Cannonball Run II (1984)

The original characters from The Cannonball Run (1981) race across the country once more in various cars and trucks.

Director:

Hal Needham

Writers:

Brock Yates (characters creator), Hal Needham

Stars:

Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin

1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Burt Reynolds	...	J.J. McClure
Dom DeLuise	...	Victor Prinzim / Captain Chaos / Don Canneloni
Dean Martin	...	Jamie Blake
Sammy Davis Jr.	...	Morris Fenderbaum
Jamie Farr	...	The Sheik
Marilu Henner	...	Betty
Telly Savalas	...	Hymie Kaplan
Shirley MacLaine	...	Veronica
Susan Anton	...	Jill, Lamborghini Babe
Catherine Bach	...	Marcie, Lamborghini Babe
Foster Brooks	...	Fisherman #1
Sid Caesar	...	Fisherman #2
Jackie Chan	...	Jackie Chan, Mitsubishi Engineer
Tim Conway	...	CHP Officer #1
Tony Danza	...	Terry

Storyline

The Sheik who competed at the last Cannonball Run, is berated by his father for not winning it. So he tells him to go and win. Problem is that there is no Cannonball Run. So his father tells him to make one of his own. He puts up a million dollars as the prize. So former Cannonballers J.J. and his buddy Vince join, as does Blake and Fenderbaum and some other characters. But Blake and Fenderbaum owe a mobster some money, and the mobster owes some other guy more. He then decides to grab the Sheik and hold him for ransom so he can pay the guy back.

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Plot Keywords:

cannonball run | car | alter ego | cameo appearance | scaffolding | 

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Taglines:

Burt And The Gang Are Back.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

Hong Kong USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 June 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Auf dem Highway ist wieder die Hölle los

Filming Locations:

Old Tucson - 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,223,948, 1 July 1984

Gross USA:

$28,078,073

Company Credits

Production Co:

Golden Harvest Company, Warner Bros., Arcafin B.V.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is one of three that Jim Nabors and Burt Reynolds made together. The other two were The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) and Stroker Ace (1983).

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Goofs

Right after Jackie Chan/Richard Kiel's car is dropped out of the plane, they're chased by cops. To make them invisible, the car hovers above the ground. As the car is lowering, you can see the shadow of the crane on the ground, lowering it down.

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Quotes

[first lines]
King: For one thousand centuries, the Falafel Family has ruled the deserts with one thing: speed! We had the fastest camels and the fastest horses. And now, due to... you know what
[mimics oil bubbling up]
King: , we have the fastest planes, the fastest boats, and the fastest cars. Except for one: yours! Last year, I sent you to America for one simple task. So simple. To emblazen the Falafel name as fastest in the world by winning the Cannonball Run. And you... failed!

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Crazy Credits

Outtakes during the credits.

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Connections

References The Great Race (1965)

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Soundtracks

Cannonball
Written by Ray Stevens (as R. Stevens)
Performed by Ray Stevens

User Reviews

Triple the fun

Both Cannonball Run movies are films to totally relax and let your funny bone rule you. No plots that make any kind of coherent sense, just a whole lot of people getting a great chance to overact with gusto and abandon. And since Cannonball Run II just about tripled the number of name players who did walk ons, it could be considered triple the fun.

Folks like Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise who are the nominal stars, Jackie Chan, Jack Elam, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., and Jamie Farr make return appearances and a whole lot more get in on the fun.

Farr who is carrying the prize money as the fabulously wealthy hedonistic idiot son of an Arab sheik played here by Ricardo Montalban gets to be the target of some gangster heist when the wise guys find out what he's carrying. At that point the contentious rivalries cease among the Cannonballers as they band together against a common foe and to retrieve their prize money.

Along for the ride this time with Reynolds and DeLuise are a pair of ersatz nuns played by Shirley MacLaine and Marilu Henner. Martin and Davis now pretend to be cops instead of priests from the last film. They're the chief rivals of Reynolds and DeLuise. Telly Savalas does a great takeoff of his Kojak tough guy image on the other side of the law, Tim Conway and Don Knotts reunite as a pair of brain dead deputies. And Reynolds and DeLuise who pretend to be a general and his aide draft none other than Gomer Pyle on their 'top secret mission'.

Frank Sinatra even makes an appearance and it turns out that Cannonball Run II was the farewell big screen role for both he and Dino. As Dino says, he's royalty in America, surely in show business that's what he was.

Cannonball Run II which was starting to approach It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World in terms of casting funny people in it and Don Knotts and Sid Caesar are in both is just a film to turn off the gray cells and put the funny bone in hyper drive.