Cannonball Run Ambulance ( Dodge Sportsman B-200 ) 1978
The Cannonball Run
The Cannonball Run is a 1981 comedy film starring Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Dom DeLuise, Farrah Fawcett, and an all-star supporting cast. It was directed by Hal Needham, and was distributed by 20th Century Fox. One of 1981’s most successful films at the box office, it was followed by Cannonball Run II (1984), and Speed Zone (1989).
Theme Tune
What do you say when you write with no words?
(feeling)
Feel a song that’s never been heard?
(sing it)
How do know if you did it all?
(answer)
What do you do when you’ve done it all?
(ball)
[Bridge]Cannonball (cannonball)
Cannonball (cannonball)
Cannonball
[Chorus]It’s not what you do
It’s how you do it.
Be anything you want to be
It’s not what you got
It’s how you use it
You be you
And I’ll be me
It’s just a matter of style
You can fake it
Mile after mile
Feeling free
If you got the soul
you can make it
Move-em out (move ’em out)
Let ’em roll (let ’em roll)
From sea to shining sea
Ball (ball)
Cannonball (cannonball)
What do you do if a mountain is there?
(move it)
How do you answer to a challenge in today?
(take it)
When your back’s against the wall?
(fake it)
What do you do when you’ve done it all?
(ball)
Cannonball! (cannonball-cannonball)
Cast
Burt Reynolds … J. J. McClure
Roger Moore … Seymour
Farrah Fawcett … Pamela
Dom DeLuise … Victor Prinzim
Dean Martin … Jamie Blake
Sammy Davis Jr. … Fenderbaum
Jack Elam … Doctor Nikolas Van Helsing
Adrienne Barbeau … Marcie
Terry Bradshaw … Terry
Jackie Chan … Subaru Driver #1
Trivia
Farrah Fawcett went from here to a career as the queen of TV movies. This was her ‘comeback’ after jumping from ‘Charlie’s Angels’. Fellow angel Jacqueline Smith was originally hired to play Burt’s love interest in ‘Cannonball Run II’, but dropped out when she found out how crazy a Reynolds/Needham set could be. She was replaced by Shirley MacLaine.
We get the fact that an orange ambulance seems out of place on a list boasting cars full of speed, but the Dodge Tradesman seen in Cannonball Run is no ordinary van. Years before the movie, Brook Yates started the real Cannonball Run. One race saw Yates, along with movie director Hal Needham, compete in a HEMI-powered Dodge van modified to run at speeds of up to 145 mph.
Yates and Needham’s van didn’t win the real race, but it became a celebrity when it was used as the hero vehicle in the Cannonball Run movie — a film, coincidentally, directed by Needham. Just like in the movie, a fake patient and doctor tagged along during the real race to make the “ambulance” seem legit, though we doubt that the patient was as hot as Farrah Fawcett circa 1981
The primary rivalry is between the ambulance and the Ferrari. In Ohio, Fenderbaum and Blake are able to convince Victor to pull over the ambulance in order to bless the patient on board. While Blake carries out the blessing, Fenderbaum punctures one of the ambulance’s rear tires with a knife. JJ gets his revenge in Missouri by convincing a nearby police officer that the two men dressed as priests are actually sex perverts who are responsible for the flashing victim in the ambulance.
Just when it appears Victor will reach the time clock first, a spectator shouts that her ‘baby’ has fallen into the water. Victor, still in his Captain Chaos persona, rushes to save the baby (later revealed to be her dog). allowing Marcie to clock in first and win the race.
Trivia
The ambulance used in the movie, is the actual ambulance that Director Hal Needham and Screenwriter Brock Yates souped up and raced in the real Cannonball Run. It had been modified with a HEMI engine, that made it go up to one hundred forty-five miles per hour (two hundred thirty-three kilometers per hour), and was equipped with four gas filler holes, so that the required ninety gallons (three hundred forty-one liters) could be pumped quickly. Needham and Yates didn’t win the race (the transmission blew in Palm Springs, California) so Needham kept it in storage for several years, until the time came to make this film. After the movie, he gave it to a church charity, which raised a good deal of money auctioning it off.
Quote
.J. McClure: Look, we can’t have a car with numbers on it. So, we’re going to have to disguise the car somehow.
Victor Prinsi: Alright.
J.J. McClure: How about a big, black limousine with diplomatic plates?
Victor Prinsi: Nah!
J.J. McClure: Nah. I know, a bloodmobile. They wouldn’t stop a bloodmobile, would they?
Victor Prinsi: Nah!
J.J. McClure: Nah.
Victor Prinsi: An ice cream truck! Yeah, an ice cream truck! Y’know, they gotta get there before it melts!
J.J. McClure: what about a black trans-am? No, that’s been done!
J.J. McClure: Thanks to you, Victor, we do not have a female patient in the back. Thanks to your wonderful cousin Tessie.
Victor Prinsi: Well, it’s not my fault that she didn’t fit in the stretcher!
J.J. McClure: She doesn’t fit in the AMBULANCE!
Trivia
The characters J.J. and Victor participate in the Cannonball Run in an ambulance: a heavily modified Dodge Tradesman van. In the beginning, J.J. says to himself ‘we could get a black Trans Am’, then answers his own question with ‘nah that’s been done,’ a reference to the Smokey and the Bandit films of Burt Reynolds and director Hal Needham.
Info
| Cinematography | Michael Butler |
|---|---|
| Edited by | Donn Cambern William D. Gordean |
| Music by | Al Capps |
|
Production
company |
Golden Harvest
|
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
|
Release date
|
June 19, 1981 |
|
Running time
|
95 minutes |
| Countries | United States Hong Kong |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$16–18 million |
| Box office | US$160 million |
Trivia
The Cannonball is based on a real race, the ‘Cannonball Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash’, which Needham and screenwriter Brock Yates actually participated in. And yes, they drove an ambulance. They didn’t win, but they did come up with a movie idea.
QUIZ 1
Jamie Blake and scam artist Morris Fenderbaum, ( Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr) Disguise themselves as Catholic priests driving a Red Ferrari.What Model of Ferrari is it ?
A. Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Spider
B. 365 Daytona
C. Ferrari 308 GTS
D. Ferrari 365 California
Press for Answer
C. Ferrari 308 GTS
Scroll Down for More
QUIZ 2
During Filming of The Cannonball Run, What did Burt Reynolds become ?
A. USA top 10 sexiest actors
B. The actor to do the most stunts in a single film
C. The highest paid actor in cinema history
D. The record for the longest car stunt jump
Press for Answer
C. The highest paid actor in cinema history
Scroll Down for More
QUIZ 1
Jamie Blake and scam artist Morris Fenderbaum, ( Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr) Disguise themselves as Catholic priests driving a Red Ferrari.What Model of Ferrari is it ?
A. Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Spider
B. 365 Daytona
C. Ferrari 308 GTS
D. Ferrari 365 California
The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers centered on the Las Vegas casino venue. They originated as a group of friends who met at the Los Angeles home of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. In the 1960s, the group featured Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop among others. They appeared together on stage and in films in the early 1960s, including the movies Ocean’s 11, Sergeants 3, and Robin and the 7 Hoods (Bing Crosby replaced Lawford in the last movie). Sinatra, Martin, and Davis were regarded as the group’s lead members after Bogart’s death
QUIZ 2
During Filming of The Cannonball Run, What did Burt Reynolds become ?
A. USA top 10 sexiest actors
B. The actor to do the most stunts in a single film
C. The highest paid actor in cinema history
D. The record for the longest car stunt jump
Burt Reynolds became the highest paid actor in cinema history up to that point, for this movie, making five million dollars for four weeks work.
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