The Gumball Rally **** (1976, Michael Sarrazin, Tim McIntire, Gary Busey, Raul Julia) – Classic Movie Review 3327

Director Chuck (Charles) Bail’s 1976 action comedy is an infectiously entertaining caper in which a bored executive organises a top-speed coast-to-coast rally from New York to Long Beach. A gang of eccentric drivers from across the globe unites for the secret and illegal cross country road race: an Italian lothario called Franco (Raul Julia), a topless model and a staid English gentleman.

Before either Carquake, Cannonball or The Cannonball Run or The Fast and the Furious borrowed the idea, this is the original cross-country car-crash comedy action thriller and it’s the best too (though admittedly it borrows elements from the much earlier The Great Race).

It has everything you might hope for: a fresh young cast (Michael Sarrazin as Michael Bannon in the Cobra Team, Tim McIntire as Steve ‘Smitty’ Smith in the Ferrari Team, Gary Busey as Gibson in the Camaro Team and especially Julia) giving exuberant performances, a busy, inventive script, amusing characters, a laid-back mood, funny gags and punchy action.

It is directed at the briskest pace possible by Bail, but the movie’s main hero must be Eddie Donno, the man in charge of the great stunts, though the actors do their own driving.

Bail wrote the story with Leon Capetanos, who is credited with the screenplay.

Also in the cast are Normann Burton, Nicholas Pryor, Steven Keats, J Pat O’Malley, Joanne Nail, Vaughn Taylor, Tricia O’Neil, Med Flory, John Durren, Susan Flannery, Harvey Jason, Michael Bannon and Samuel Graves.

The featured cars include 1966 Ford Shelby Cobra 427 Side Oiler (Cobra Team), 1974 Ferrari Daytona (Ferrari Team), 1974 Porsche 911 Targa (Porche Team), 1971 Dodge Polara 440 police car (Dodge Team) and 1970 1/2 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 (Camaro Team).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3327

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

J Pat O’Malley and Vaughn Taylor in The Gumball Rally (1976).