Review of The Cannonball Run (1981) by James M — 12 Jul 2010

THE CANNONBALL RUN is one of those comedies so ineptly made that the jokes are hard to separate from the rest of the humdrum dialogue, and the visual gags are similarly dire. There's a good cast, but they give paycheck performances of non-characters, with the exception of Jack Elam, who's pretty funny as an eccentric quack, Roger Moore, who does an amusing spoof of James Bond, and Sammy Davis Jr.

, whose charm and professionalism carry him through. The same cannot be said of Dean Martin, who, as Davis' partner-in-crime, is really sad to see. The rest of the cast is barely worth mentioning; Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Farrah Fawcett, etc.

..all utterly wasted. DeLuise, for example, has an alter-ego called "Captain Chaos", a conceit which, although mildly amusing, held a deal of promise and could have proved rewarding in a good film.

But Hal Needham's listless direction and Brock Yates' lazy script combine to drain the premise of any real fun; any amusement the film provides comes from the natural charm of the actors. The stunts are good, but at the service of such a mediocre film, who gives a shit? That it was a huge hit is even more disheartening.