Starring
Michael Sarrazin, Tim McIntire, Normann Burton, Raul Julia, Gary
Busey, Nicholas Pryor, Harvey Jason, Susan Flannery, John Durren, J.
Pat O'Malley, Vaughn Taylor, Steven Keats, Wally Taylor, Joanne Nail,
Tricia O'Neal, Lazaro Perez. Directed by Chuck Bail. (1976, 105 min).
The
Gumball Rally evokes really fond memories, so please
indulge me if I give this Blu-Ray release a higher rating than it
might warrant.
Nearly
every week, I'd hit the Cinema V, a local second-run theater near my
house, to catch double-bills for less than a buck. Sometimes I biked
there, other times Mom or Dad would drop me off with a friend. The
place was old, dank and sold Milk Duds dating back to the Middle
Ages. As hang-outs go, it was second only to 7-Eleven as the most wonderful place in the
world. That's where I first caught The Gumball Rally (with a
Vanishing Point chaser). I'd seen plenty of car chase movies before - which had their heyday in the 70s - but this one struck a chord
with me and remains one of my childhood favorites.
On the other hand, maybe it does warrant more acknowledgment & praise
than its relative obscurity suggests.
 | |
| Can you spot what's wrong with this picture? (That's right...the guys on the left forgot their proof of insurance) |
On
the surface, The Gumball Rally is just another car chase movie
made during a decade rife with them. It has most of the same
ingredients...hot cars, outlaw antiheroes, idiot cops, sexy babes, a
plot with the complexity of Go Dog Go and, naturally, plenty
of high-speed motorporn. A few of these crash-fests went on to become
cult classics - like the aforementioned Vanishing Point - but
most were brain-dead junk food made on-the-cheap and destined to be
forgotten within weeks of their release.
But
consider this...
While
The Gumball Rally walks & talks like its
contemporaries, beneath its turbo-charged exterior beats the heart of
old-fashioned madcap comedies like The Great Race, Monte
Carlo or Bust and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (with a
dash of Looney Tunes). The humor is broad,
silly...even a little corny. But the whole thing is constantly
good-natured and what little violence there is is strictly of the
slapstick variety. In fact, if not for the preponderance of boob
jokes, this could (almost) pass muster as a family film.
 |
| Mr. Burton sometimes takes his pants off to play checkers. |
Unusual
for the genre - at least until Burt Reynolds went into the Smokey
and the Bandit business - the film boasts an impressive ensemble
cast consisting of respected character actors, led by Michael
Sarrazin (channeling his inner Peter Fonda...and a bit of Bugs
Bunny thrown in for good measure). The fun they have with their characters (no matter how
broadly drawn) is infectious. A young Raul Julia steals the show as
oversexed Italian race driver Franco - Pepe Le Pew personified - while
Normann Burton makes a perfect Wile E. Coyote (beleaguered expression and all) as the hapless Lt.
Roscoe.
Though The Gumball Rally is played strictly or laughs, it doesn't skimp
on high-speed thrills, which are expertly choreographed and shot,
with far better production values than the average chase film of the time. It's
all punctuated by a music score that combines ragtime, jazz and what
resembles music from a Quinn Martin cop show. Yet somehow it fits,
going a long way in establishing the jovial tone of the entire movie.
 |
| One of The Gumball Rally's many esoteric moments. |
Sure,
I may be biased, but what can't be disputed is the movie's influence.
Not only was The Gumball Rally was the first of a wave of
similar films depicting an illegal coast-to-coast road race (all
inferior rip-offs), it eventually inspired real-life racing events
all over the world, the most famous being the annual Gumball 3000,
still held in Europe each year. Additionally, the MiceChat Gumball
Rally is a yearly event at Disneyland, where fans compete to see who
can ride the most attractions in a single day.
Not
bad for a silly chase comedy hardly anyone recalls.
But for me, the movie is a nostalgic trip down memory lane that I take about
once a year. I may not laugh as boisterously as I did at 13,
sitting in the back row of that decrepit old Cinema V, but The Gumball Rally still brings a smile to my face. While this Blu-Ray from Warner
Archive has no bonus features other than a trailer, this goofy old
chestnut has never looked better on home video.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
Trailer
KITTY CONSENSUS:
MEE-OW! LIKE TAUNTING A MOUSE TO DEATH
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