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Some ensemble casts simply gel straight away (The Godfather, Heat, Boogie Nights) and others fall into lunacy due mainly to the inflated egos involved (Casino Royale (1967), Mars Attacks!, Rat Race). The Cannonball Run falls into the latter category of mediocrity as Burt Reynolds and Roger Moore spearhead a cast of yesterday's (late 1970s) stars. Reynolds' chum, Hal Needham directs the carnage as several pop culture icons such as Farrah Fawcett, Jackie Chan, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jnr. involve themselves in a coast to coast race across America, seemingly partly in homage to Hanna-Barbera's Wacky Races cartoon.
Moore plays an Aston Martin driving smoother than silk 007/Roger Moore impersonator, Fawcett is an apprehensive-at-first tree-lover (the Charlie's Angel is in sleepwalking form), Jack Elam pops up as a nutty professor (somehow the cast highlight in a clichéd, low-budget horror turn), Reynolds and Dom DeLuise (the former is in automode; the latter's Captain Chaos alter-ego is pathetically unfunny) drive a heavily modified Dodge Tradesman suited up as an ambulance, the former Rat Pack duo, Martin and Davis Jnr. imitate two priests whilst driving a Ferrari (as dim-witted as it sounds), Jackie Chan and Michael Hui operate a high-tech and computer-laden Subaru, and Adrienne Barbeau (plus her chest) and Tara Buckman make the most of a Lambo Countach.
One has to appreciate the film for the kitsch value and completely non-serious tone it portrays. However, this is bottom of the barrel entertainment - not as good as Smokey and the Bandit but better than The Cannonball Run II. The sequel incidentally is probably the worst film you will ever see and it doesn't even warrant a review. Needham's second stab at this diabolical franchise does have an excellent tagline though: "The popcorn's in the lobby, the nuts are on the screen!" Unfortunately for the filmmakers, that effervescent marketing tool is also applicable here but in a more literal sense - the popcorn is in the lobby because people shouldn't have felt the need to have visited the cinema in 1981 to see a barmy cast picking up an easy paycheque. The supposedly funny outtakes at the end don't even bring about as many murmurs of a cackle as they should.
The extras
A trailer.
The summary
A shambles. Even when you try to give your mind a break to realise this is not a serious piece of work, you cannot escape the fact that the whole escapade is simply dire.
