Simply fun fun fun

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2015)

The Cannonball Run is a highly illegal, no holds barred car race from Connecticut to California. JJ McClure (Burt Reynolds) and his sidekick Victor Prinzim (Dom DeLuise) with his alter ego Captain Chaos chose to drive an ambulance. They use wacky Dr Van Helsing (Jack Elam) and kidnap tree-lover Pamela (Farrah Fawcett) as their patient. Environmentalist Arthur J. Foyt has the hots for Pamela and intends to stop the race. Race car driver Jamie Blake (Dean Martin) and Fenderbaum (Sammy Davis Jr.) dress as priests in their red Ferrari. Seymour Goldfarb, Jr. (Roger Moore) imagines himself to be the Bond actor Roger Moore. Jill Rivers (Tara Buckman) and Marcie Thatcher (Adrienne Barbeau) use both their looks and their black Lamborghini Countach to full advantage. Jackie Chan and his computer sidekick Michael Hui drive their hi-tech Japanese car. Oil rich sheik (Jamie Farr) drives his white Rolls-Royce. Wealthy risk taker Compton and Shaky Finch ride a motorcycle doing a wheelie. Terry (Terry Bradshaw) and stuttering Mel are two good old boys. Mad Dog and Batman drive the truck through everything.
It's irreverent. It's sexist. It's silly. It's got car chases. It's ridiculous. It is entertainment of the lowest common denominator. It is simply fun, fun, fun. Everybody is having fun. It introduces Jack Chan to America. Dom DeLuise is a great sidekick to Burt Reynolds and Jack Elam is terrific. It may actually be better if Farrah Fawcett plays dumber. Its unabashed ridiculing of leftist environmental movement probably left the critics cold. Its low brow humor also doesn't help. But everybody has to love the hilarious outtakes.