The Cannonball Run
Short description
The Cannonball Run follows a field of drivers competing in an illegal coast-to-coast automobile race across the United States, with a large cash prize awaiting whoever reaches the finish line first. There are no rules, and the entrants resort to every trick they can devise to outrun each other and avoid the police. Among them are J.J. McClure and his erratic assistant Victor, who travel in an ambulance with a doctor on board and occasionally adopt a masked persona; the former racer Jamie Blake and his partner Fenderbaum, disguised as priests; Seymour, who models his approach on James Bond; and two Japanese drivers in a high-tech car. The story draws on the real Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, an unsanctioned event organized by Brock Yates, who wrote the screenplay.
Hal Needham directed the film, his fifth feature after Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, The Villain and Smokey and the Bandit II, and he returned to the subject with Cannonball Run II. Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. are among the large credited cast, which numbers sixty performers and fifty-five crew members. Made for about 18 million dollars, it took roughly 72 million dollars worldwide.
Audience responses were moderate and closely matched: it holds a rating of 6.2 on IMDb and the same figure on TMDB. A film critics' rating of 4.7 from thirty-four reviews places professional assessments below those viewer scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Don Rickles was originally planned for the role of Fenderbaum, which later became the role of Sammy Davis Jr..
- The ambulance used in the film is a real vehicle built by Hal Needham and Brock Yates and which participated in an actual 'cannonball run' race.
- Producers requested permission from the Governor of Georgia to close off the center of a small town for the landing of an airplane. The police cordoned off the area, and this barrier can be seen on screen.
- The Ferrari 308 used in the film belongs to director Hal Needham.
- Each time Roger Moore appears in this film, he has a new girl with him. They are all voiced by June Foray.
- The first patrolman in this film to stop Adrienne Barbeau and Tara Buckman was Burt Reynolds’ stunt double.
- A cameo role for the director: the man behind the ambulance.
- Cameo role of Brock Yates: the film's screenwriter appears as a race organizer.
- Jackie Chan, playing a minor role in this film, was very upset that his character was Japanese, while he himself is Chinese.
- In one of the early scenes of this film, Dom DeLuise's character says, “Maybe we can get a black Trans Am,” and Burt Reynolds’ character replies, “No, that’s already been done.” This is a reference to the film *Smokey and the Bandit* (1977), which starred Reynolds and was directed by Hal Needham. DeLuise starred alongside Reynolds in the sequel, *Smokey and the Bandit II* (1980).
- Victor (Dom DeLuise) told J.J. (Burt Reynolds) that having a doctor on board was very good, in case someone got “malaria.” This is another reference to *Smokey and the Bandit II* (1980), where Dom plays a doctor who treated a patient with malaria and is picked up by Burt.
- One of Jackie Chan's first appearances in an American film. Inspired by Hal Needham's idea of including bloopers at the end of the film, Chan establishes a tradition of doing the same in most of his movies.
- Stuntwoman Heidi von Beltz was injured during a stunt when the car she was driving (doubling Roger Moore's Aston-Martin driver in this race) lost control and crashed. The driver and a second stunt performer sustained minor injuries, while Heidi suffered paralysis in her lower limbs.
- The film was originally planned as an action movie starring Steve McQueen. After his death, the lead role went to Burt Reynolds, and the film became a comedy.
- To gather material for the film, Brock Yates participated in the final Cannonball Run in 1979. This step cost him his position as an editor at 'Car & Driver' magazine.
- At the end of the film, during the big race to the finish line, a black Trans Am appears. The driver of the car is visible in the pedestrian race scene. He is wearing a jacket that Burt Reynolds wore in 'Smokey and the Bandit 2' (1980).
- A short scene featuring two animated cars destroying the 20th Century Fox logo was created by Hal Needham, who did something similar for another studio when making “Smokey and the Bandit” (1977). Fox studio didn't appreciate the idea of destroying their logo, but soon realized they would have to talk to the public if it didn't happen.
- The character Dom DeLuise’s Victor Prinzi was named after Vic Prinzi – a friend and college football teammate of Burt Reynolds at Florida State University. Reynolds played halfback at the university until an injury forced him to quit football. Prinzi was a defensive back.
- The film was based on a series of real races started by Brock Yates in "Car & Driver" magazine. The fifth and final race was in 1979.
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