Woodyanders Review of The Gumball Rally

The Gumball Rally (1976)

A very amusing & enjoyable 70's cross country road race romp

[8/10 · 4 May 2006]

This immensely lively and entertaining 70's tongue-in-cheek cross country road race romp stars Michael Sarrazin as the rich businessman who sponsors an illegal event from New York to Long Beach, California which attracts a colorfully flaky assortment of hardcore nutty car race enthusiasts. Among the race's kooky participants are the always great Tim McIntire as Sarrazin's bitter, yet amiable rival, an especially hilarious Raul Julia as a hysterically lecherous womanizing Italian driver (the lovely Colleen Camp pops up as a sweet young honey Julia happily jumps in the sack with), Nicholas Pryer as Sarrazin's anxious college professor co-pilot, Susan Fannery and Joanne Nail as a pair of sassy'n'sexy good-time gals, Gary Busey in his usual wild redneck yahoo role, Harvey Jason as a maniacal motorcyclist, and Vaughn Taylor and J. Pat O'Malloy as a couple of lovably laid-back doddering old guys. Norman Burton gives an uproariously broad performance as the ramrod killjoy police detective determined to stop the race. Director Chuck Bail keeps the pace zipping along at a speedy rate, staging the copious vehicular carnage with a genuinely rousing rip-snorting panache, stoking the sidesplitting silly humor to a cartoonishly high-pitched degree and eliciting engagingly spirited performances from a uniformly solid cast. The opening third is a tad drawn-out, but once the race itself gets underway the film kicks into third gear, pops the clutch, and puts the pedal to the metal by really delivering the expected tire-screeching, rubber-burning, automobile-wrecking goods with infectiously carefree and giddy go-for-it abandon. Both Richard Glouner's vibrant cinematography and Dominic Frontiere's delightfully sprightly score greatly enhance the overall irresistibly goofy and good-natured merriment. To sum up, "The Gumball Rally" makes for a sound source of exuberantly wacky and light-hearted fun.