The Cannonball Run (1981)

Midmoclub — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:30:18 +0000

Director: Hal Needham

Stars: Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Jackie Chan, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Dom DeLuise

Has been race car driver J.J. McClure (Reynolds) and mechanic Victor (DeLuise) attempt to win The Cannonball – an illegal cross country race across the width of America. Competing against them are ragtag bunch of con artists and speed freaks.

Hey, hang on a minute! Has someone somehow secretly switched the beloved Cannonball Run of my youth with this huge great steaming turd?

Far from being the modern classic of my memory, the movie seems to be merely a long and rather pathetic excuse for a series of fairly unimpressive car stunts and poorly written comedy set pieces. Surely this can’t be right?

I’m almost scared to watch Smokey and the Bandit again now.

I’m having trouble believing that they had a good enough reason to make a sequel. The first two films are really mashed together in my memories so I wonder if the second one was much better because frankly, this first one was awfully hard to get through.

It took me five attempts to watch this all through.

I’ve never seen Smokey and the Bandit, I don’t know if I want to now.

Smokey and the Bandit was much, much better than this film. At least I think it was. I’m begining to think I can’t trust my memory anymore.

Someone please tell me Look Who’s Talking wasn’t a duff film too? or Jaws 4? Surely Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure can’t be anything other than a modern classic? Please! Someone!

Caravan of Courage IS a modern classic. Actually now that I think about it, wasn’t it a semi Christmas movie or was that the other one?

I mean there were two Ewok films outside of Jedi wasn’t there? *Sigh* I would look that up if I cared enough

Apparently Steve McQueen was originally cast for the role of J.J, but he died before filming began and so Reynolds took his place. It’s really strange to try and imagine alternative actors in what have become career defining roles. Tom Selleck instead of Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones for example..

Selleck might have pulled off Indiana Jones in my opinion, maybe not as iconic as Ford made it but he could have easily filled those shoes.

As for McQueen, I can’t imagine even he could have elevated this film.

Yes, Selleck would have enough charisma to play a decent Indy.

I quite liked Reynolds in this though, I thought he did the best he could with such a rubbish script and premise. There is something about his laugh which I find wonderful – he just doesn’t laugh like that in his later films. It’s like Ricky Gervais’ laugh, or Eddie Murphy’s – it’s dreadful and annoying, but also quite endearing.

I was listening to my laugh on the podcast last week and I think unfortunately I only managed to hit dreadful and annoying.

In fairness you are right about Burt Reynolds, he does his whole charming thing and works his way through the material, obviously having a good time kicking around with a bunch of his Hollywood friends and messing around with cars. It’s films like this though that cause me to forget that he has been a serious actor.

But if you compare it to a more recent “Hollywood friends kicking around” movie – Ocean’s Eleven, you can see that this movie squandered a massive opportunity to be something really cool. Such a waste.

Dean Martin looked rough in this didn’t he. i know he was supposed to be playing an alchoholic, but I suspect the only reason for that was that it would be impossible for him to play anything else. Sammy Davis Jr was almost literally havingto carry him throughtout the whole movie.

I was really shocked to see the condition that Martin was in, Sammy Davis Jr is generally pretty good in anything so yeah I completely agree he carried their partnership.

I’m not sure I’ve seen Sammy Davis Jr in anything else, but he was very good considering what he had to work with.

I nearly fell off my chair at that “Chocolate Monk” insult thrown at him. I know it was the early 80′s – but wow, casual racism like that in a mainstream film really floored me. Plus it wasn’t even approaching funny, even if the racisim was acceptible.

Yeah I didn’t get the reference so I didn’t really get the joke either.

When I was in high school I thought Cannonball Run was hilarious…

Me too, that’s why I can’t understand how bad this movie is. it’s not like my sense of humor has moved on a great deal since I was fourteen. I still enjoy forcing my sister to smell my farts for example.

You know, I honestly used to think that Dom DeLuise’s superhero “Captain Chaos” was genuinely hilarious. What on earth was I thinking??

Oh gawd, I doubt I ever found any of that funny, I’m with Burt Renyolds on that – I don’t want to talk about “him”.

Da-Da-Daaaaa!! Or is it Duh-Duh Duhhhh? Fanfairs are so tricky to spell.

I’m not sure why anyone would want to write that down, in fact I wish the script “writers” hadn’t.

Apparently the writer, Brock Yates, based the movie on his own experiences in a real life race he founded: The Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. He set it up as a protest against the perceived loss of personal freedom in America, in the form of speed limits in particular. The bloody idiot.

I found myself laughing several times throughout the film though, generally stuff involving Roger Moore or the Proctologist. The Proctologist particulary was funny in most of his scenes, there’s nothing quite like finger in the bum humour.

When you examine the film to the same level that I did last week with BTTF other things become apparent which probably wouldn’t work with a film today. I mean at the end of the day they really did kidnap that girl despite the fact that she eventually came around but at the beginning she was held against her will and even drugged.

And as Dan mentions earlier on the racist comment wouldn’t really hold up today in a mainstream film.

That’s not cool.

But at the time I guess it was all innocent enough… I guess?

Was this mainstream back then?

There was no laughter from me. Only grimaces of pain and despair.

You’re right in that the proctologist was generally pretty funny, although I’d have gladly taken a shot of whatever he had in that syringe in order to avoid watching any more of the movie (I’d probably draw the line at the finger in the bum though)

You know what could have saved this movie? Some decent stunts. There wasn’t a single exciting car chase, jump, or pile up in the entire film. Just shots of expensive cars traveling along empty roads. I’m guessing that they blew all the budget on the big name stars rather than the special effects, but it would have been far better spent the other way around.

Actually that’s a good point, for a “car” film there were relatively very few stunts. I mean they drove into a pool in some bizarre aspect of the story and that is kind of it… Oh no actually the same guys jumped over a train? Or something like that, someone go back and watch the film again to confirm because I’m not turning it back on.

That was a different couple of guys I think. If I’m thinking of the right people then one of them went on a bad guy in the TV version of The Stand. As you say, I can’t be entirely sure without re-watching it and I’m afraid the DVD has already gone in the bin.

Perhaps we should hire a team of researchers to look into that sort of stuff for us. I’ll put it on the agenda for the next Midnight Movie Club board meeting.

Yup it was a different set of guys – the train jumping was the guy who does the Nixon impression at one stage.

Oh yes. That was…erm… hilarious? No, no, that’s not the right word. Ah yes! Crap. It was crap!

was he someone famous by the way? I have an impression that we should know he was.

I shall try to dig up some information on him now.

The biggest disapointment of this movie (and that’s saying quite a lot) was the big fight scene towards the end. I had wonderfully fond memories of this, and remember talking about it repeatedly in the school playground. I suspect I might even have had a go at reinacting it on occasion (with me being Captain Chaos naturally).

Even rewatching it this time I kept thinking “Sure it’s terrible, but just wait ’till the fight scene – that’ll save it”. But then when it arrived it lacked vitality, was over in two minutes, and didn’t live up to my over hyped preconceptions about it. It was a bit like when I lost my virginity to be honest.

I enjoyed Cannonball Run as a youngster in a complete vacuum as no one else enjoyed it or even probably knew about it. So there was no discussion or reenactments of the film with my peers at all.

You deprived child. We could reinact it now if you wish. Bagsy being J.J.

I’d rather reinact the Jackie Chan sequences, you know, two guys watching porn on computers and talking in a language I don’t understand… oh look we’re already doing it

You might be looking at porn, but I’m not. I’m still trying to find out the name of that guy who jumped the train. It just so happens that chickswithtoasters.com is the best source of information for movie trivias like that, that’s all.

So final thoughts, there are a sprinkling of scenes that still cause me to grin, not smile and certainly not laugh. Overall though this is another one of those films that if I read it in the TV Guide that it’s on I would probably stay up long enough to watch the credits at the start because I like the song but then I would go to bed without any regret.

Two very hot double shot soy flat whites for the Cannonball.

You’re right. There is a sprinkling of half decent scenes throughout the movie – but those are about as effective as sugar sprinkled on dog vomit. I was hugely disapointed that one of my absolute childhood favorites turned out to be such a turkey when viewed through adult eyes.

Two Diet Coke’s out of Ten. But it only avoids a one out of ten rating because I still have to retain some hope that there must be something worse out there.

Next week Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure?

Aye, but if that turns out to be rubbish then I’m qutiting the club in disgust.

I think that’s fair.

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The Cannonball Run (1981)