The Cannonball Run (1981)

Director:

Hal Needham

Writer:

Brock Yates (written by)

Release Date:

19 June 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy

Tagline:

You'll root for them all...but you'll never guess who wins.

Plot:

A wide variety of eccentric competitors participate in a wild and illegal cross-country car race.

Plot Keywords:

Race | Car | Cross Country | Racer | Motorcycle

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Burt Reynolds	...	J.J. McClure
Roger Moore	...	Seymour Goldfarb, Jr.
Farrah Fawcett	...	Pamela Glover
Dom DeLuise	...	Victor Prinzim / Captain Chaos
Dean Martin	...	Jamie Blake
Sammy Davis Jr.	...	Morris Fenderbaum
Jack Elam	...	Doctor Nikolas Van Helsing
Adrienne Barbeau	...	Marcie Thatcher, Lamborghini Babe #1
Terry Bradshaw	...	Terry
Jackie Chan	...	Jackie Chan, Subaru Driver
Bert Convy	...	Bradford Compton
Jamie Farr	...	The Sheik
Peter Fonda	...	Chief Biker
George Furth	...	Arthur J. Foyt
Michael Hui	...	Subaru Engineer

Also Known As:

Auf dem Highway ist die Hölle los (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Ágyúgolyó futam (Hungary) [hu]
A Corrida Mais Louca do Mundo (Portugal) [pt]
Carrera de locos (Venezuela) [es]
Kanuunankuularalli (Finland) [fi]
L'équipée du Cannonball (France) [fr]
La corsa più pazza d'America (Italy) [it]
Los locos del Cannonball (Spain) [es]
Mitt i plåten (Sweden) [sv]
Op de snelweg breekt de hel los (Netherlands) [nl]
Quem Não Corre, Voa (Brazil) [pt]
The Cannonball Run (Greece) [el]
Wyscig Cannonball (Poland) (TV title) [pl]
Wyscig armatniej kuli (Poland) [pl]
Yolun sonu (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA | Hong Kong

Language:

English | Cantonese | Japanese | Arabic

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Netherlands:12 (original rating) | Netherlands:6 (re-rating) | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1982) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

King Harbor, Redondo Beach, California, USA

Company:

Golden Harvest Company

Trivia:

Director Hal Needham shows up in the film four times. First as the EMT in the back of the ambulance, then as the voice of the cop in the speed trap ("Remember when we use to chase speeders"), then as the truck driver who calls Roger Moore on the CB and finally at the very end of the bloopers.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Fenderbaum is placing his bet with the Greek you can see that the references to Porsche on the odds board are listed as Porche.

Quotes:

Mr. Foyt: Well, how do you all feel now you have raped the American highways?
J.J. McClure: Beautiful!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Wanderlust (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Love Is On The Air

All-star madcap race to California

This film is best summarized as a live action version of Wacky Races. Burt Reynolds leads on all star cast of freaky drivers competing in a no-holds-barred race competition called the Cannonball Run. The standouts in this film are Roger Moore who seems to enjoy spoofing his own James Bond character, Jackie Chan as a kung-fu foreign race champ, Jack Elam as the twisted doctor riding along in Burt's ambulance, and Jamie Farr as a mad sheik trying to show Islamic superiority by defeating his opponents.

This is not a movie to be taken seriously, especially with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. cruising around dressed up like priests. There are a lot of good stunts and chase scenes in this movie, as well as a long brawl towards the end with all the Cannonballers against a gang of bikers, led by Peter Fonda!

To quote the Brain Gremlin from Gremlins 2: "Check it out one time, won't you!" You won't be disappointed.