Force Fed Films: The Cannonball Run (1981)

For this Thursday's Force Fed Film, Puneet picked out another classic racing movie, The Cannonball Run. Starring Burt Reynolds as J.J McClure and Dom DeLuise as his trusty sidekick Victor, they enter The Cannonball Run which is a race across America. It's as simple as that! The cast is packed as all the other racers are seen and have their own comedic bits as well. I had never even heard of this movie before, but I was assured that it was really very good. Hit the jump to see if I could handle all the awesome!


I couldn't believe how many people I recognized in the film's cast. Besides Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise, it also had the hot Farrah Fawcett, and Roger Moore doing his best James Bond. Dean Martin made an appearance as a drunk lecherous priest with Sammy Davis Jr. as his gambling addicted buddy priest. Then oddly we had Terry Bradshaw as a beer swillin' "good ol' boy", Jackie Chan being Jackie Chan, and the guy who I recognized as Klinger from M*A*S*H, Jamie Farr, but he was playing a rich Sheik who enters the race to prove he's better than the American infidels. There was a bunch of others, but those were the ones I recognized. Oh alright, there were also the two hot women in their skin tight racing suits, that keep using their "charms" to get out of speeding tickets, and a stunt biker, some more rednecks and generally just more wacky nondescript characters.

It's the 80's, what did you expect?

The acting was actually pretty good in my opinion. Sure they were all playing over the top goofballs, but I not only bought all those wacky goofballs, but I really liked them too! My favorite had to be Dom DeLuise. He has this alternate personality which is a superhero/luchador named Captain Chaos. He shows up from time to time when he's most needed and not only allows him to become a fearless and unstoppable fighter, but also an amazing driver as well! Burt Reynolds played the "cool guy" but also had a funny sense of humour to him that gave him great comedic chemistry with DeLuise.

Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise, a great comedy pair

Roger Moore was a funny addition as he was playing a character named Seymour Goldfarb Jr who had created an alter ego named "Roger Moore" and had subsequently become a famous movie star. He also drives an Austin Martin DB5 decked out with gadgets and constantly acts like James Bond. I'm not sure if his story was true, or if he was just crazy and thought he was actor Roger Moore in the world of the film. It was amusing all the same.

It's all about the race!

I found The Cannonball Run to be surprisingly funny and had a great charm to it that just brought a smile to my face. The comedy was good, the cast was diverse and the racing was decent with a few good stunts mixed in. If I had to pick out anything to complain about, it would be that I never knew where the racers were in relation to each other, how long they had been racing for, or how close they were to the end. Also There was a big of a plot hole with the ending, but none of that really mattered to me because I was having a good time. Watch this movie. Fun times!