Cannonballism and the early '80s

[matrixman]

The Cannonball Run was a movie cinema connoisseurs loved to hate. Okay, maybe any self-respecting filmgoer above the age of 12 probably hated it.

But I'm actually fond of this silly movie. I had so much fun watching it when I was a kid. I guess you really had to be a kid--maybe especially of the male kind--to enjoy the particular juvenile humour of this film. Heh, it's part of my vacuous suburban adolescent experience. Back when things were FUN, before I had to grow up.

No matter what anyone else says, I think Burt Reynolds and Dom Deluise were a funny comedic pair. Weren't Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. hilarious as Ferrari-driving priests? Terry Bradshaw and Mel Tillis were plain nutty, but they were good guys. And having Roger Moore play someone who thought he was Roger Moore was just perfect!

I mustn't forget the Lamborghini Babes either: Adrienne Barbeau and Tara Buckman!

Cool cars, chases, fights and sex gags. What more could a kid want?

Go, Captain Chaos! Go!

Okay, I guess I did also enjoy other, um, obscure movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Tron from this period of my life. And what were your early 80's movie memories?

[dlbpharmd]

I'll never forget Galaxina. I still don't know how I got into that Rated R movie as a 10 year old kid. I remember going to see it with the impression that is was a Sci-Fi movie - and it was anything but that. But Dorothy Stratten - wow. I came out of that movie completely enlightened.

[dANdeLION]

I just watched Airplane last night; what a funny movie! The "Autopilot" still makes me laugh, as well as Leslie Neilson's pep-talk to the guy who has to land the plane.

[Usivius]

actually a 'better' movie than Canonball Run (of teh same mould) is the one about two or three years earlier called 'Gumball Rally'. I love that one in a 'remenising kinda way'... Kinda like "Logan's Run"...

heheheh

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

I've seen both Cannonball Run and The Gumball Rally - both great road race movies... I wish they got shown on network tv more often.

Seeing as I was still pretty young in the 1980s, the only recollection I have of seeing a movie in the theatre (other than a brief flash of Return of the Jedi - all I remember is Ewoks), is The Young Magician.

... which I've just looked up on line and discovered that it is, in fact, Polish. I saw it in the US once, so I thought it was an American film that showed up in Poland (like those Ewoks). It's the other way around. Huh. Cool kids' movie, it is.

[Fist and Faith]

I haven't seen it in years, but I watched Cannonball Run at least a dozen times on HBO. Love it! The bloopers alone are worth the price of admission!

And, since this is a family forum, I'll just say that Farah get's a special award for one particular scene that my teenage self was extremely happy with, and my current self isn't terribly upset about either! This will NOT become a pron thread, so give a knowing wink if you want, but let's not go over the deep end, eh?

"That's p-p-p-p-perfect. That's even better'n hidin' it out back."

"Cysts... on the walls of her lungs."

"Next time, we go Methodist!"

[matrixman]

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more, say no more...

Hmm, this is the first time I've heard of The Gumball Rally. My life won't be complete now until I've hunted it down.

I just watched Airplane last night; what a funny movie! The "Autopilot" still makes me laugh, as well as Leslie Neilson's pep-talk to the guy who has to land the plane.

I missed out on Airplane! when it first came out in theatres, but I was glad I caught Airplane II: The Sequel. I love both movies, but the Sequel was especially funny to me because of Shatner's presence and all the sci-fi parody. The Mayflower shuttle's "Worp Drive" was hilarious!

And who can forget the classic scene with Shatner addressing his lieutenant from the "monitor"? I remember that scene getting such a deafening roar of laughter from the audience that we missed the next several lines in the movie. I maintain that it's one of the best visual gags ever in a movie!

Re: Galaxina -- yeah, at the time I thought it was just another sci-fi movie, obviously not having known anything about Dorothy Stratten's "other" life. Years later, while channel surfing I happened to come across Galaxina, but I didn't stick around. The film seemed painfully boring to me; it really was "just another sci-fi film" in the sense that it was another cheap attempt to cash in on the sci-fi craze of its time, in the afterglow of Star Wars.

Also reminds me of my initial confusion in mistaking Flesh Gordon for Flash Gordon, heh.

Hmmm...I'm dismissing the mediocrity of Galaxina in a thread in which I'm praising The Cannonball Run? Maybe Galaxina could've used Dom Deluise?

[Cail]

What movie couldn't use Dom Deluise?

"Never fear! Him is here!"