Cannonball
Cannonballis 100% car-crashin', gas-guzzlin', tire-squealin', '70s-style fun courtesy of executive producer Roger Corman and director Paul Bartel (Eating Raoul). Inspired by the success of Bartel'sDeath Race 2000, Corman commissioned him to direct this down-and-dirty adventure comedy about an illegal transcontinental car race and the eccentrics who compete for its $100,000 prize. Leading the pack is David Carradine, who's brought his sexy parole officer (Hill Street Blues' Veronica Hamel) along for the ride; hot on his tail are scurrilous Bill McKinney (Deliverance), cult queen Mary Woronov, and a host of marvelous character actors. Bartel also dotsCannonballwith cameos by Corman, Sylvester Stallone, co-writer Don Simpson, and numerous fellow filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante, and Allan Arkush, all of whom were in Corman's New World stable at the time. Undeniably lowbrow, but also unquestionably exciting and far more entertaining than Burt Reynolds'Cannonball Runpictures (which borrowed wholesale from this film),Cannonballoffers plenty of thrills for cult movie enthusiasts. Blue Underground's DVD includes theatrical and TV spots and bemused interviews with Carradine, Corman and Woronov.--Paul Gaita