Cannonball Run II

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Cannonball Run II
Directed by	Hal Needham
Written by	Harvey Miller Hal Needham
Starring	Burt Reynolds Dom DeLuise
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	June 29, 1984
Running time	108 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

Cannonball Run II is a film that was released in 1984. Like the original Cannonball Run, this film is a comedy set around an illegal cross-country race. The cast included Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Catherine Bach, Susan Anton, Jackie Chan, Shirley MacLaine, Sid Caesar, Foster Brooks, Telly Savalas, Jamie Farr, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, Ricardo Montalban, Jack Elam, Richard Kiel, Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Jim Nabors, Louis Nye, Molly Picon, Charles Nelson Reilly, Abe Vigoda, Alex Rocco, Henry Silva, Mel Tillis, Arte Johnson, Chris Lemmon, Marty Allen, Avery Schreiber, Joe Theismann and Frank Sinatra.

Despite its cast, it is widely considered to be silly in terms of plot development. However, many still appreciate it for its kitsch value. The film received eight Golden Raspberry Award nominations in 1984, including Worst Picture, Worst Actor, and Worst Actress, but no wins.

It was followed by Speed Zone! in 1989.

1 Plot Details
2 Trivia
3 Awards and nominations
4 External link

[edit] Plot Details

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Having lost the first Cannonball Run race, Sheik Abdul Ben Falafel (Jamie Farr) is ordered by his father (Ricardo Montalban) 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 ulcer doesn't prevent him from winning, the Sheik hires Doctor Nikolas Van Helsing (Jack Elam), who raced with JJ (Burt Reynolds) and Victor (Dom DeLuise) in the first race, as his in-car physician. Most of the rest of the participants from the first race are convinced to come back for the second race, including JJ and Victor, who have taken jobs working with a flying stunt crew.

In a subplot, Jamie (Dean Martin) and Morriss (Sammy Davis Jr.) are in financial trouble with mob enforcer Hymie Kaplan (Telly Savalas). When the Sheik manages to bail out Jamie and Morriss by handing Hymie a stack of cash, Hymie comes to realize how much money the Sheik is worth. This also comes to the attention of Don Don Canneloni (Charles Nelson Reilly), who runs a bordello in the middle of the desert, and who has lost millions of dollars of the money of his father, Don Canneloni (also played by Dom DeLuise in a direct parody of The Godfather). In order to get the money he lost, Don Don has a couple of his men attempt to kidnap the Sheik during the middle of the race and ransom him off.

The race goes on without a hitch, with JJ and Victor dressed as a Marine general and his private driver (respectively). Just before the race, the two catch the attention of Betty (Marilu Henner) and Veronica (Shirley MacLaine), two women who are dressed as nuns for a musical, but who are willing to hitch a ride with JJ and Victor, when they think the two will become overnight millionaires. As the race progresses, Don Don's enforcers continue to blunder one plan after another (one plan, for example, called on them to use a helicopter with a giant magnet on the bottom to lift the Sheik's car off the road - but the helicopter wasn't strong enough to handle the weight, and the helicopter became demolished when they drove through a tunnel), until they finally come up with a plan (have a very scantily clad woman flash the Sheik as he passed by) that captures the Sheik.

When the rest of the racers find out, they band together to invade Don Don's bordello (with JJ, Victor, and Morriss dressed as belly dancers in an attempt to sneak in, and finally with the rest of the racers barreling their way in with their cars) and rescue the Sheik - who at first doesn't want to be rescued (since he has his pick of women there). In the end, the Sheik bankrolls Don Don's bordello, and then declares that he's upping the stakes to $2 million for the winner of the race. The rest of the racers quickly jump in their vehicles and make a dash for the finish line. The Sheik, as it turns out, lost yet again (this time blaming the Doctor who rode with him for injecting him with an unknown substance), but convinces his father that he'll win the return trip race, having hired the winner of the last race. The Sheik's father introduces himself to the winner, who it turns out to be an orangutan (who 'drove' as a prop in the front of a limo, while two people drove the actual car from inside).

[edit] Trivia

Although many characters returned for this sequel, two of the characters were re-cast. Catherine Bach and Susan Anton were cast to fill the roles of the Spandex-wearing Countach-driving "Marcie" and "Jill", who were respectively portrayed in the first movie by Adrienne Barbeau and Tara Buckman.

The film also sports an animated sequence, which Ralph Bakshi directed.

This would be Dean Martin's final film appearance before his death.

This would be Frank Sinatra's final film appearance before his death. He played himself, and his role played up his so-called "mob ties".

Allegedly, Jaclyn Smith was either originally cast in the role eventually played by Shirley Maclaine, or was offered the part of Marcie, played by Catherine Bach. This may have been an attempt at a sort of casting continuity as Farrah Fawcett appeared in the first movie, and both Fawcett and Smith starred in the popular TV series Charlie's Angels.

Jackie Chan admittedly did the film to fulfill his contract with Warner Brothers.

In this film, Jackie Chan was teamed up with Richard Kiel, who was known to movie fans as 'Jaws' from two James Bond movies (one of the racers from the first film, Seymore, was Roger Moore, who played James Bond against Keil's Jaws in two James Bond films, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker).