X
- 1981
- PG
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 1 h 35 m
- 1981
- PG
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 1 h 35 m
Summary A motley crew of eccentric competitors participate in a frenetic and illegal cross-country road race. However, the entrants will do anything to win the road race, including low-down, dirty tricks.
Directed By: Hal Needham
Written By: Brock Yates
- 1981
- PG
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 1 h 35 m
- 1981
- PG
- Twentieth Century Fox
- 1 h 35 m
The Cannonball Run
28
7.6
Where to Watch
Summary A motley crew of eccentric competitors participate in a frenetic and illegal cross-country road race. However, the entrants will do anything to win the road race, including low-down, dirty tricks.
Directed By: Hal Needham
Written By: Brock Yates
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
28
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
40% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
60% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
28
0% Positive
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
40% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
60% Negative
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
What saves the movie is its relaxed sense of self-awareness. Reynolds all but winks at the audience with his collection of Dick Dastardly sneaks and dodges, but holds onto that winning, hangdog warmth that got him to the top of the pile in the seventies.
Looks like something knocked off on rest days from Smokey and the Bandit II. The last five minutes, when they show out-takes of flubbed lines, etc, are hysterical. The rest is strictly for those willing to pay for a series of TV chat show performances.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 12 User Ratings
7.6
92% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
8% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 12 User Ratings
7.6
92% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
8% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Cross-country race of the title comes off as almost entirely incidental to the star turns. Overall effect is akin to watching the troupe take a vacation.
Criticizing it is like spitting in the wind, but at the risk of sounding like the spoilsport villain of the piece (a snippety liberal Washington bureaucrat, wouldn't you know), there's a smug, bully-boy spirit underneath this supposedly merry romp. The message is Go for It, and the theme song tells us 'Youv'e gotta have a dream to, make a dream come true," but what have our dreams come to? Breaking the 55-mph speed limit? In this movie, paradise is being able to land a Piper Cubin a busy city street to pick up another six-pack. Unfettered individualism has come to this: drive hard and carry a big Schlitz. [13 July 1981, p.81]
With a plot stolen from THE GUMBALL RALLY (1976) and CANNONBALL (1976), this wholly derivative car-chase movie provides a flimsy excuse for good ol' boy Burt Reynolds to cavort on-screen with a cast that's chock-full of familiar faces.
The Cannonball Run is an abdication of artistic responsibility at the lowest possible level of ambition. In other words, they didn't even care enough to make a good lousy movie.
Content to pick up where the skid marks from "Smokey and the Bandit II" left off, The Cannonball Run quickly establishes itself as an aggressive shambles, the latest exercise in amateurism from facetious professionals. [20 June 1981, p.B1]
Awards
Jupiter Award
• 2 Nominations
Golden Screen, Germany
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Razzie Awards
• 1 Nomination
