Deeper than the descriptions

A Masterpiece!

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in his filmography in order, I come to Cannonball aka CarquakePlot In A Paragraph: Based on an actual event, the Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, organised by Brock Yates to protest the 55 mph speed limit then in effect in the U.S. Does that plus sound familiar?? Of course it does, it's also the plot to "Cannonball Run" the Burt Reynolds movie which was considerably more successful than this one.This must been a frustrating time for Sly, as he had decent parts in "Capone" and "Death Race 2000" before a non speaking part in "Farewell My Lovely" whilst here he has one scene with Martin Scorsese and another character, where they sit eating Kentucky Fried Chicken and he is is uncredited in a movie where 'reporter at finish line gets a credit'.Thankfully this was the last time this happened, as he struck gold with his next movie. A little movie about a boxer from Philadelphia.

The basic premise of Cannonball has been done several times - a diverse group of drivers compete in a cross-country race where anything goes. Sound familiar? Hal Nedham ripped the guts out of Cannonball for his Cannonball Run made five years later. The difference, though, is that while Cannonball is often funny with some great action, Cannonball Run is often too over-the-top and unwatchable. It's too bad that Bartel's movie isn't as well known as Nedham's. While it will never be confused with Citizen Kane, Cannonball is a thrill-a-minute, cheese-filled good time.Bartel's direction is one of the highlights of the movie. You would think that a 90+ minute movie of watching cars race might get boring. It's not. Bartel keeps things moving and there's never a dull moment. Bartel does a great job of mixing race action, comedy, fight scenes, and a little drama to create a well-balanced, enjoyable movie.As far as acting goes, David Carradine naturally stands out. He's a car driving, butt kicking machine. Carradine is able to add a little authenticity to the movie by doing a lot of his own driving. There are a couple of spinouts where you can actually see that it's Carradine sitting behind the wheel.My biggest complaint with Cannonball involves the spectacular pile-up at the end of the movie. It gets off to a good start with cars plowing into each other followed by explosion after explosion. The problem is that it goes on for so long that it started to have a morbid feel to it. It bothered me that, as a viewer, I could only assume that there were people supposedly driving those cars that were bursting into flames and I didn't see any survivors. I can only assume that everyone was burned to a crisp. Sure it's a little picky, but it bothered me.

A motley collection of petrolheads compete in an illegal trans-America coast-to-coast car race from Santa Monica in California to downtown New York City.This movie is stupid, completely irresponsible, has no redeeming qualities and is terrific fun. It's also probably the definitive seventies Roger Corman / New World Pictures cult classic (although Death Race 2000 is more famous), featuring virtually every cult actor and director who ever worked for the great Corman (and later for Joe Dante) in its large cast. Everyone is terrific in it, though my favourites are the elder Carradine, Miller, the adorably cute Balaski, and Woronov. Keach has a hilarious bit as a professional German racer with a Von Richthofen accent, Arkush and Dante are equally funny as a couple of goofs who lend Carradine their car, and Scorsese and an unbilled Stallone have cameos as two mafia hoods. There really isn't much to say about the movie except that if you like B-movie stars, nutty stunts, fights, bad jokes and girls in nurses' outfits (all of which I do), this is the film for you. Written by Bartel and Simpson, along with The Gumball Rally it kicked off the spate of big studio road-racer movies (most of which were made by Hal Needham). Featuring great guerilla-style hand-held photography by Tak Fujimoto, high-octane stuntwork by Alan Gibbs, some very bad songs by David Axelrod, Bartel and Graham, and lots of corvettes, pontiacs, mustangs, lincolns and caddies. In the UK, this was given the stupid alternative title of Carquake.

This film is proof positive that you do not need a large budget, an A-list cast, or a complex script to entertain. Some times ya just need Fast cars, beautiful girls, and quirky characters(some played way over the top). Cannonball delivers just that,and becomes a joyride of a film. One of the first two car films based on the real"CANNONBALL SEA-TO-SHINING SEA RACE",(the other being"THE GUMBALL RALLY")it is far better than Hal Needhams "CANNONBALL RUN" films. Where they are goofy,and unintresting, "CANNONBALL" and "GUMBALL RALLY" are funny, and entertaining.The acting,and directing while not awe inspiring is consistent.(comon we have seen much worse). And I love the seventies(porno film) stock that this was shot on. Maybe im just too sentimental, but at two in the mornin,fix some hot pockets, open a cold beer, and start your engines. Unfortunately this film is not available on dvd, and even Amazon doesnt show a copy on vhs.