Film Review: The Cannoball Run (1981)

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Hal Needham wasn’t the best film maker of late 1970s and early 1980s Hollywood, but he was most likely among the most popular, at least among the casts and crews. As a former stuntman without too much artistic ambition, he developed laid back approach to directing, guaranteeing that the people on the set would have an easy time and a lot of fun while making his films. Such approach usually didn’t result in particularly good or memorable films, but, on occasion, it could result in a box office hit, like with 1981 sports racing The Cannonball Run.

The film was based on real events, that had originated as protest action against introduction of 55 mph speed limit at US highways. That was Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, illegal car race in which participants had rather simple task of driving from New York to California in least amount of time possible and without any rules about the type of vehicle or traffic regulations. The last such race was held in 1979, with participation of Needham and scriptwriter Brock Yates, who tried to put some of the experiences in the plot. Fictional version of the race features various racing teams made of colourful characters and various ingenious tactics of winning and evading law enforcement. Nominal protagonist J. J. McClure (played by Burt Reynolds) and his partner Victor Prinzi (played by Dom DeLuise) drive false ambulance car and along the way kidnap/pick aspiring photographer Pamela “Beauty” Glover (played by Farrah Fawcett) who would have to play the patient, while drug-abusing Dr. Nikolas Van Helsing (played by Jack Elam) is recruited to play the physician. Another ruse is used by two gamblers (played by “Rat Pack” members Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.) who pretend to be Catholic priests while driving Lamborghini. Rich heir Samuel Goldfarb Jr. (played by Roger Moore) thinks he is Roger Moore and tries to live to the illusion by driving Aston Martin. Female team of Marcie Thatcher (played by Adrienne Barbeau) and Jill Rivers (played by Tara Buckman) try to deal with law enforcement by wearing tight revealing clothes and flirting with traffic policemen. East Asian drivers played by Jackie Chan and Michael Hui use high-tech Japanese car with infrared vision that allows them to drive at night with the lights off.

Point of the original race was simple – going from point A to point B without any unnecessary distractions. The film makers took that as inspiration for their approach. Script simply introduces relatively large number characters with minimum exposition, sometimes leading to confusion. Some of such characters stand out mostly because they are played by the greatest stars of their time – Reynolds (whose character looks like it was recycled from Smokey and the Bandit), Moore (who, at the height of his popularity, parodies his character of James Bond), Fawcett (who just looks pretty) and Chan (brought by Hong Kong studio Golden Harvest in an attempt to extend his stardom to US market). While Moore is obviously enjoying the film, Reynolds, although solid, is less interested and gets easily overshadowed by DeLuise who is great in the role of his comic sidekick. While action scenes are good, they still can’t compensate for deficiencies of the script, which include the lack of proper villain. Only at the end Peter Fonda is introduced as leader of biker gang who gets in the massive fight with protagonists for the sole purpose of allowing Chan to demonstrate his formidable martial arts skills. The Cannonball Run is short, competently made and mildly entertaining, but hardly memorable.

RATING: 5/10 (++)