You are certainly the most distinguished group of highway scofflaws and degenerates ever gathered together in one place.

Rating: Null/10 (9 September 2011)

Some scene moment spoilers follow.
A monster hit back on release in 1981, The Cannonball Run has a meagre rating of just 5.7 on the IMDb site and is home to some scathing reviews across the critical spectrum. Having just revisited the film for the first time since the 80s, I found to my surprise I was laughing heartily pretty much all the way through the damn thing
True enough there is enough cheese and over reliance on self parodies to stop it from being an across the board winner, but there's enough energy and excellently written comedy to make one understand why early 80s audiences were taken with it. In fact it very much feels like a 70s film in many ways, and I mean that in a good way, macho men and babes, speeding cars and Al Capps' music sit neatly with the look created by director Hal Needham. While clocking in at a brisk 95 minutes the film and its comedy doesn't out stay its welcome like the more popular ass numbing ensemble comedy picture that is It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
Re-elect Sean "Kill A Commie" O' Scanlon.
Most of the cast send themselves up royally, and seem to be enjoying doing so. I haven't had time to look into the making of the film, but I would be saddened to find out it wasn't an harmonious set? From Roger Moore riffing his Bond persona-he's not George Hamilton you know-to Dino Martin playing a lecherous drunk priest!-so much for the knowing film fan to get on the fun side with.
Those priests weren't fathers, they were mothers!
Then there's great moments like Jackie Chan in his super computer car, and splitting his trousers , Burt Reynolds and Martin exchanging insults, Jack Elam's wired doctor, with that proctologist finger, the mother of punch ups led by Peter Fonda in biker mode, Captain Chaos, the best motorcycle wheelie ever, and of course the cars and the wonderfully staged stunt work. It's also very sexy, Reynolds, a bastion of manhood, Farrah Fawcett's legs, and Adrienne Barbeau as scrumptious as scrumptious can be. If there is indeed a God and he grants me entry to Heaven, I hope that early 80s Adrienne Barbeau is waiting for me at the gate!
Yeah I'm a fan. 8/10