646f9e108c An assortment of greedy and eccentric people are forced to participate in the annual and illegal cross-country car race, the Cannonball Run. From Washington, D.C. to Santa Monica, they race in order to claim a cash-prize money for the winner and runners-up. Oafish Charlie is forced to drive a BMW with bubble-brained starlet Tiffany. Alec is an English deadbeat who asks Mafia hitman Vic, hired to kill him for outstanding bad loans, to travel with him in a Jaguar XJ-12. Alec hopes to use the prize money to get out of his debits. M.I.T. graduates and best friends Lea and Margaret participate in the race, driving a Ferrari Daytona Spyder, hoping to meet some good looking guys along the way. Valentino is a skittish Italian who teams up with Flash, an ex-cop, to drive a red Lamborghini Countach for business reasons. Heather and Jack are two television reporters covering the action in their Ford van and even partake in the race themselves. Nelson and Randolph Van Sloan are two wealthy and spoiled brothers driving a Bentley Corniche convertible, and resort to dirty tricks to get ahead. Hounding the Cannonballers all along the way is the manic and corrupt Police Chief Spiro T. Edsel and his dim-witted aide, Whitman, hoping to stop the race and end the nuisance the drivers cause by any means necessary. An illegal race that takes place over the United States and nothing will stop this bunch of racers except for the occasional cop or a damsel in distress. Jackie Chan's car is not in this one, but many new cars make up for that. Who will win? Who will crash? Who will not even finish? Sit down and buckle up for the ride of your life. In this intended "Cannonball Run 3," amateurs replace professional drivers at the last minute before an illegal cross-country race. The real amateurs, however, were behind the camera. Jim Drake (who did some fine TV work) lazily directs this film based on an unfunny Michael Short (Martin's brother) script, complete with an obnoxious music soundtrack and bland stunt work. Even the cameos look unenthusiastic. And we don't even know who's leading the competition until the very end, a cardinal sin in racing movies. The main cast is quite talented (no fewer than 3 SCTV alums) but it looks like everyone flew in for their two weeks of filming and went home; there's simply no inspiration between the actors. During the closing credits we see John Candy, Donna Dixon and company riding around in amusement park bumper cars – Lord, do they look utterly embarrassed. I wasn't demanding Shakespeare, but a competently-made, well-acted comedy (along the lines of Splash or Animal House) shouldn't have been out of the question, either. I first saw this on the British channel sky movies - it was the Sunday family film. I caught the end and was transfixed, for one reason. I had just bought a jaguar XJ-S in blue with a red stripe. The exact same type from Speed Zone. I remembered the name and tried to find it in Europe. I couldn't and after long and hard searching on the internet eventually found it on ebay. When i watched it i was disappointed. Yes, the car chase sequences are good - but for an hour and a half long film there are not enough. Half of the film is trying to build on John Candy's love relationship with his passenger - and while the first few of these scenes are quirky and amusing , they get boring very quickly. Alex and Vic in their XJS are the best characters to follow but they seldomly appear. The news reporters are also annoying with random wrong comments that the writers obviously put in to liven the film up. John Schneider from the dukes of hazard's name appears high up in the list of names in the credits from the beginning but he only has 4 lines and appears for about 30 seconds. I like this film, despite it's corny mess and the actors bad acting because the car chases are good. If you are a car person then this is a must but if you enjoyed all the other car chase films - leave this one out. you'll be glad you did.
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