Old but good
THE CANNONBALL RUN (1981)
The heartthrobs of my childhood have influenced my idea of what a redblooded male should be ... and that’s probably not good. Roger Moore was an abiding fantasy, so was Tony Curtis. But my favourite was Burt Reynolds with his permanent smirk peeking sexily from below that indefatigable moustache. Cannonball Run starred both Moore and Reynolds, Jackie Chan, Dom Deluise, the Dean Martin/Sammy Davis Jnr duo, Farrah Fawcett, even Bianca Jagger. When Reynolds died a few weeks ago I watched the film with my kids, remembering it as both exciting and hilarious. My kids thought it was the lamest thing they’d ever seen.
The film follows the “The Cannonballers” — a group of delinquent speed freaks taking part in an illegal race across the US from New York to LA. It’s based on an actual race, organised to protest national speed limits and to celebrate American freedom.
A lot has changed since then. If you need convincing, watch this film. The sexism will make your eyes water, not to mention the cultural and racial profiling. But we weren’t woke then.
The female team, donning matching skintight onesies, drive a tar-hugging black Lamborghini Countach and use their cleavage to charm highway patrol into tearing up their fines. That is, until a female patroller nabs them. The Reynolds character, JJ McClure, and his sidekick, Victor Prinzi, played by DeLuise, kidnap a gorgeous, dumb blonde, Pamela Glover (Fawcett), to act as their patient in an ambulance, their tactic for avoiding police. Here’s a taste of the dialogue: Pamela: I can’t believe this is happening to me. This is not a joke any more. I’m being kidnapped. JJ McClure: Well, you can call it kidnapping if you want to be rude. After looking dreamily into Reynolds’s eyes, she happily goes along.
The sheik character is a greasy, oil-rich camel jockey who hates the infidels. The Japanese are kung-fu-fighting technology bofs. Roger Moore plays Seymour Goldbarb Jnr, a delusional Jewish heir who thinks he’s Roger Moore. He ejects his female companions from the passenger seat of his Aston Martin when he gets bored with them. Reynolds refers to Davis Jnr as “The Chocolate Monk“. Yes, these were innocent days. When it was released, Variety described the film as “full of terrible inside showbiz jokes and populated by Burt’s Rat Pack, with scenes taking place in that redneck never-never land where most of the guys are beerguzzling good ole boys and all the gals are fabulously built tootsies”. Nonetheless, Reynolds remains my idea of a hot-blooded male ... who would have been deep in hot water in the age of #MeToo. ● L S. Andrea Nagel