conway, Foster Brooks, Ricardo Montalban , Charles Nelson Reilly, Don Knotts, etc.

This is a fun turn-off-your-brain flick with an incredible all-star cast that's worth the price of admission. Unfortunately, the script needed a rewrite with better jokes but the producers obviously didn't want to blow the money. As it is, too much of the humor falls flat, but "Cannonball Run II" is still leagues better than comparable junk like "Smokey and the Bandit Part 3" (1983). And there's a worthwhile sequence where Dom does an amusing Brando impersonation.

Moreover, the movie scores good marks on the female front with Catherine Bach jaw-dropping in form-fitting blue spandex during the first half, teamed with her Amazonian-ish partner Susan Anton (who's no slouch in the beauty department). Bach looks like she was sculptured by God Himself. In addition, there's Marilu Henner and Shirley MacLaine, who catch a ride with JJ & Victor, masquerading as nuns before revealing their real identities. MacLaine was 48 during shooting but still had a great figure.

THE FILM RUNS 1 hour, 48 minutes and was shot in Nevada (Las Vegas, Henderson), Arizona (Tucson, Bisbee) and California (Redondo Beach).

GRADE: C.

The first Cannonball Run was enjoyable enough, but this stinks so badly that you can smell it coming from a considerable distance.

Shoddy, disjointed & cheap-looking, this would fail to entertain a dimwit in a coma. Simply keep it on a loop on daytime TV and just watch the unemployment level drop.

Burt Reynolds must have known that this signalled the beginning of his cinematic hibernation period, whereas Sammy & Wino just go through the motions, trying to make the best of a script that was almost certainly ghost-written by one of the stars (the hairy, orange one)

Jackie Chan gets screwed-over again with another choppy fight scene set on sand (he always complains that it's impossible to 'take off' on the stuff), and consequently is much slower. Or is it just the case that they didn't under-crank the camera?

What can you say about a movie that has hardly any form, no pacing or sense of rhythm/humour? The climax of the movie was even forsaken in favor of a cheap laugh.

To perfectly illustrate the idiocy of the whole project, at one point the prize money of the Cannonball Run is raised from $1million to $2million which causes one dumb broad to exclaim "how many zeros is in that?"

More fun can be had from repeatedly banging a tea-tray on your head...

It was not all bad, but to completely honest I thought "Speed Zone" was a better sequel to the "Cannonball Run" than this movie was as this movie was almost the exact same movie only with inferior parts to it. Throw in a unfunny kidnapping plot for the only real difference in the movie and you have your sequel that came out three years after the original. That is another sad thing about this sequel, it came out long after the first one and they still went in exactly the same way. Burt Reynolds, Dom Delouise, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin are back along with a few others from the original. In though are a lot more B ranking actors. Roger Moore out, Richard Kiel in (the guy who played the villain Jaws in "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker"). Adrien Barbeau out and two chicks I do not know in. Farrah Fawcett out and two others I do not care for in. Jim Nabors and Tony Danza in, which is definitely not a good thing. Ambulance that was a great idea out and for some reason a military car and uniforms in. That one made no sense they would have been better off just using the ambulance again. The plot is the same, race across the country, the only difference being the guys trying to catch the sheik character to hold him for ransom and this does not stay original as it basically sets up another brawl like that found at the last part of the first movie. After this fight though the race just about is over with no fanfare. Just a pointless sequel, that has a few humorous moments, the best being the scene with Tim Conway and Don Knotts.

i grew-up on watching this movie. i saw this one before i saw the first one. the first one is good,but i like this one better. cannonball run II,is a very funny movie. i think only laid-back people like these type of movies. i have watched this movie since the late 80's. i never really get tired of it. it's maybe one of my favorite movies of all time! the cast is one of the best if not (THE) best cast ever in a movie. i think the monkey is the funniest thing in this movie. but others are funny too. i give cannonball run II ***1/2 out of ****