The Cannonball Run (1981)

	Director: Hal Needham	COUNTRY USA GENRE Comedy/Action NORWEGIAN TITLE Verdens sprøeste bilrace RUNNING TIME 95 minutes
	Producer: Albert S. Ruddy
	Screenwriter: Brock Yates

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
J. J. McClure	Burt Reynolds	½
Seymour Goldfarb, Jr.	Roger Moore
Pamela Glover	Farrah Fawcett
Victor Prinzim/Captain Chaos	Dom DeLuise
Jamie Blake	Dean Martin
Morris Fenderbaum	Sammy Davis, Jr.
Dr. Nikolas Van Helsing	Jack Elam	½
Marcie Thatcher, Lamborghini babe	Adrienne Barbeau	½
Jill Rivers, Lamborghini babe	Tara Buckman	½
Jackie Chan, Subaru Driver	Jackie Chan
The Sheik	Jamie Farr
Arthur J. Foyt	George Furth
Subaru Engineer	Michael Hui	-
Cameos	Peter Fonda Valerie Perrine	-

Review

Before the days of critical global warming and hybrid cars – and before the humourless Fast and the Furious series – there were Hal Needham and Burt Reynolds, who allowed themselves the freedom to make films in which cars were the main ingredient and the plot seemingly made up as the cast and crew went along. The unabashed, happy-go-lucky spirit they demonstrated was infectious, far beyond the contemporary critics' understanding. And while Burt Reynolds undoubtedly spread laughter, his main – and somewhat unique – contribution was that he provided the viewer with sheer happiness. In The Cannonball Run, we also get the addition of some delightful self-irony and meta-references, which make this an enjoyable and inspiring little goofball of a film.

As with Smokey and the Bandit, at its core, this is a film about racing and chasing – which can be amusing and exhilarating at its best, but repetitive and silly at its worst. In The Cannonball Run, these two effects are fairly evenly distributed. Yates' script and Needham's unsubtle but industrious direction provide us with stereotypes and stock characters in ditto vehicles. Separately, neither the sheik (Farr), the Asians (Chan, Hui), nor the female racers (Barbeau, Buckman) have anything particularly interesting about them. But combined, in the film's fast-paced, playful atmosphere, they complement each other neatly and make up an all-star cast of impressive diversity. Add to that a well-adjusted amount of satire, and you have the basis for this finely tuned comedy that was once slaughtered by critics but has since gained a deserved cult following.