Review: The Gumball Rally

Confectionary company head Michael Sarrazin organises (and competes in) the title illegal cross country road race, with humourless cop Norman Burton determined to put a stop to it all. Tim McIntire plays Sarrazin’s friendly rival, with Raul Julia turning up as an amorous, Ferrari-driving Italian, and Susan Flannery plays a somewhat butch female driver. Steven Keats and Wally Taylor play cops who nonetheless compete in the race using their cop car authority to their advantage.

 

There were a slew of these comic car race/road race movies in the 70s and 80s, and this 1976 Chuck Bail (a former stuntman who directed “Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold”) entry is pretty typical of them. Scripted by Leon Capetanos (“Greased Lightning”, “Down and Out in Beverly Hills”), if you like this sort of thing, you’ll like this even if the star wattage on this one is surprisingly low. Usually these things are jam-packed with stars, but this one goes more the character actor route. It’s fairly watchable for what it is, but I prefer this kind of thing when it involves David Carradine and Sly Stallone running over old ladies and hospital patients. “Death Race 2000” this ain’t.

 

The film does have a young-ish Raul Julia as an amorous, Ferrari-driving Italian, which is good for a few giggles. He steals the show, and I kinda liked the “Wacky Races” vibe with all the different vehicles. Michael Sarrazin – looking a heck of a lot like Peter Fonda – is just OK in the lead. A pre-Buddy Holly Gary Busey is wasted as an excitable hick mechanic. He just hoots and hollers a lot. As this film’s Jackie Gleason lawman ‘villain’, Norman Burton is forgettable, unfunny, and uninteresting. I did like Vaughn Taylor and his English companion drinking and driving, there’s little amusing bits here and there. Only mild amusements, but still present nonetheless. Harvey Jason gets the film’s most slapstick-y part as a Hungarian motorcyclist. So if you’re into slapstick, you’ll enjoy him. The big problem here for me is that once everyone hits the road and starts racing – the crux of the film – the characters become less interesting as we just get lots and lots of driving.

 

OK for its type, sure. But just OK…for it’s type. Diverting I guess, car racing enthusiasts might want to bump the rating up a bit. I just would’ve preferred more focus on the characters rather than the slapstick and racing.

 

Rating: C+

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Cinderella (1950)

The story of poor young Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods), treated as a servant by her nasty stepmother (voiced by Eleanor Audley), and dismissed by her thoroughly rotten, ugly stepsisters. Her only friends are a group of mice, who are forever being menaced by a cat named Lucifer (or as I call him, Grumpy Cheshire Cat). The King (hoping to find a wife for his charming son) is throwing a ball and every available young woman is invited to attend, and Cinderella is most excited to go. However, her stepmother and stepsisters do all they can to prevent this from happening. But with help from the mice and one fairy godmother (voiced by Verna Felton) later, and Cinderella looks set to attend the ball. You know the rest, folks.   Lovely 1950 Disney animated movie from directors Clyde Geronimi ( “Peter Pan” , “Lady and the Tramp” ), Wilfred Jackson ( “Fantasia” , “Alice in Wonderland” , “Peter Pan” ) & Hamilton Luske ( “Pinocchio” , “Fantasia” , “Peter Pan” ), that is a bit too s
Read more

Review: Eugenie de Sade

Eugenie (Soledad Miranda) makes a deathbed confession to author/biographer (Jesus ‘Jess’ Franco himself), recounting the tale of how her depraved stepfather (Paul Muller) groomed her into a life of depravity, debauchery, and murder.   Not to be confused with the similarly titled “Eugenie…The Story of Her Journey into Perversion” (by the same director) or “Justine de Sade” (which is not to be confused with Franco’s own “Justine” for that matter), this 1973 Marquis de Sade adaptation from writer-director Jesus Franco ( “99 Women” , “A Virgin Among the Living Dead” ) is perhaps the perfect marriage of Franco, sleazy material, and actors. Basically this is what Franco’s “She Killed in Ecstasy” might’ve been like if it were based on a Marquis de Sade work. There’s a few slow spots here and there, but overall I actually think this is Franco’s best film. Yes, even better than my previous choice “Vampyros Lesbos” , and better than his more ‘respectable’ films like “Count Dracula” (a
Read more