Cannonball

(Blue Underground, 9.28.2004)

One of the strangest and least enduring genres to emerge in the 1970s was the cross-country race movie. Roger Corman's New World Pictures was at the forefront of this genre -- along with its sister genre, the car crash movie -- producing Death Race 2000, Deathsport, Grand Theft Auto, Eat My Dust!, and Cannonball, all in a matter of about three years. With its futuristic, sci-fi approach, Paul Bartel's Death Race 2000 was easily the best of these films and, in response to its success, Corman hired Bartel to make Cannonball, a (slightly) more realistic take on the genre. Like The Gumball Rally (also released in 1976 but not by New World Pictures), Cannonball was based on a real life race that later provided the inspiration for the abysmal film that ultimately killed the genre, The Cannonball Run.

Truth be told, there wasn't much to this genre: it was really just an excuse to crash a bunch of cool cars and blow things up. In that regard, Cannonball is a smashing success, featuring some of the most jaw-droppingly excessive movie explosions I've ever seen.

David Carradine is fine, giving roughly the same performance he gave in Death Race 2000, but the endless parade of cameos offer the film its true highlights. Where else can you see Paul Bartel, Martin Scorsese, and Sylvester Stallone share a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken? In addition, the film features Gerrit Graham, Mary Woronov, Dick Miller, Joe Dante, Roger Corman, and future Jerry Bruckheimer sidekick, Don Simpson (who also co-wrote the script).

Lighter on features than most Blue Underground releases, Cannonball includes a poster and still gallery, TV spots, the trailer, and a 10 minute featurette comprised of interviews with Carradine, Woronov, and Corman. After all three discuss Death Race 2000, Carradine expresses disappointment with Cannonball and says that Bartel (who died in 2000) was only in it for the money. Woronov basically agrees but complains that Corman wouldn't finance the projects Bartel really wanted to make. Corman is the most positive of the three, complimenting Bartel on his dark sense of humor and technical skill. He also admits that he unfairly type-cast Bartel as an action director.

The best thing about this DVD is the terrific, colorful transfer by Blue Underground. In the past, most New World titles have been released on DVD by Corman's current company, New Concorde. Unfortunately, New Concorde appears to simply re-hash bad video transfers on DVD and, as a result, most of their DVDs are full frame (1.33:1) and of very poor quality. I guess you could say that Blue Underground staged an intervention here, rescuing Cannonball from the inevitable New Concorde botch job.

While Cannonball is a half-hearted and only partly successful film, this is one of the best releases of any New World title on DVD, thus far, and a relatively safe bet for fans of the genre. -- Jonathan Doyle