Review of The Gumball Rally

Car chases were the centerpiece of several popular and well-made thrillers-cum-road movies of the early 1970s – chief among them VANISHING POINT (1971), DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY and THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS (both 1974). THE GUMBALL RALLY, however, decided to up the ante by having several cars involved in an illegal cross-country race (as did the contemporaneous CANNONBALL [1976], which I watched on Italian TV as a kid and might revisit soon) – but, while the latter had a satirical tone to it, this is straightforward, light-hearted fare (the star-studded THE CANNONBALL RUN [1981], then, was an even broader variation). That GUMBALL has not acquired the cult reputation of the others may have something to do with the fact that many of the characters here are stereotypes: bored young businessman Michael Sarrazin (who masterminds the covert event), Italian Raul Julia (his prowess behind the wheel being continually sidetracked by his Latin Lover ways!), yokel Gary Busey, a couple of tipsy old English gentlemen, the obligatory girl drivers, the ethnic hopeful with his reluctant but star-struck girlfriend in tow, and even a wild-eyed eccentric motorcyclist who invariably gets into various scrapes throughout (however, even more flustered than he is the seasoned cop on the racers' tail). Needless to say, the real stars of the film are the stunt people who relentlessly engage in gratuitous (albeit meticulously-choreographed) mayhem; these scenes – along with the comically deceptive aspect of the race vis-a'-vis the law (though it is rarely laugh-out-loud funny) – make the whole worth viewing once…since the rest is thin, over-familiar and even kind of dreary!; thankfully, Dominic Frontiere's bouncy score makes everything that little bit more palatable.