Made a year after the 70s cult b-film Death Race 2000. Paul Bartel (as director) returns to the genre with another Corman produced feature of the same ilk. Instead of the futuristic dystopian setup of Death Race, it goes for a randomly breezy and thinly plotted Cannonball Run route of an outlaw cross-country racing event. However it was made years before Burt Reynold's iconic film, but around the same time as the similar plotted 'Gumball Rally'. One thing though, those aforementioned films never matched the striking tone of this very Bartel film.
Leading the way was the impressive amount of mass destruction occurring on the roads, sometimes quite violent, dangerous and disturbing in the details. Making it somewhat jarring with it also wanting to be humorous in its characters struggling to catch a break, or a comedy of errors turning lethal. The tip of the iceberg was the climatic vehicle pile-up which doesn't shy away from casualties and how they're presented. As the humour is strangely dark with ironic shades mixed with a cynical morality tale in some character fates. While sort of generic in what happens, the levity of the script and outrageous set-pieces can amuse, but at the same time shock. While the ensemble cast (led by David Carradine's fashion sense) really do push it along. So many familiar character actors, film-makers from Corman's staple show up. And it's quite fun picking up on them.
