Review of Cannonball Run, The

Introduction

Once upon a time, Burt Reynolds was one of the top box-office stars in the US. He specialised in playing handsome, mustachioed showoffs - pretty much like himself - driving around America at high speed, pursued by slow-witted (and frequently foul-mouthed) lawmen.

"Cannonball Run" was the height of perfection of this amiable, low-brow genre. A "sea-to-shining-sea", anything-goes roadrace, it featured Reynolds and his co-driver Dom DeLuise driving an ambulance with Farrah Fawcett as their "Patient" and tending her their onboard doctor, unlicenced proctologist Ni(hic)cholas VanHelsing (Jack Elam). Other teams included Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr driving a Ferrari dressed as Catholic Priests, Roger Moore as Seymour Goldfarb (who thought he was Roger Moore), driving the Aston Martin DB5 and Jackie Chan driving a Subaru. MASH`s Klinger (Jamie Farr) turned up as an Arab Prince driving a Rolls.

Complicating matters, at times of stress Dom DeLuise would transform into portly superhero Captain Chaos, and of course there`s a climactic punch-up with a group of bikers led by Peter Fonda. Subtle it isn`t.

The movie was directed by Hal Needham, a former stuntman and close friend of Burt Reynolds, as a kind-of homage to the Warner Bros. Roadrunner cartoons and only lacks a pig popping up at the end to proclaim "That`s All Folks!"

Video

The box says "digitally restored and remastered", but the print is showing its age with much grain and print damage obvious.

Previous incarnations of the film were released by Twentieth Century Fox, but this Medusa release (they specialise in Jackie Chan-type movies and Playboy releases) is licenced from Media Asia and Star TV Filmed Entertainment, so the print betrays its Hong Kong source.

Audio

The film has a Dolby 5.1 soundtrack based on the plain vanilla Stereo mix of the original cinema release.

Features

There are a couple of trailers and subtitles, but these are only in Dutch.

Conclusion

This movie is a delightfully stupid romp, and brings back fond memories for me. Jack Elam`s performance as the sinister doctor is worth the price of admission, and anybody who remembers the very first "It`ll Be All Right On The Night" will recognise the outtakes that accompany the end credits.