shinsrevenge
I saw the sequel first, so I expected an entertaining, sometimes funny car race. What I got was an action movie with a surprising amount of death and even some sex scenes (even though not explicit ones).It had some nice details. Like a driver getting tired during twilight because the lights don't work. Or using the crash barrier to lift a car and change tires because he couldn't use the jack. Clever!Granted, the movie had some plot holes and the story wasn't always top-notch. Another downside is the acting. David Carradine did his part and the "evil" drivers played well, but the rest seemed quite forgettable to me. Still a decent road movie with quite a few twists and turns. As long as you don't second-guess things too much.
ShariRN3-1
Good Lord, one of many horrible 70's movies. The acting is atrocious, the characters have no depth, they are really only caricatures. David Carradine acts about as well as a tree stump and most likely got many of his jobs because of his wholly more talented father. Now, if you are the sort of person who enjoys car races, chases, etc., you may really enjoy this movie. Frankly, I couldn't tell if this movie was intended as a drama because some of the scenes are laughable. There are quite a few well known stars in this movie, but it is debatable if they were as well known then. As far as I am concerned, there have been enough movies made about this underground coast-to-coast race. I enjoyed the comedy "Cannonball Run" much more than this movie.
Woodyanders
Following hot on the scorching asphalt skid-marks of the impish "The Gumball Rally," Paul Bartel's characteristically deadpan, quirky, slyly subversive cross country road race car picture presents a blithely apocalyptic vision that's akin to the anarchic world views shown in the equally madcap "Freebie and the Bean," the truly twisted "The Mad Bomber," and the totally gaga "The Candy Snatchers": All those noisy, tire-yelping, rubber-shredding, metal-bending automobile mishaps featured herein play a crucial role in Bartel's merrily askew and jaundiced presentation of a world in constant uproar, where any sense of balance, tranquility and equilibrium gets messily disrupted on a frequent nerve-frying basis (a savage gas station fisticuffs scuffle and the wildly chaotic mondo destructo Jersey Turnpike massive car pile-up sequence in particular really hammer this point home).Among the race's contestants are David Carradine as stolid, tight-lipped, nerves-of-pure-brass ex-con champ Coy "Cannonball" Buckman, future "Hill Street Blues" regular Veronica Hammel as Buckman's loyal, fretful, karate-chopping police lady gal pal, Archie Hahn as Buckman's trustworthy, but feeble-minded mechanic Zippo, a gloriously crazed Bill McKinney as Buckman's chortling, maniacal, pistol-packing nutso rival Cade Redman (note the disconcertingly similar first and last names, a chilling blurring of the fine line between good and evil), Robert Carradine and the beauteous Belinda Balaski as a sweet, starry-eyed California surfer couple, a hilariously goofy Gerrit Graham as a pathetic no-talent aspiring country-and-western singer/songwriter, Mary Woronov in customary venomous b**chy and aggressive sexually ambiguous full-throttle nasty mode, Stanley Clay as a jive-talking hipster soul bro, and a repellently arrogant James Keach as a stuck-up, condescending German driver who meets a fiery untimely end. Among the folks watching the race from the sidelines are Dick Miller as Buckman's shady gambler brother, Bartel as a singing, piano-playing, Cole Porter-loving Mob capo, Martin Scorsese and Sylvestor Stallone as gangster flunkies, Joe Dante and Allen Arkush as geeky car buffs, Robert Altman film regular David Arkin as a timid grocery store counterman, Jonathan Kaplan as a gas station attendant, the eternally vacuous Louisa Moritz in one of her standard bubble-brained blonde bimbo parts, Patrick Wright as the rich guy who sponsors the race, and even legendary B-movie pioneer Roger Corman as an uptight district attorney (!).The strangely dark, fatalistic tone, rampant amorality, intensely ugly dialogue ("What the god**mn hell are you trying to to do, you f**got moron!?"), assorted foul play tactics the race's participants gleefully engage in, the useless, ineffective cops, opportunistic a**hole media, Tak Fujimoto's madly darting, hyperactive, vertigo-inducing cinematography, the crooked, string-pulling, game-rigging dirty double deals perpetuated by the mob-backed race officials, the general unpleasantness of the mostly mean and despicable characters (even Carradine's morally ambivalent "hero" isn't very likable or appealing), the loose, ramshackle narrative structure, a creepy opening credits nightmare sequence, and especially the murderously ferocious pandemonium on the open freeways cars getting trashed and blowing up real good smash 'em up vehicular carnage create a sense of deliriously out-of-control non-stop bedlam that's as profoundly discomfiting as it is utterly exhilarating. The disgustingly safe and sanitized "Cannonball Run" junkers ain't got nothing on this delightfully diabolical and severely bent gearhead treat.
DJ Inferno
The story of "Cannonball" is about an illegal coast-to-coast car race in the USA. Of course, also some saboteurs are on the road to guarantee a not smoothly course of events...Obviously not as great as Paul Bartel´s predecessor "Death Race 2000" "Cannonball" is a trash classic and cheese de luxe: cheesy acting, cheesy stunts, cheesy humour, cheesy dialogues... take a lot of car chases, explosions and add some campy humour and you´ve got "Cannonball"! But it´s always great fun to watch! A highly entertaining C-grade movie which is also very interesting for the prominent supporting cast, because Roger Corman, Martin Scorcese, Jonathan Kaplan, Joe Dante or Sly Stallone have small roles in this funny gem!Fasten your seat belts and enjoy!!!
