Enjoy grins per minute in this joyous flaunt of absurd speed laws
Gumball Rally immortalizes Brock Yates' Cannonball Baker cross-continent (and illegal) street races in a joyouslyanti-establishment poke at the Nixon/Carter era 55 MPH national speed limit.(I like it far better than Yates' own subsequent Cannonball Run movies.)Gumball Rally features a cast of young stars that includes Raul Julia as the instantly seductive (and fast in multiple senses) Ferrari team driver Franco, a ringer hired by Smith (a Yates-esque scallywag played by Tim McIntyre) to co-pilot their Ferrari Daytona Spyder past Bannon's (Michael Sarrazin) painfully-quick Cobra.The two childhood rivals are joined by Gary Busey and John Durren in a full-race Camaro, a Porsche driven by two beautiful women, and a vintage Mercedes 300 driven by equally vintage old gentleman racers.Rounding out the field with varying success are a van with enough gas to make the three thousand plus mile trip without refueling, a Corvette, Jaguar, Rolls Royce being transported to California for a wealthy individual by Tricia O'Neil's mechanic boyfriend, a stealthy police cruiser, and masochistic motorcyclist.Along the way the scofflaws outwit radar-bearing police, skirt mechanical failure, encounter a motorcycle gang, and meet environmental hazards like bored-to-sleep 55 MPH drivers in disintegrating cars, ice patches, and L.A. traffic.The fast highway driving is terrific and the start-of-race dawn blast through a waking New York City is grins per second.But the real targets of this automotive lampoon are mediocrity, sheepish conformism, and lowest common denominator laws.The heroes demonstrate complete disdain for safety-nazi rules which in turn embody elitist contempt for individual freedom, responsibility and potential.By rebelling they celebrate a joy of life that's being watered down and restricted by a parent-substitute government that knows what's good for you better than you do.
The fall 1998 Laserdisc and DVD release of Gumball Rally is a treat for freedom-loving car nuts.On the technical side, the widescreen image and digital sound transfer are extremely clean; it never sounded or looked this good in theaters.The sound of Ferrari Daytona V-12, Cobra V-8, Mercedes 300 six, race-tuned Camaro and others running wide open on American highways is authentic and spine tingling.Rapid, efficient driving by a stunt crew that includes '60s Cobra racer John Morton is the real thing too. Freshly found digital fidelity greatly enhances this fun and exuberantly irreverent flick.
score 10/10
jeffchan 20 October 1998
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0147535/35712
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