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Cannonball Run II

 

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Cannonball Run II



 
 
See also Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash
Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash

The Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, widely known simply as the Cannonball Baker or Cannonball Run, was an unofficial, if not outlaw, automobile auto racing run four times in the 1970s from New York City and Darien, Connecticut, on the East Coast of the United States, to Redondo Beach, California, a Los An...


Cannonball Run II is a 1984 comedy film
Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on Humour. Also, films in this style typically have a happy ending . One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies....
 released by Twentieth Century Fox. Like the original Cannonball Run, Cannonball Run II is a set around an illegal cross-country race. The all-star cast is listed below.

The film received eight Golden Raspberry Award nominations in 1984
1984 Golden Raspberry Awards

The 5th Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 24, 1985 at Vine Street Elementary School in Hollywood, California, to recognize the worst the movie industry had to offer in 1984 in film....
, including Worst Picture, Worst Actor, and Worst Actress, but no wins. It was followed by Speed Zone!
Speed Zone!

Speed Zone!, also known as Cannonball Fever, released in 1989 in film, is the third and final installment of the The Cannonball Run series of movies....
 in 1989, which did not feature Reynolds.

This was the last of the 'formula' comedies for Reynolds.






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Encyclopedia


See also Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash
Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash

The Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, widely known simply as the Cannonball Baker or Cannonball Run, was an unofficial, if not outlaw, automobile auto racing run four times in the 1970s from New York City and Darien, Connecticut, on the East Coast of the United States, to Redondo Beach, California, a Los An...


Cannonball Run II is a 1984 comedy film
Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on Humour. Also, films in this style typically have a happy ending . One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies....
 released by Twentieth Century Fox. Like the original Cannonball Run, Cannonball Run II is a set around an illegal cross-country race. The all-star cast is listed below.

The film received eight Golden Raspberry Award nominations in 1984
1984 Golden Raspberry Awards

The 5th Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 24, 1985 at Vine Street Elementary School in Hollywood, California, to recognize the worst the movie industry had to offer in 1984 in film....
, including Worst Picture, Worst Actor, and Worst Actress, but no wins. It was followed by Speed Zone!
Speed Zone!

Speed Zone!, also known as Cannonball Fever, released in 1989 in film, is the third and final installment of the The Cannonball Run series of movies....
 in 1989, which did not feature Reynolds.

This was the last of the 'formula' comedies for Reynolds. It is also remembered as the final feature film appearances of Dean Martin
Dean Martin

Dean Martin was an United States singer, film actor and comedian of Italians descent. He was one of the best known musical artists of the 1950s and 1960s....
 and Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an United States singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a solo artist with great success in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers"....
. Their appearances, coupled with that of Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.

Samuel George ?Sammy? Davis, Jr. was an United States entertainer. He was a dancer, singer, multi-instrumentalist , Impressionist , comedian, convert to Judaism, and Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor....
 and Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLaine is an United States Academy Awards-winning film and theater actress, dancer, activist, and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation....
, marked the final on-screen appearance of the old Rat Pack
Rat Pack

The Rat Pack was a group of popular entertainers originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to refer to a group that called itself "the summit" or "the clan," featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, who appeared together on...
 team.

Cast


  • Burt Reynolds
    Burt Reynolds

    Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds Jr. is an United States actor. Some of his memorable roles include Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Paul Crewe in The Longest Yard , Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, J.J....
     as J.J. McClure
  • Dom DeLuise
    Dom DeLuise

    Dominick "Dom" DeLuise is a Golden Globe- nominated United States actor, comedian, film director, television producer, and chef. He is the husband of actress Carol Arthur, and the father of actor, writer, director Peter DeLuise, and actors David DeLuise and Michael DeLuise....
     as Victor Prinzi/Captain Chaos. DeLuise also appears uncredited as Don Canneloni
  • Dean Martin
    Dean Martin

    Dean Martin was an United States singer, film actor and comedian of Italians descent. He was one of the best known musical artists of the 1950s and 1960s....
     as Jamie Blake
  • Sammy Davis, Jr.
    Sammy Davis, Jr.

    Samuel George ?Sammy? Davis, Jr. was an United States entertainer. He was a dancer, singer, multi-instrumentalist , Impressionist , comedian, convert to Judaism, and Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor....
     as Morris Fenderbaum
  • Jamie Farr
    Jamie Farr

    Jamie Farr is an United States television and film actor and popular game show panelist. He is best known for playing the role of cross-dressing Corporal#United States Maxwell Klinger in the 1970s and 1980s United States television sitcom, M*A*S*H ....
     as The Sheik
  • Ricardo Montalban
    Ricardo Montalbán

    Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalb?n y Merino was a Mexico-born United States radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning seven decades and multiple notable roles....
     as The Sheik's father, The King
  • Telly Savalas
    Telly Savalas

    Aristotelis ?Telly? Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the popular 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Awards for his supporting role in Birdman of Alcatraz ....
     as Hymie Kaplan
  • Marilu Henner
    Marilu Henner

    Marilu Lucy Henner is an United States actor, Television producer and New York Times best-selling author....
     as Betty
  • Shirley MacLaine
    Shirley MacLaine

    Shirley MacLaine is an United States Academy Awards-winning film and theater actress, dancer, activist, and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation....
     as Veronica
  • Susan Anton
    Susan Anton

    Susan Ellen Anton is an United States singing and actress from Oak Glen, California. Susan attended Yucaipa High School in Yucaipa, California, and graduated in 1968....
     as Jill
  • Catherine Bach
    Catherine Bach

    Catherine Bach is an United States actress. She is best known for playing Daisy Duke in the television series The Dukes of Hazzard and for playing Margo Dutton in African Skies....
     as Marcie
  • Foster Brooks
    Foster Brooks

    Foster Brooks was an United States actor and comedian most famous for his portrayal of a lovable drunken man in nightclub performances and television programs....
    , Sid Caesar
    Sid Caesar

    Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy Award-winning United States comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2....
     and Louis Nye
    Louis Nye

    Louis Nye was an United States comedy actor....
     as the fishermen in the rowboat
  • Jackie Chan
    Jackie Chan

    Jackie Chan, Silver Bauhinia Star, Member of the Order of the British Empire is an actor, Stage combat, film director, film producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer from Hong Kong....
     as Jackie Chan, Mitsubishi
    Mitsubishi Motors

    is the fifth largest automaker in Japan and the fifteenth largest in the world by global unit sales. It is part of the Mitsubishi keiretsu, formerly the biggest industrial group in Japan, and was formed in 1970 from the automotive division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries....
     engineer
  • Richard Kiel
    Richard Kiel

    Richard Dawson Kiel is an United States actor best known for his role as the steel-toothed Jaws in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker as well as the video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, and Mr....
     as Arnold, Jackie's driver
  • Tim Conway
    Tim Conway

    Thomas Daniel Conway, known professionally as Tim Conway , is an American comedian and Emmy award winning actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television....
     and Don Knotts
    Don Knotts

    Jesse Donald Knotts was an United States comedy actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show , and as landlord Ralph Furley on the television sitcom Three's Company in the 1980s....
     as California Highway Patrol officers who pull over the driving monkey
  • Mel Tillis
    Mel Tillis

    Mel Tillis is an United States of America country music singer. Although he had been recording songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the '70s, with a long list of Top 10 hits....
     as Mel (back from the first film) and Tony Danza
    Tony Danza

    Tony Danza is an American actor best known for starring on the TV series Taxi and Who's the Boss?. He also hosted his own talk show, The Tony Danza Show....
     as Terry, the limo drivers with the orangutan
    Orangutan

    The orangutans are a species of Hominidae. Known for their intelligence, they live in trees and they are the largest living arboreal animal. They have longer arms than other great apes, and their hair is reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of other great apes....
  • Jack Elam
    Jack Elam

    Jack Elam was an United States film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films....
     as Doctor Nikolas Van Helsing
  • Charles Nelson Reilly
    Charles Nelson Reilly

    Charles Nelson Reilly was an United States actor, comedian, film director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game....
     as Don Don Canneloni
  • Michael V. Gazzo
    Michael V. Gazzo

    Michael Vincente Gazo was a noted Broadway theatre playwright who later in life became a prominent United States film and television actor.He was a member of the Actors Studio, and was author of the notable Broadway theatre play on drug addiction A Hatful of Rain, which ran for 389 performances in 1955 and 1956 - starring Ben Gazzara...
    , Alex Rocco
    Alex Rocco

    Alex Rocco is an United States actor. His roles have ranged from comedy to playing gangsters in Mafia movies, the latter fitting in with his reported connections to mob organizations....
    , Henry Silva
    Henry Silva

    Henry Silva is an American actor who has played a wide variety of movie roles.Silva was born in Brooklyn, New York of Sicily#People and Spanish people descent....
     and Abe Vigoda
    Abe Vigoda

    Abraham Charles "Abe" Vigoda is an United States movie and television actor. He's best known for his portrayal of Salvatore Tessio in the 1972 film The Godfather, and for his role as Detective Sgt....
     as Sonny, Tony, Slim and Caesar, Don Don's henchmen
  • Jim Nabors
    Jim Nabors

    James Thurston "Jim" Nabors is an United States actor and singer. Born and raised in Sylacauga, Alabama, Nabors moved to Southern California due to his asthma....
     as Private Homer Lyle, a parody of his popular character, Gomer Pyle
    Gomer Pyle

    Gomer Pyle was the simple-minded gas station attendant and later auto mechanic in the American TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, played by Jim Nabors....
  • Molly Picon
    Molly Picon

    Molly Picon was an American actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a lyricist. She was first and foremost a star in Yiddish theatre and film, but as Yiddish theatre faded she began to perform in English-language productions....
     reprises her role of Mrs. Goldfarb, Seymour's mother. In this film, Cannonballers drive into her house.
  • Frank Sinatra
    Frank Sinatra

    Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an United States singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a solo artist with great success in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers"....
     as Frank Sinatra
  • Joe Theismann
    Joe Theismann

    Joseph Robert "Joe" Theismann is a former Canadian football and American football quarterback in the National Football League and Canadian Football League....
     as Mack, the truck driver who helps out Jill and Marcie
  • Shawn Weatherly
    Shawn Weatherly

    Shawn Nichols Weatherly is a beauty queen and entertainer from South Carolina. After winning the 1980 Miss South Carolina USA pageant, she was placed in the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants....
     as the girl in Jamie Blake's bed
  • Dale Ishimoto
    Dale Ishimoto

    Dale Ishimoto was an American actor of Japanese people descent. He was born in Delta, Colorado in 1923 and was raised in Guadalupe, California....
     as a Japanese businessman
  • Arte Johnson
    Arte Johnson

    Arte Johnson , full name Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson, is an United States comedy actor.Arte Johnson was a regular on "Laugh In." His best-remembered "character" was that of a German soldier with the catchphrase: "Very interesting, but......
     as a pilot
  • Chris Lemmon
    Chris Lemmon

    Christopher Boyd Lemmon is an American actor and author....
     as a young California Highway Patrol officer
  • George Lindsey
    George Lindsey

    George Lindsey is an American character actor, best known for his role as "Goober Pyle" on The Andy Griffith Show.Early life and career ...
     as Uncle Cal
  • Doug McClure
    Doug McClure

    Douglas Osborne McClure was an United States actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s.McClure was born in Glendale, California, to Donald Reed McClure and the former Clara Clapp....
     as The Sheik's servant
  • Jilly Rizzo
    Jilly Rizzo

    Ermenigildo "Jilly" Rizzo was an United States restaurateur and entertainer....
     as Jilly
  • Dub Taylor
    Dub Taylor

    Dub Taylor was a prolific United States actor who worked extensively in Westerns, but also in comedy....
     as a sheriff
  • Director Hal Needham
    Hal Needham

    Hal Needham is an American stunt double and noted film director....
     appears uncredited as a Mercedes-Benz 300SL
    Mercedes-Benz 300SL

    The Mercedes-Benz 300SL was introduced in 1954 as a two-seat, closed sports car with characteristic gull-wing doors. Later it was offered as an open roadster....
     driver in a cowboy hat


Plot Details


Having lost the first Cannonball Run race, Sheik Abdul Ben Falafel (Jamie Farr
Jamie Farr

Jamie Farr is an United States television and film actor and popular game show panelist. He is best known for playing the role of cross-dressing Corporal#United States Maxwell Klinger in the 1970s and 1980s United States television sitcom, M*A*S*H ....
) is ordered by his father (Ricardo Montalban
Ricardo Montalbán

Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalb?n y Merino was a Mexico-born United States radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning seven decades and multiple notable roles....
) 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
Jack Elam

Jack Elam was an United States film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films....
), who raced with JJ (Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds

Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds Jr. is an United States actor. Some of his memorable roles include Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Paul Crewe in The Longest Yard , Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, J.J....
) and Victor (Dom DeLuise
Dom DeLuise

Dominick "Dom" DeLuise is a Golden Globe- nominated United States actor, comedian, film director, television producer, and chef. He is the husband of actress Carol Arthur, and the father of actor, writer, director Peter DeLuise, and actors David DeLuise and Michael DeLuise....
) in the first race, as his in-car physician. And he brings along a blond-haired servant (Doug McClure
Doug McClure

Douglas Osborne McClure was an United States actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s.McClure was born in Glendale, California, to Donald Reed McClure and the former Clara Clapp....
), who receives numerous slaps in the face from both the sheik and his father. 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, Blake (Dean Martin
Dean Martin

Dean Martin was an United States singer, film actor and comedian of Italians descent. He was one of the best known musical artists of the 1950s and 1960s....
) and Fenderbaum (Sammy Davis Jr.) are in financial trouble with mob enforcer Hymie Kaplan (Telly Savalas
Telly Savalas

Aristotelis ?Telly? Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the popular 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Awards for his supporting role in Birdman of Alcatraz ....
). When the Sheik manages to bail out the two 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
Charles Nelson Reilly

Charles Nelson Reilly was an United States actor, comedian, film director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game....
), who runs a bordello in the middle of the desert and 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
The Godfather

The Godfather is an Cinema of the United States crime film film based on the The Godfather by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola, and Robert Towne, who was not credited....
). 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. Just before the race, the two catch the attention of Betty (Marilu Henner
Marilu Henner

Marilu Lucy Henner is an United States actor, Television producer and New York Times best-selling author....
) and Veronica (Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLaine is an United States Academy Awards-winning film and theater actress, dancer, activist, and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation....
), 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, with predictably slapstick results.

When the rest of the racers find out Don Don's plan, they band together to invade the bordello. JJ, Victor, and Fenderbaum infiltrate the bordello in drag
Drag (clothing)

Drag in its broadest sense means any clothing one wears. However, the traditional use of the term is for any costume or outfit that carries symbolic significance....
, dressed as belly dancers. The rest of the racers barrel their way in with their cars and rescue the Sheik, who is reluctant to leave 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 turns out to be an orangutan
Orangutan

The orangutans are a species of Hominidae. Known for their intelligence, they live in trees and they are the largest living arboreal animal. They have longer arms than other great apes, and their hair is reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of other great apes....
 limo driver, with a penchant for destructive behavior and giving elderly ladies the middle finger.

Continuity error


At 1:00:38 in the movie there is a continuity error — the two racers (portrayed by Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.) disguised as policemen driving a red C4 Corvette
Chevrolet Corvette

The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car that has been manufactured by General Motors since 1953. The car was originally designed by Harley Earl, and named by Myron Scott after the fast corvette....
 run the General's (portrayed by Burt Reynolds) car off the road. However, as it's done, the car seen running the general's limo off the road is a Dodge
Dodge

Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, sport utility vehicles, and trucks, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
 Daytona or Chrysler Laser that was the car driven by Frank Sinatra's character.

Awards and nominations


  • Golden Raspberry Awards
    Golden Raspberry Awards

    The Golden Raspberry Awards, frequently called the Razzies, were created by John Wilson in 1980 , intended to counterpoint the Academy Awards by dishonoring the worst acting, screenwriting, songwriting, directing, and films that the film industry had to offer....
Nominated: Worst Picture
Razzie Award for Worst Picture

The Razzie Award for Worst Picture is a penalty given out at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst film of the past year. Following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, including each film's distribution company and producer....
Nominated: Worst Screenplay
Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay

The Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay is a penalty given out at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst film of the past year. Following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, including each screenplay's author....
Nominated: Worst Actor
Razzie Award for Worst Actor

The Razzie Award for Worst Actor was an "honor" given out at the Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst actor of the previous year. Following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film for which they were nominated....
 (Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds

Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds Jr. is an United States actor. Some of his memorable roles include Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Paul Crewe in The Longest Yard , Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, J.J....
)
Nominated: Worst Actress
Razzie Award for Worst Actress

The Razzie Award for Worst Actress was an "honor" given out at the Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst actress of the previous year. Following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film for which they were nominated....
 (Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLaine is an United States Academy Awards-winning film and theater actress, dancer, activist, and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation....
)
Nominated: Worst Supporting Actor
Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor

The Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor is an "honor" given out at the Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst supporting actor of the previous year....
 (Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.

Samuel George ?Sammy? Davis, Jr. was an United States entertainer. He was a dancer, singer, multi-instrumentalist , Impressionist , comedian, convert to Judaism, and Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor....
)
Nominated: Worst Supporting Actress
Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress

The Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress was an "honor" given out at the Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst supporting actress of the previous year....
 (Susan Anton
Susan Anton

Susan Ellen Anton is an United States singing and actress from Oak Glen, California. Susan attended Yucaipa High School in Yucaipa, California, and graduated in 1968....
)
Nominated: Worst Supporting Actress
Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress

The Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress was an "honor" given out at the Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst supporting actress of the previous year....
 (Marilu Henner
Marilu Henner

Marilu Lucy Henner is an United States actor, Television producer and New York Times best-selling author....
)
Nominated: Worst Director
Razzie Award for Worst Director

The Razzie Award for Worst Director was an "honor" given out at the Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst director of the previous year. Following is a list of nominees and recipients of that award, along with the film for which they were nominated....
 (Hal Needham
Hal Needham

Hal Needham is an American stunt double and noted film director....
)


External links