
You'll root for them all...but you'll never guess who wins.
Plot outline
Personal notes
Cast
- Burt Reynolds
- Roger Moore
- Farrah Fawcett
- Dom DeLuise
- Dean Martin
- Sammy Davis Jr.
- Jack Elam
- Adrienne Barbeau
- Terry Bradshaw
- Jackie Chan
- Bert Convy
- Jamie Farr
- Peter Fonda
- George Furth
- Michael Hui
- Bianca Jagger
- Molly Picon
- Jimmy 'The Greek' Snyder
- Mel Tillis
- Rick Aviles
- Warren Berlinger
- Tara Buckman
- John Fiedler
- Norman Grabowski
- Joe Klecko
- Grayce Spence
- Robert Tessier
- Alfie Wise
- Johnny Yune
- Lois Hamilton
- Simone Burton
- Finele Carpenter
- Susan McDonald
- Janet Woytak
- Ben Rogers
- James C. Lewis
- Fred Smith
- Roy Tatum
- Dudley Remus
- Hal Carter
- Brock Yates
- Kathleen M. Shea
- Nancy Austin
- Vickie Reigle
- Bob Stenner
- Ken Squier
- Samir Kamoun
- John Megna
- Linda McClure
- Laura Lizer Sommers
- Richard Losee
- Richie Burns Wright
- Steve Dressler
- Renee McCullah
- Dave Mungenast Sr.
- Hal Needham
- Valerie Perrine
Plots
A wide variety of eccentric competitors participate in a wild and illegal cross-country road race. However, the eccentric entrants will do anything to win the road race, including low-down, dirty tricks.
This comedy movie brings Burt Reynolds, Sir Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and an all-star cast to the starting line of the ultimate auto race, a madcap cross-country scramble that roars full-speed ahead. This action-comedy was inspired by an actual event: the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, an anything goes, all-stops-out, and very much illegal, competition that has grown to legendary proportions within the last ten years.
The plot of a cross-country road race was based on an actual event, the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, organized by Brock Yates to protest the 55 mile per hour speed limit then in effect in the United States The Cannonball was named for Erwin G. "Cannonball" Baker, who in the roaring 1920s, rode his motorcycle across the country. Many of the characters are based on ruses developed by real Cannonball racers over the several years that the event was run.
In this comedy, Burt Reynolds is an adventurer who decides to participate in an illegal and popular road race all over the country. There's an all-star cast of racers (Jackie Chan, Farrah Fawcett, Peter Fonda, Dean Martin, Sir Roger Moore, Sammy Davis, Jr. and others) that will do anything to outrun all the difficulties (including the police) and win the race. This action-comedy was based on an actual event: the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, a cross-country outlaw road race that has grown to legendary proportions.