La corsa più pazza d'America

The Cannonball Run has been vilified by many critics over the years but I love this movie and have been watching it ever since I was little. This movie is what happens when a bunch of movie stars who just happen to be close friends in real life decide to make a movie just for fun. The plot is simple enough, race from one end of the country to the other for a million dollars and avoid the law on the way. The cast is jammed with big names and just about everyone in the movie that has a speaking part is a star of some stature. This movie is simply great fun and has a lot in common with the rest of director Hal Needham's films,i.e. Smokey and the Bandit. I can't really say that this film is full of great acting because the entire cast horses around through the whole movie. Jackie Chan makes his first appearance in a American movie with this film and both Hal Needham and writer Brock Yates have cameos. Don't expect a lot in the way of plot or acting or effects or anything like that and just enjoy the ride. The outtakes at the end of this and Cannonball Run II are hilarious and it makes it more fun for me anyway to know that this movie was just like a big meeting of old friends. Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. are great as Blake and Fenderbaum respectively. Burt Reynolds and Dom Deluise anchor this film (they're the main characters)and the give and take between these two make them one of the best comedy teams I have ever seen. Bottom Line: Buy this flick, drag it out every once in a while, and have fun watching it with family or friends. A truly fun movie to watch.

If you're looking for a movie loaded with cars, crashes, 1/8th of the Rat Pack, Adrienne Barbeau's best assets... oh yeah, and Burt Reynolds, look no further than "The Cannonball Run".

It was a hit back in 1981 and no wonder: Burt was on top of his game and we were all young and naive back then. Heck, I have a warm spot for all the rampant stupidity, myself.

All the better that Roger Moore plays a deft parody of his own James Bond persona, complete with an Aston Martin.

If you've seen this film way back when, no doubt you remember it with some fondness. Let's face it: it may not have been on par with films like "The Gumball Rally" or even "Death Race 2000", but in its own way and on its own terms, it works just fine.

A word of sage advice: if you watch this film, skip "Cannonball Run 2". It'll only ruin your good memories of the first. And if you didn't like the original, well....

Five stars. Plus one star extra for adding Jackie Chan for what adds up to mostly as a cameo as a karate-kicking racer. And a half star more for Adrienne Barbeau's fancy work with a jump suit zipper. Altogether, six and a half stars.

Wish she would have made it a seven.

Captain Chaos, The Rat Pack, Terry Bradshaw and Mel Tillis! Burt, Roger Moore, and Mr...um...Foyt! Some say this isn't a masterpiece, there are no digital effects or Oscar nominated performances. Please! It's just fun watching some of the greats who have passed on and some others who were in their prime having a blast doing a movie that makes little sense and that's just the way I like it. I promise you will laugh and you won't know why, but you won't care! Great movie for anyone who wants to have a beer with his friends and watch a funny, pointless, silly movie. Unfortunately, I also recommend Peter Jackson's King Kong for the same reasons.

Is it a masterpiece? No. Does it offer a compelling plot? No. Is it just plain fun? Yes!

Another title in the era of entertainment that was best described as "Fast cars, fast crashes, and fast women". The era that produced such films as Smokey and the Bandit, Convoy, and the Dukes of Hazzard TV show. The era that was pointed more at the blue-collar working class than the white-collar office class or the critic.

It certainly wouldn't hold up to Lawrence of Arabia, Citizen Kane, or any other masterpiece, but it isn't trying to be that. It's just trying to be a fast, fun film that loads of people can enjoy.

Instead of a 5-star wine with a 5-star steak in a 5-star restaurant, this film's more of a greasy burger and fries in a roadside dinor. They both cannot be equaled objectively, but they're both 10/10 stars in their own right.

If I could represent the height of American film, I might choose Casablanca, Citizen Kane, or Ben-Hur. If I could choose a film to show the height of American freedom, to show somebody who wasn't American what American freedom and liberty feels like, I'd choose The Cannonball Run.

Before there were Police Academy movies there were these two Cannonball Run films where a whole lot of people did a movie with absolutely no story to it, but looked like they were having a lot of fun. If you could call it starring Burt Reynolds and long time pal Dom DeLuise because they have the most screen time.

It's clear that this cast was enjoying all the overacting they were allowed to indulge in. Except possibly for Roger Moore who rather drolly underplayed his own image as an action hero, James Bond, the Saint, etc. Reynolds did too, to a lesser extent.

You've got to love Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. as a pair of fake priests who copied Richard Nixon's dirty play book in their effort to win The Cannonball Run which when you come right down to it is just a cross country drag race. Reynolds and DeLuise are using an ambulance, the better to fool the Smokeys that they meet traveling west. And for insurance they have a kidnapped patient in Farrah Fawcett and one bat crazy doctor in Jack Elam. Between Elam and DeLuise I have to say it's a tossup as to who overacts the most.

Like The Police Academy movies, the Cannonball Run films are dumb, witless, stupid, puerile, and you will laugh your derrière off.