Cannonball Run II (1984) Warner Bros/Comedy RT: 109 minutes Rated PG (language, crude humor, wild driving, comic violence, drinking) Director: Hal Needham Screenplay: Hal Needham, Albert S. Ruddy and Harvey Miller Music: Al Capps Cinematography: Nick McLean Release date: June 29, 1984 (US) Cast: Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Jamie Farr, Marilu Henner, Telly Savalas, Shirley MacLaine, Susan Anton, Catherine Bach, Foster Brooks, Sid Caesar, Jackie Chan, Tim Conway, Tony Danza, Michael Gazzo, Richard Kiel, Don Knotts, Ricardo Montalban, Jim Nabors, Louis Nye, Molly Picon, Charles Nelson Reilly, Alex Rocco, Henry Silva, Frank Sinatra, Joe Theismann, Mel Tillis, Abe Vigoda, Fred Dryer, Chris Lemmon, Arte Johnson, Dale Ishimoto, Linda Lei, George Lindsey, Doug McClure, Shawn Weatherly, Dub Taylor, Jilly Rizzo. Box Office: $28 million (US)
Rating: ***
In case you didn’t already guess, Cannonball Run II is the sequel to the smash hit 1981 smash ’em up comedy with an even bigger all-star cast. Like most sequels, it doesn’t quite measure up to the first movie despite many of the principals from the original returning for a second cross-country race for which the prize is a cool million. I’ll grant that it’s an inferior product, but I still find it entertaining. Hey, I’m not about a knock a movie that features three-fifths of the Rat Pack.
Burt is back as J.J. McClure, the cocky daredevil who didn’t win the first race. He gets another shot at the title when the sheik (Farr, M*A*S*H) invites him to participate in a Cannonball Run financed by his father (Montalban, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) who wants his son to emblazon the family name. Joined again by best bud Victor (DeLuise, Blazing Saddles), this time they pose as military types transporting radioactive material. Riding along with the guys are two bogus nuns played by Marilu Henner (Taxi) and Shirley MacLaine (Terms of Endearment).
There’s a bit more plot to Cannonball Run II with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. (this time disguised as cops) owing Las Vegas gangster Don Don (Reilly, The Match Game) $30,000. In turn, DD owes mobster Hymie Kaplan (Savalas, Kojak) $9M. DD’s dim-witted collectors- Alex Rocco (The Godfather), Abe Vigoda (The Godfather), Michael Gazzo (The Godfather Part II) and Henry Silva (Ocean’s 11)- come up with the idea of kidnapping the sheik and holding him for ransom. Their multiple failed attempts to capture him are right out of a Road Runner cartoon.
Participants this time include Jack Elam returning as the scary proctologist, model Susan Anton (Goldengirl) and Catherine Bach (The Dukes of Hazzard) as the two hot girls in a Lamborghini, country singer Mel Tillis and Tony Danza (Taxi) as cousins accompanied by an orangutan, Jackie Chan (The Big Brawl) as a Japanese engineer, Richard Kiel (aka Bond villain Jaws) as Chan’s driver and Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle USMC) as an army private named “Homer Lyle” (ha ha). Other familiar faces that show up throughout include Laugh-In’s Arte Johnson, comedians Sid Caesar, Foster Brooks and Louis Nye, Tim Conway and Don Knotts (The Private Eyes), Molly Picon (Fiddler on the Roof), football player Joe Theismann, Doug McClure (The Virginian), Fred Dryer (Hunter) and crooner Frank Sinatra as himself.
I’d like to talk briefly about Sinatra’s role in Cannonball Run II. You might notice there’s something hinky about it. Namely, he’s NEVER shown in the same shot as his co-stars. Apparently, the makers allowed him to shoot his scenes separate from the others. Look closely at his first scene. He’s in his office in Vegas, sitting at his desk and reading his lines into the camera. The tone of his voice doesn’t quite match the tone of what’s being said to him. The shots showing Burt, DeLuise, Dino and Sammy reciting their lines while looking into the camera were filmed on a different day. A body double for Sinatra was used in over-the-shoulder shots. LOL! Only Sinatra could get away with blatantly phoning it in like this.
Aside from the mobster subplot, Cannonball Run II is pretty much the same as the first. Well, almost. The whole affair feels rather half-assed this time. Hal Needham’s direction is noticeably lazy with the poor editing and lack of continuity between shots. Burt’s heart doesn’t appear to be in it this time. At times, he seems bored. Some of the gags have no pay-off. Others fall flat. A lot of it consists of the characters riding around in the same stretch of desert in Arizona waiting for something funny to happen. Keep in mind that the starting line is in California. The story keeps its characters in one place for so long, Needham has to get them to the finish line (in Connecticut) in a hurry by way of an animated sequence by Ralph Bakshi (Fritz the Cat). Now that’s lazy!
So why on earth would I award Cannonball Run II a generous three stars? Easy, it’s still fun to watch an all-star cast have fun in a silly, mindless movie with stunts, fast cars and dim characters. True, it feels a little forced this time, but the actors try to make the best of it. It’s weird seeing MacLaine in it, especially after winning an Oscar for Terms of Endearment a few months earlier. She was actually a last-minute replacement for Jaclyn Smith who dropped out of the project.
In any event, I think I get what Needham and Burt are going for with Cannonball Run II. They want something in the vein of Rat Pack movies like Ocean’s 11 with its jokey, easy-going tone. It’s not a total success, but it’s a good try. Of course, there has to be another big free-for-all fight in which Chan shows off his martial arts skills. He actually gets to do that in two scenes. In addition to Ray Steven’s theme, Puerto Rican boy band contributes a song called “Like a Cannonball” in both English and Spanish. As an added bonus, it has Charles Nelson Reilly. That alone is worth the price of admission.
In general, I like Cannonball Run II. It’s hardly a masterpiece, but neither is the first movie. It’s longer than it needs to be at 109 minutes. The pacing is off. It sputters and chugs a few times before it crosses the finish line. On the plus side, it’s better than Speed Zone aka Cannonball Run III. Burt didn’t even bother showing up for that one. I’ll take Cannonball Run II, flaws and all, any day.
