Vashirdfel
Simply A Masterpiece
ThrillMessage
There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.
Donald Seymour
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
PeterMitchell-506-564364
Yes, Carradine is back in the driver's seat in this overrated Corman classic. An unruly cross country road race, some of it's contestants that desperate to attain that big windfall, they will stoop to some dirty play, and even murder, one of the contestant's brother's relying on this jackpot to get him out of a jam. A zealous German driver is one such victim, who's car blows up, when he exceeds 160. This fittingly suits the moment, while reaching the crescendo to a familiar anthem he sings at deafening volume. Cannonball has enough color in it's characters to make it entertaining, some of them engaging to watch. Watch for Robert Carradine, before his 'Nerd' days as a Live saver chewing hit-man who takes out a driver on a freeway, and nearly Carradine's girl. This hit, backfires on him, where he get's crushed by a jacked up car that comes off it's springs and falls atop him, in it's only scene of gore, which earns it it's R rating. McKinney is great as Carradine's nemesis, a suicidal driver who doesn't stop, except for beer. He has company in the form of a big country singer, and his agent I think. One scene sees him get tanked, when he's set upon by Carradine and this liquor store is turned upside down, Carradine paying for damages of course, with what little he has. He sabotages Carradine's chances of winning a few times, where in the end, Mckinney meets his deadliest fate. What goes around, comes around. One family guy playing around on the side, has a cargo plane fly his jeep most of the way, so he can afford other luxuries. God knows how he didn't get spotted. I guess you can't have spying eyes on everyone all the time. His bimbo mistress, blurts out something she shouldn't of, resulting in his elimination, I thought was one of Cannonball's few funny moments. Check out the black dude driving this old couple's car to New York. See what becomes left of it, as our driver, void of guilt, meets the couple, then saunters across the city street, all hip too. Not a bad Carradine actioner.
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.
movieman_kev
David Carradine takes part in an illegal anything goes cross-country race from California to New York. Paul Bartel's second attempt at the race movie, while good isn't as fun as his previous "Death Race 2000". It's still fun in parts, but lacks the pacing and memorable characters (except for Carradine and the always watchable Dick Miller) My Grade: C+ DVD Extras: Interviews with David Carradine, Mary Woronov, and Roger Corman; Poster and Stills gallery; 3 TV spots; and Theatrical Trailer 1 Easter Egg: Highlight a hidden car in the Extras menu for a Carquake/ the giant spider invasion combo trailer
