Customer Reviews

Cannonball

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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recently found myself facing down yet another Roger Corman classic with "Cannonball." Hmmm. I'm starting to detect a troubling pattern here. Every time I turn around, it seems like I'm popping another Corman disc into the DVD player. What gives? It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm trying to watch as many b-movie clunkers as possible before shuffling off this mortal coil. Too, I consider it my mission in life--at least at this point in my life--to review as many of these things as possible in order to warn the unwary what to expect should they find themselves stuck in a b-movie situation. What happens if you, a filmgoer only familiar with big budget studio releases that play in thousands of theaters across the country on opening night, should wind up watching a Roger Corman film? Maybe your boss loves these sorts of movies and you want to suck up for a raise. Maybe someone you want to impress has an insatiable craving for crud cinema. If so, I feel sorry for you. You'll have to give up repeated viewings of "Cold Mountain" in order to watch Troma flicks and Italian horror movies. Seek counseling immediately. Maybe you can find a new job and/or new friends.

Before losing all hope, however, you might want to test the waters with "Cannonball." It's not a bad film, actually, although it doesn't have the mega-stars found in the "Cannonball Run" films, two movies that also take as their central premise a cross-country car race. In this picture, directed by cult movie god Paul Bartel, David Carradine stars as Coy "Cannonball" Buckman, a down on his luck ex-con looking to break into the big time by winning the biggest road race of them all. Problem is, Buckman isn't supposed to spend any time behind the wheel thanks to the terms of his parole. Yeah right. Trying to keep a guy like Coy away from souped up jalopies is like trying to keep a fat woman away from chocolate ice cream. Nonetheless, his sexy parole officer Linda Maxwell (Veronica Hamel slumming for a paycheck) tries hard to keep her charge out of trouble. But Buckman is going to race, bet your bottom dollar, no matter what the cost. His older brother needs his help, and Coy needs to feel those miles melting off the highway if even for a few hours. With the assistance of his trusty sidekick Zippo (Archie Hahn) and the unwilling participation of Maxwell, Coy Buckman heads west from California to New York at a thousand miles an hour.

Of course every racing film needs a cast of crackpots driving the other cars, and in this "Cannonball" provides plenty of oddballs trying to make their own mark in the race. We've got Coy's snarling archnemesis Cade Redman (Bill McKinney) dragging along country singer Perman Waters (Gerrit Graham) for some inexplicable reason. We've got ultrahot cutie Mary Woronov driving a van full of babes. We've got a European snob named Wolfe Messer (James Keach) busting everyone's chops in the fastest car. We've got a touchy feely young couple, Jim Crandell (Robert Carradine) and his woman Maryann (Belinda Balaski), zipping along in the hopes that the reward money will give them a start in life. There is also the inevitable chap who thinks he'll win by cheating and a black guy racing in a town car that doesn't even belong to him. Just in case the cast of loonies fails to keep you entertained, Bartel himself shows up as a piano-tinkling mobster who is pulling some crooked tricks behind the scenes. What follows is typical in the crash 'em smash 'em genre: lots of fiery wrecks, down and dirty tricks, a few fistfights, romance, and a keep 'em guessing ending. The only thing "Cannonball" is missing is Burt Reynolds and Jackie Gleason.

This movie offers us nothing we haven't seen in other films. While it is superior to Corman's other racing films, namely Ron Howards's "Grand Theft Auto" and "Eat My Dust," it isn't as much fun as "Death Race 2000." That movie, also lensed by Bartel and containing much of the same cast as "Cannonball," possessed many things lacking here. "Death Race" was more violent, the cars were "futuristic" and therefore cheesier, and the underlying plot more interesting. There isn't much of a plot in this movie once you get beyond the Coy Buckman character. He went to jail after taking the fall for his friend Zippo, and now he wants to race in order to restore his former glory. The idea that his brother is working behind the scenes to save himself from the clutches of Bartel's gangster character forces our hero to make a painful choice when he finally discovers the nasty truth behind the race. Or something sappy like that. Did I mention lots of stuff blows up and a few people die in fiery wrecks? Good, because that's likely the only thing you will take away from "Cannonball." Thank goodness Corman moved on to ripping off other types of genre films shortly after this picture came out.

The DVD is pretty much what one expects with a Roger Corman release. Included for your viewing pleasure are a trailer for the film, television spots, and a poster and still gallery. Interviews with Mary Woronov, Corman, and David Carradine add a bit of backstory to the production. For example, Woronov explains that she didn't know how to drive, so Bartel and company had to shoot all of her scenes in close up lest she kill everyone involved. I recommend "Cannonball" to Corman completists and car racing film aficionados, but all others should probably stick to the corny "Cannonball Run" pictures. Not that they're any better, mind you, but they are a cut above this film in some respects.

This is by far one of the great car chase movies of all time. And by my count, not many people were able to notice it. Cannonball, the apparent precursor to the comedy movie series "Cannonball Run" stars young David Carridine as Coy "Cannonball" Buckman as he embarks on an illegal trans american race to bring his racing career back. This film has great chase sequences and a good story to back itself up. Cannonball is the perfect popcorn film for any gearhead or action fan. Granted it was made in the 70's and has those 70's style moments, it still is a top-notch car film on par with the classics like "Gone In 60 Seconds" and "Vanishing Point". Buy this movie.

The title about says it all. It makes ya cringe a little watching them beat up the "classics". But as with alot of 70's movies they just put the car on full out and let the cameras roll. You should see it once just for the cars.

The movie is 70s period and very campy, but good car stunts. There's also some light gratuitous nudity which I personally appreciate, but that's the way they made movies then.

Recently I saw Quentin Tarantino's DEATH PROOF and I was disappointed at what a waste of time it was. Lame dialogue, chick power posturing, long stretches of nothing.

CANNONBALL is one of the movies DEATH PROOF was shooting for.

It's on cable right now and I'm struck by how many people were actually in this film. David Carradine, Veronica Hamel, Bill McKinney (forever famous as the deranged hillbilly rapist from DELIVERANCE), Mary Woronov, Gerrit Graham (so funny in USED CARS), Robert Carradine, Belinda Balaski from THE HOWLING, Sylvester Stallone, Dick Miller, Martin Scorsese (yes, you read that right), Paul Bartel (also the director), Carl Gottlieb (JAWS)...quite a line-up for a 70s drive-in movie!

And the cars are awesome.

Before David Carradine experienced a career revival of sorts in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" movies&crossed swords with The Bride,Uma Thurman,he was Cannonball,A Man on the Run.

The plot is completely nonsensical;it involves a cross-country race.David Carradine gets helped by car geeks,has a strange convenience store brawl,shows off his chest for no reason whatsoever&a squeaky voiced Marilyn Monroe lookalike goes to bed with an unpleasingly plump bad guy.

Okay,it's a cross country race,David Carradine has to win to clear his name--it's good dumb fun.Need I say more?

David Carradine did a solid job, but some of the supporting actors were poor to fair. I did't even notice Stalone. It was great for watching the cars though, and even gave me some feelings of nostalgia, with so many '60's and '70's cars. Early on there was a gorgeous DeTomaso Pantera making some nice sounds. Lots of almost constant driving, some crashes, and a criminal subplot (which was no big deal). If you love cars, look for a low price, and I think you'll have some fun.

I loved Cannonball! One of those fun, forgotten drive-in flicks that Blue Underground has taken it upon themselves to release. Hopefully this will find an audience for those curious about David Carradine after his renewed fame with Kill Bill. Cannonball is likely to get confused with Burt Reynold's Cannonball Run films. It's easy to see why coz both deal with an illegal cross country race with a group of eccentric characters all hell bent on the grand prize. But remember, Cannonball came first! Directed by Paul Bartel who did Death Race 2000, also starring Carradine and Mary Woronov. Not quite as violent and outrageous as Death Race, but just as good, maybe a teeny bit better. It goes a little more towards action than comedy, but it's got it's funny moments for sure. Many of these moments come from a country singer played by Gerrit Graham(who played "Beef" in Phantom Of The Paradise) who can't seem to make it through a song without getting hit by either another car or his own driver.
Lots of good cameos, but they'll only be recognizable to film buffs. Small roles by Joe Dante(director of Gremlins and The Howling), Martin Scorsese(needs no intro), Sly Stallone(no intro either), and even Don Simpson of Bruckheimer/Simpson fame. Good to know he did a cool film before churning out the crap he did later. And of course a supporting role from Dick Miller. Who can't love Dick Miller? If you don't know who Dick Miller is, slap yourself a few times, and Shame On You! Even Carradine's younger brother, Robert "Louis Skolnick" Carradine has a role. Very good film if you're a fan of this golden era of exploitation films that they just don't make anymore. The dvd includes an interview with Carradine, Woronov and Roger Corman. It's interesting to hear their thoughts all these years later. They all seem to be happy with it. David, while saying he enjoyed making the film, was a bit disappointed with the final product. I'm cetainly not, and hopefully you won't be either.

I'll admit it, I've always been a sucker for movies with spectacular car chase sequences, one of my favorites being Bullitt (1968), with Steve McQueen, and then there's always The French Connection (1971). The last, few, more recent ones worth looking into can be found in Ronin (1998), and The Bourne Identity (2002)...that being said, the prospect of an entire film based on car chases seems pretty far-fetched, but it's been done, and done well, in H.B. Halicki's Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)...the acting amateurish, the plot vague and murky, but the car sequences are amazing. The idea was later expanded to focus on a trans-continental race in The Gumball Rally (1976), and also Cannonball!, released the same year. The concept then morphed into something quite odious in The Cannonball Run (1981), which begat the even worse Cannonball Run II (1984), which begat the even worse Speedzone! (1989), which was also known as Cannonball Run III...if anyone deserves credit for driving the concept into the ground (pun intended), we can all blame Hal Needham, stuntman turned writer/director, responsible for Cannonball Run and its' dismal sequel, and if that's not enough to turn your stomach, know he's also the one responsible for the cinematic nightmare known as Stroker Ace (1983)...it would take years for Burt Reynolds career to recover from the Needham Effect, finally appearing in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997).

Anyway, Cannonball! (yes, there was originally an exclamation point included in the title, although it seems to have been dropped on the Amazon and by Blue Underground, the company that released this DVD), was co-written by Paul Bartel (Death Race 2000, Eating Raoul) and Don Simpson, who later became the uber-producer for such films as Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Days of Thunder, and The Rock, to name a few. The film stars David Carradine (Kill Bill: Vol. 2), character actor Bill McKinney (he's appeared in many Clint Eastwood films, his largest role as `Redlegs' Terrill in The Outlaw Josey Wales but probably is most known for his scary, Ned Beatty lovin' hillbilly character in Deliverance), and Veronica Hamel (Hill Street Blues), who's much too attractive to be appearing in this film. Also appearing, some so briefly you'll miss them if you blink, are Gerrit Graham (Used Cars), Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds), Belinda Balaski (The Howling), Mary Woronov (Rock 'n' Roll High School), James Keach (Moving Violations), Dick Miller (The Wild Angels), Allan Arkush (Deathsport), Roger Corman, Joe Dante (Gremlins), Martin Scorsese (yes, that Martin Scorsese), and Sylvester Stallone, in an uncredited role as a mafia tough guy....whew....it was kinda fun recognizing the various cameos...

As the film begins, we learn of an illegal, cross-country, anything goes race, starting in California, ending in New York, with the grand prize being 100,000 smackeroonies...David Carradine is Coy 'Cannonball' Buckman, favored racer, out on parole due to a crime he didn't commit but took the rap to save his friend and mechanic Zippo. Coy's shady brother, Benny (Miller), is pushing Coy to participate in the race, providing him with a definitely non-stock Trans-Am, but if Coy does race, he'll violate his parole, and be subject to arrest by Linda (Hamel...man, she is way too pretty to be in this film, much less be stuck with creepy old David Carradine's character), who is not only his parole officer, but also his girlfriend. Also racing is Coy's nemesis (in a nifty, black Charger), the psychotic, beer swilling Cade Redman (McKinney), who's priorities seem to be destroying Coy, and then winning the race, in that order. There are a number of other racers, the snotty German driver Wolfe Messer (Keach), the girls in the shaggin' wagon, driven by Mary Woronov's character (I don't care how `souped up' your boogie van is, you're not going to win a cross country race), and so on, but it's pretty obvious who the race will come down to...or is it? You may be surprised...oh yeah, let's not forget this how thing is illegal, so the authorities are in on it too...

I did enjoy this little trip into vehicular mayhem, but something seemed to be missing. If you've seen director Bartel's previous film, Death Race 2000 (a main aspect of that film being points awarded for hitting pedestrians), you may understand. Cannonball was obviously meant in similar fashion (darkly comedic), but had little of the inspiration of Death Race 2000. The story seemed to switch between different elements (humor, action, melodrama), having difficulty deciding which way to go (I would have preferred the straight up racer type of film filled with dirty trickery, rather than trying to develop the soppy characters as much as they did). I thought Carradine did alright as the `Zen' driver, but it seemed little difference from any of his other roles, all infused with his signature `Zen' aspect. My favorite characters were the extremely insane, and downright nasty, character of Cade Redman, played by McKinney, and the hilarious Euro-trashy German driver played by Stacy Keach. The car sequences were done very well, but nitpicky viewers may notice various irregularities (damage to cars varying from scene to scene, exploding cars with no drivers, etc.). The actors do seem to be having fun, but that didn't always translate to the viewer, probably because of the lackluster direction and/or sloppy story. The film is fun, and should provide some fun for car racing enthusiasts, but ultimately suffers under the weight of not committing itself, which isn't surprising as Bartel's talents lie not in films like this, but in more offbeat, tasteless (no pun intended, and I mean tasteless in the kindest possible sense) ventures like Eating Raoul.

I'm giving three stars for the film, and an extra for the outstanding release from Blue Underground. The anamorphic widescreen picture (1.66:1) is flawless, and features 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, Dolby Surround 2.0, and original mono sound. Also included is a slew of extras, listed on the Amazon website (where's the subtitles?).

Cookieman108

I love this movie. I havn't seen the new DVD version yet, but I rented this movie on VHS a wile ago and I just remember it being full of action, humor, and suspence. I love David Carridene. If you liked Death Race 2000 or just love David Carridene you should get this movie.