|
|
Gumball Rally immortalizes Brock Yates' Cannonball Baker cross-continent (and illegal) street races in a joyously anti-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/ |
|
6-4-2021 01:34:05