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Cannonball Run IIThe first Cannonball Run (1980) was so successful that this sequel was as inevitable as day following night. And why change a winning formula? Having lost out the first time round, daredevil driver JJ McClure (Reynolds) teams up with grease monkey Victor Prinzim (DeLuise) to enter another illegal, million dollar road-race from New York to LA.
Sponsored by The Sheikh (Farr), the race attracts many of the characters that brought so much madcap entertainment in the first film. So, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr get to repeat their roles as elegantly sloshed Jamie Blake and wise-cracking co-driver Morris Fenderbaum respectively, while a contractual obligation to Warner Bros ensured that Jackie Chan also returns as the swivel-kicking Mitsubishi engineer, this time paired with Richard 'Jaws' Kiel.
Roger Moore, Peter Fonda and Farrah Fawcett may not have made it to the sequel, but there's a galaxy of stars queuing up to take their places on the starting line. Marilu Henner as Betty and Shirley MaClaine as Veronica add sass to the proceedings and a plethora of nun gags too, when they dress up in habits to elude the exasperated traffic cops. Extra eye-candy comes in the shapely forms of Susan Anton and Catherine 'Daisy Duke' Bach (playing Lamborghini babes Jill and Marcie), while Tony Danza's wide-boy Terry is appropriately partnered with an orang-utan.
Extra cameos come thick and fast from the likes of Telly Savalas (as mobster Hymie Kaplan), stoner comedian Cheech Marin, legendary quarterback Joe Theismann and comedy great Sid Caesar. Frank Sinatra even shows up, acting opposite fellow Rat Packers Dean and Sammy for the first time since the 1960s. Sadly, it was also the last, Cannonball Run II providing the final dramatic roles for both Martin and Ol' Blue Eyes.
Not the classiest exit, perhaps, but what a way to go. You can tell that the production was a hoot from start to finish, and the sense of fun is infectious. Unhindered by political correctitude (there's not a seatbelt in sight) its redneck comedy is as broad as Reynold's grin, its language as colourful as his perma-tan. The gags never let up either, merrily targeting all races and creeds, while the movie's frenetic, stunt-heavy action - from barroom brawls to highway pile-ups - is unashamedly slapstick, and all the better for it.
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