The Cannonball Run (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Very weak
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Weak
Soundtrack	Average

Advantages:	The Rat Packers as priests, outtakes
Disadvantages:	very dated, not much extra's on the DVD

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I was quite glad to get my hands on a copy of this after so long. I first saw this film way back when it was released in 1981, in fact I went to see it at the cinema and I remember loving it but I was only 6 at the time.

I kinda knew that I would watch the film and think that it would be a huge letdown after the 20-odd years since I last viewed, but I enjoyed it oodles. Being a mere child the last time I saw this film I missed the one liners and the real comedy in this production.

The Cannonball Run is an illegal race across the US from New York to California and it was released around the time when a lot of these driving/road films were about, like Gumball rally, Smokey and the Bandit, etc.
The best way of thinking of the cannonball is a film version of the wacky races but with a little more humour, but it is riddled with mistakes.

The plot (if you could call it that) revolves mainly around the character J.J. McClure played by Burt Reynolds at the height of his fame and in the cinema just a year later after the second of the Smokey and the Bandit films. J.J. has the company of Victor for his 'Run' who has a split personally, 'Him'.
'Him' is the alter ego of Victor who takes the form of Captain Chaos by donning a lycra hat and scarf. Played by Dom DeLuise the Captain is one of the funnier characters but unfortunately appears far too infrequently during the 92 minute run time.

The opening scene of this film had me smiling from the outset as the first thing you see is a black Lamborghini Countach on an empty road with only the sound of the 5 litre engine and tortured rubber for the soundtrack. A few seconds later the
main 'Cannonball' theme song starts up and the Lambo stops for the 80's lycra to make it's first appearance as a women clad in a fetching pick number get out of the car to spray paint a cross on the 55 limit road sign.
The police are soon on the chase of the Lamborghini and over the title music you hear the radio conversation of the officer and there is a nice little joke about the car chase. The conversation ends with 'I'm still in pursuit' with the witty reply of 'It didn't take us this long to catch Dillinger', this was the first of the little word gags I heard that made me chuckle.

The film then goes through a 20 minute sequence of introducing the main characters. Here we meet J.J. and Victor who are the two key people in the film but the rest of the cast is a full star affair.
The two most likeable (and funny) are Jamie and Morris played by the Legends Dean Martin and Sammy Davies Jr. as priests driving a Ferrari. We first see the duo at the betting office where Sammy is asking after the odds, 1st mistake I noticed was here as if you look at the betting chalk board behind the bookie Porsche is spelt Porche.

The story then goes back to J.J. and Vincent in a plane deciding what vehicle to use for the race and they land the plane in a street to 'pick up some beer'. I found another little word gag here with Vincent asking 'Maybe we could get a black Trans Am?' to which Burt Reynolds reply's 'Nah that's been done'. This is a reference to the film Smokey and the Bandit which starred Burt where he was driving the above car.
They end up injured and in the ambulance they realise that you can speed as much as you want with a siren on. The paramedic in the back of the ambulance with them is a cameo appearance by the director Hal Needham. I also found out that the Ferrari 308 that Davis and Martin are driving belonged to Hal.

We then are introduced to the Japanese entry which is the 1st appearance of Jackie Chan in an American film before he made it big. The Japanese car is a little Subaru (way, way before the playstation replicas we have now) packed with all gadgets and I noted that in the title he is listed as the Mitsubishi driver (sad that I notice these aren't I?).
Another error which was pointed out to me is that even though their dialog has subtitles they don't actually speak Japanese; a friend who can speak the lingo pointed this one out, cheers Mark.

Within the introductions we meet The Sheik, who is a billionaire Arab played by Jamie Farr or better known as that bloke who was Klinger in M.A.S.H.
Seymour Goldfarb played by Roger Moore, Seymour thinks that he is an actor called Roger Moore who plays a spy?! Figure that one out! but I noticed that he was driving the Aston Martin which is the car Sean Connery drove as bond, but this is probably a deliberate mistake.
Lastly we meet Terry and his companion who drives into a swimming pool with their entry, a red painted Chevy Malibu. After they retrieve the car from the pool they paint it grey as not to attract attention, it attracted my attention as the car they painted grey is now a Chevy Monte Carlo not a Malibu, I know, I need to get put more.

After the introductions of the main racers we are taken to a room where people are gathered speaking about current issues where Arthur Foyt address the menace of the automobile and sets about putting a stop to it. He enlists the help of Pamela, played by Farrar Fawcett, to put a stop to the Cannonballers but she gets kidnapped by J.J. and Victor as they need a patient to make their ambulance cover viable, but they also need a doctor. The doctor they find is played by Jack Elam who does a brilliant job of a wayward proctologist and excellently brandishes his middle finger under the nose of J.J. telling him that this is really the only tool he needs for his trade. Every time he appears on screen it's with a blast of music which sounds like a clip for a 30's horror movie and the doctor ends up injecting himself with drugs as a 'pick me up'.

The last mistake I found was that at the start of the race the cars set off at intervals and are clocked out on a time machine and are told there is a clock on a pier in California. I would think that the race is based on time they take and not position on the road but come the end of the race they are all racing for the finish and it seems to be who punches their card first.
I've not given the plot away as I didn't tell you who wins but as I've said before it's not really that much of a plot to it.

It was good to see this film again after so many years and seeing it as an adult there is so much humour that I missed as a child. The best parts are with Sammy Davies Jr. and Dean Martin who usually has the standard glass of booze with him and the expression on Sammy's face when he is referred to as The Chocolate Monk is priceless. Those two steal the shot every time they are on screen.

I loved Elam as the doctor and DeLuise as Captain Chaos and you get a feeling that everybody had masses of fun making this film. As with Hal's 'Smokey' films there are the outtakes at the end credits which is some of the funniest parts of the film and you find it impossible not to smirk when DeLuise can't stop giggling and Burt Reynolds hits him several times to make him stop.

I did lend this DVD from a friend, he paid £12.99 at HMV, the only extras are the original theatre trailer and the promotional trailer for the release of the DVD.
There are the standard scene selection and subtitles but for the first time I would like to have seen the film with director's commentary on the making of this, something I normally don't bother with.

Sit yourself down with a few beers, take your brain out and just have a laugh with this mindless throw back that's daft.
Look past the mistakes and it's a good way to giggle away an hour and a half, just a shame that Cannonball Run 2 wasn't added to make it a two disc addition.