**/**** Image A Sound A- Extras A-
starring David Carradine, Bill McKinney, Veronica Hamel, Belinda Balaski
screenplay by Paul Bartel and Donald C. Simpson
directed by Paul Bartel
by Travis Mackenzie Hoover On paper, Cannonball is a no-brainer, with the thought of re-teaming Death Race 2000 director Paul Bartel and star David Carradine looking as tantalizing as it does obvious–the gravitas of the latter having so successfully anchored the satirical jabs of the former. Alas, Roger Corman's low threshold for resisting an easy buck seems to have saddled Cannonball with the thing that interested Bartel the least, forcing him to shoehorn his attempts at spoofery into a road-race format where they don't really belong. Thus the film is constantly at cross-purposes with itself, crushing the satire under the wheels of expediency and diluting the adrenaline rush with comedic asides that now lack relevance. The result jerks forward like a beginning driver trying to pop a wheelie. A few choice bits hint at a better movie, but that's it.
The logic behind doing the film strongly appears to have been entirely predicated on the success of Death Race 2000–if a cross-country road-race worked once, why not once more? Thus we have the saga of Coy "Cannonball" Buckman (Carradine), a former stock car racer and ex-con looking for a big score that will put him back on top. He finds it in the coast-to-coast race being touted in the underground: be the first to reach New York from Los Angeles and receive a princely sum. Naturally, Cannonball has competition: there's the aspiring country-and-western singer (Gerrit Graham) who gives serenades to pirate radio; a trio of feminists (led by Warhol Factory vet Mary Woronov) in a van; and the usual gang of idiots. Alas, things are complicated by Cannonball's brother Benny (Dick Miller), a man so deep in debt with shady types that he needs the prize money at all costs–including the sabotage and murder of other racers.
But this is no Death Race 2000. Whatever you could say against that earlier low-budget camp icon, it knew what it was after: the combination of broad caricatures and broader-still anti-establishment satire made for the broadest of appeal, which happened to yield some great mean-spirited fun. Cannonball is less sure of what it wants: is it a good-ole-boy's heaven of fast cars, or a dilettante's paradise of vague jabs at the apparently money-mad competition? The pornographic lingering over the fine automobiles doesn't jell with the apparent pooh-poohing of the enterprise that gives them purpose, inhibiting one's confidence in his or her own feelings about the thing. Worse, the production unmistakably aims at realism (a crime of which Death Race 2000 was blissfully innocent), making us hesitant on how to read the stereotypes sitting behind the various wheels. You can't take it seriously, but you can't exactly laugh at it–and the resulting hodgepodge satisfies neither impulse.
There are fringe benefits. David Carradine has an ability to maintain his grave dignity in the most foolish of roles, and this one is no exception–he lends such credibility to the absurd dialogue and sketchily-written situations that you wonder how his star fell as far as it did. Bartel meanwhile walks off with his few scenes as brother Benny's mob nemesis, naturally casting himself as a debauched sophisticate who writes Cole Porter-esque ditties–one hilarious scene has him singing a number called "I'm Sorry" as his thugs beat up on poor Benny. A line here, a glance there, a bit of cheesecake back here again: isolated touches have fleeting resonance, and trainspotters will of course thrill to the many cameos of former Corman personnel such as Martin Scorsese, as well as imminent celebrities like Sylvester Stallone. But you have to be very easily amused to be satisfied with that, and even exploitation fans are unlikely to get much pleasure out of it; Cannonball is for Corman/Bartel/Carradine completists and no one else. It doesn't get the checkered flag so much as wave a white one.
THE DVD
Cannonball looks fantastic, though, on Blue Underground's DVD release. The 1.66:1, 16×9-enhanced image is astoundingly good, rich with saturated colours and crisp and sharp in fine detail, thus continuing The Big Blue "U"'s commitment to wringing the best out of exploitation titles (if only Cannonball deserved such a sensational transfer). The audio page offers a selection of Dolby Digital 5.1, 2.0 surround, and original mono mixes, the 5.1 option displaying the most and a surprising amount of stereophonic activity. Although the rear channels are only mutedly employed, the overall package is smooth and robust.
Extras begin with "Kicks and Crashes", a candid 10-minute featurette that compiles new interviews with David Carradine, Mary Woronov, and (briefly) Roger Corman himself. Among the secrets revealed are Paul Bartel's annoyance at being typed as an action director after Death Race 2000; both Carradine and Woronov make no bones about either Bartel's frustration at the hands of cheapskate Corman or his benefactor's insistence that he return to the car genre. As a depressed bonus, Woronov quite rightly complains at having to play "the girl" again, and Carradine expresses misgivings over the big pile-up that climaxes the film. Also included are the trailer, three TV spots, and a huge gallery of stills and promotional materials, all of which should satisfy the most rabid Cannonball fan–poor, deluded fool that he is.
94 minutes; R; 1.66:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 5.1, English Dolby Surround, English 2.0 (Mono); DVD-9; Region-free; Blue Underground
