| Cannonball Run II | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster byDrew Struzan | |
| Directed by | Hal Needham |
| Written by | Harvey Miller Hal Needham Albert S. Ruddy |
| Produced by | Albert S. Ruddy |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Nick McLean |
| Edited by | William D. Gordean Carl Kress |
| Music by | Al Capps |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 108 minutes |
| Countries | United States Hong Kong |
| Languages | English Cantonese |
| Budget | US$22 million[1] or $18 million[2] |
| Box office | US$56.3 million[3] |
Cannonball Run II is a 1983 Americanaction comedy film[4] starringBurt Reynolds and anall-star cast, released byWarner Bros. andGolden Harvest. The film is the second installment of theCannonball Run trilogy and asequel toThe Cannonball Run (1981). Like the first film, it is set around an illegal cross-country race, inspired by the real lifeCannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash.
This marked the final feature film appearances ofDean Martin andFrank Sinatra. Their appearances, coupled with those ofSammy Davis Jr. marked the final on-screen appearance of theRat Pack team. The film also marked the final film appearance ofJim Nabors before his death in November 2017. The film also featuredJackie Chan in his third Hollywood role. The film was followed by a sequel,Speed Zone, in 1989.
Having lost the first Cannonball Run race, Sheik Abdul Ben Falafel is ordered by his father, King Abdul, to go back to America and win another Cannonball Run in order to "emblazon the Falafel name as the fastest in the world". When Sheik Abdul points out that there is no Cannonball Run that year, his father simply tells him to "buy one".
To make sure his "Royal Ulcer" does not prevent him from winning, the Sheik hires Doctor Nikolas Van Helsing, who teamed with J.J. McClure and Victor Prinzim in the first race, as his in-car physician. Most of the participants from the first race are lured back, including J.J. and Victor, who have taken jobs working with a flying stunt crew.
Meanwhile, Jamie Blake and Morris Fenderbaum are in financial trouble with Don Don Canneloni, who in turn is in similar financial trouble with mob enforcer Hymie Kaplan. After the Sheik manages to bail out Blake and Fenderbaum by handing one of Don Don's thugs a stack of cash, Don Don hatches a plot to kidnap the Sheik in an attempt to extort money from him.
The race begins with J.J. and Victor dressed as a US Army general and his driver, a private. They catch the attention of Betty and Veronica, who are dressed as nuns for a musical, but remain in character and hitch a ride with J.J. and Victor when they think the guys could become overnight millionaires. They do not lose their habits until later.
Other racers includeMitsubishi engineerJackie Chan, teamed with Arnold, a giant, behind the wheel in a car—aMitsubishi Starion—able to go under water. In a redLamborghini (white at first) with "two great-looking chicks in it" (as the cops chasing them continually say) is the duo of Jill Rivers and Marcie Thatcher. Another team in aCadillac Fleetwood is accompanied by anorangutan who has a penchant for destructive behavior, giving elderly ladies the middle finger and kissing people. The orangutan sits at the front of the car holding a mock steering wheel and dressed as achauffeur. They are pulled over at one point by twoCalifornia Highway Patrol officers who assume they are with theCandid Camera show, but when the officers try putting on a performance, the orangutan beats them up instead.
J.J. and Victor stop along the way to help a stranded soldier, Homer Lyle. They also get much better acquainted with their passengers, Betty and Veronica, who change into something a little more comfortable. Don Don's enforcers continue to blunder along the way, with disastrous results.
After Don Don's gang capture the Sheik, the racers band together to invade Don Don's "Pinto Ranch". J.J., Victor, and Fenderbauminfiltrate it indrag, dressed asbelly dancers. Others barrel in by car and rescue the Sheik, who is reluctant to leave, since he has his pick of women there. The three "dancers" and Blake go to their leader,Frank Sinatra, to seek help, only to have him jump into the race himself.
In the end, the Sheik bankrolls Don Don's Ranch and then declares that he is upping the stakes to $2 million for the winner. All jump into their automobiles and make a dash for the finish line, avoiding traffic patrollers on the way.
The Sheik, as it turns out, loses yet again, this time blaming Dr. Van Helsing who rode with him for injecting him with an unknown substance. He convinces his father that he will win the return-trip race, having hired the winner of this one. It turns out to be the orangutan, who kisses the startled King on the lips.
Jaclyn Smith was originally meant to be the female lead Veronica but dropped out.Hal Needham said that Smith was worried about his improvisational style: "I think she was scared to death to be up there againstBurt andDom. I don't want someone on the set that's gonna be that scared. So we went somewhere else".[1] She was replaced byShirley MacLaine.[1]
Frank Sinatra agreed to do a cameo at the suggestion ofSammy Davis Jr. andDean Martin. Needham wrote three versions of the script for him, ones where he would either work a week, two days, or a day. He picked the latter. He was paid $30,000 which he donated to charity.[1] It was the first film he had made in three years and the first time he had reunited withRat Pack members professionally or personally in three years. Needham says he turned up half an hour early and did his scene with minimal fuss.[6]
Part of the film was shot nearTucson,Arizona.[1] To show the momentum of the race, the producers commissionedRalph Bakshi to animate acartoon sequence for the finale.[7]
The film opened in Japan on December 17, 1983, and grossed $846,676 from 22 theatres in five cities in its first two days.[8][9] It went on to be the second-highest-grossing foreign film of 1984 (along withJackie Chan'sProject A at number three),[10] grossing¥2.96 billion.[11]
In the United States and Canada, after the tenth-highest 1984 opening weekend ofUS$8.3 million,Cannonball Run II slowed down, becoming the 32nd-most popular 1984 film at the American and Canada box office with a total lifetime gross ofUS$28 million, less than half that of the firstCannonball Run.[12] According to one review of the film,Cannonball Run II still turned a healthy profit, and the reviewer attributed the film's financial success to preselling.[13]
The film enjoyed more success overseas. In West Germany (where it was the year's seventh highest-grossing film) and France, the film drew 3,748,167 box-office admissions.[14] The film had a total worldwide gross ofUS$56.3 million.[3]
Cannonball Run II met with even harsher reviews than had its predecessor, with a 12% approval rating onRotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 17 critics.[15]Roger Ebert awarded the film one half star out of four, calling it "one of the laziest insults to the intelligence of moviegoers that I can remember. Sheer arrogance made this picture".[16] Ebert'sAt the Movies cohostGene Siskel was even harsher, awarding it zero stars out of four, referring to it as "worthless" and referring to it as "a total ripoff, a deceptive film that gives movies a bad name" in hisAt the Movies review. Siskel named it his least-favorite film that he had seen during his time doingAt the Movies with Ebert- sometimes citing it asthe worst movie ever made. He went further in his print review, writing:
How could any car race movie be worse thanStroker Ace? Easy, and how's this for chutzpah? The cross-country road race inCannonball Run II takes place mostly off camera in a pedestrian animation sequence by Ralph Bakshi. We see a bunch of little cars with lines and arrows slide across a national map to the beat of some unforgettable music. And that's the race.
How cheap can you get? How little regard for the audience can you have? All of the road racing appears to have been done inSouthern California so as not to interfere with the tennis and golf games of its celebrity-filled cast. A cameo appearance by Frank Sinatra appears to have been filmed in isolation and then inserted so as to appear that Reynolds is in the same scene with him.
Cannonball Run II doesn't even try to be a movie. It's snapshots of a bunch of familiar, tired old faces improvising tired old gags.[17]
Both critics expressed bewilderment by Burt Reynolds' career choices, declaring that he was wasting his considerable talent and noting that Reynolds' huge fan base did not like the film (nor the recentStroker Ace) and would stop going to see his movies if he continued to make such terrible films. Rob Salem ofThe Toronto Star expressed similar sentiments in his review.[18]
Kevin Thomas of theLos Angeles Times wrote that "if you bother to submit yourself toCannonball Run II and happen to go the distance, be sure to stay for the end credits, the funniest part of the picture by far. As they unroll on the left of the screen, we're treated to a series of bloopers showing the stars breaking each other up during shooting, blowing one take after another. Ah. if only this antic humor had been allowed to burst through earlier. From the start it was clear enough that the cast was having a ball, but for the most part the material is so puerile that the film is that familiar instance of the actors having more fun than we are."[19]Janet Maslin ofThe New York Times called the film "an endless string of cameo performances from a cast whose funny participants are badly outnumbered and whose television roots are unmistakable."[20] Kathleen Carroll of theNew York Daily News gave the film only a single star out of a possible four, writing:
Cannonball Run II, which once again features Burt Reynolds as that completely forgettable character—car-crazy J.J. McClure—is such a disgraceful mess that it looks more like a rolling cocktail party than an actual movie.
The cast is full of familiar faces, some of which, sad to say, appear to be in dire need of the services of a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. Burt even managed to persuade the rich-and famous members of the Hollywood Rat Pack to show up for this worthless comedy which, likeCannonball Run, attempts to keep pace with cheating competitors in a cross-country automobile race.
Dean Martin gets to spout off such tired jokes as "My liver died last year." Sammy Davis Jr., Martin's favorite sidekick, is allowed to wear his most expensive jewelry even in those tasteless scenes in which he's masquerading as a priest. Shirley MacLaine, who, along withMarilu Henner, plays a footloose member of a backroad touring company ofThe Sound of Music, poses as a demure nun before stripping off her habit and exposing her shapely gams. Even "the King," Frank Sinatra, puts in a brief appearance, playing his favorite role—himself.
As it is, the entire cast seems to be sniggering over some private dirty joke which they refuse to reveal to the audience. Let's just hope this is one Hollywood joke that backfires at the box office.[21]
Rick Lyman ofThe Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that "ifCannonball Run II is more amusing thanStroker Ace—and it is—it's only because you can appreciate its vulgarity in a state of open-mouthed, morbid fascination."[22]
The film received negative reviews in Tucson, where it was largely filmed. Robert S. Cauthorn ofThe Arizona Daily Star said it "accomplishes the difficult feat of being more obnoxious and mindless than the first; It's as much fun as going to your mechanic for a tuneup and being told that you need an engine overhaul."[23] John Lankford of theTucson Citizen praised the location shooting, but remarked that "whatever tiny spark of life that made the firstCannonball work at all is missing in action here. The story is lame, there is no direction, the editing is sloppy . . . I could go on and on with this as you can well imagine. But this horse is already down and out; my puny efforts to finish it off would seem cruel."[24]
The film received eightGolden Raspberry Award nominations at the5th Golden Raspberry Awards in 1984, includingWorst Picture,Worst Director (Needham),Worst Actor (Reynolds for both this film andCity Heat),Worst Actress (MacLaine),Worst Supporting Actor (Davis Jr.),Worst Supporting Actress (bothSusan Anton and Henner) andWorst Screenplay (Needham,Albert S. Ruddy and Harvey Miller).
