The Cannonball Run

Synopsis: This comedy film brings Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and an all-star cast to the starting line of the ultimate auto race, a madcap cross-country scramble that roars full-speed ahead. This action-comedy was inspired by an actual event: the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, an anything goes, all-stops-out - and very much illegal - competition that has grown to legendary proportions within the last ten years.
Genre: Action, Comedy, Sport
Director(s): Hal Needham
Production: 20th Century Fox
  1 win & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.2
Metacritic:
28
Rotten Tomatoes:
29%
PG
Year:
1981
95 min
2,026 Views


What do you say

when there are no words

Feel it

Feel a song

that's never been heard

Sing it

How do you know

when you hear the call

Answer

What do you do

when you've done it all

Ball

THE CANNONBALL RUN

Cannonball

It's not what you do

it's how you do it

Be anything you want to be

It's not what you got

it's how you use it

You be you and I'll be me

It's just a matter of style

You can't fake it

Mile after mile, feeling free

If you've got the soul

You can make it

Move 'em out, let 'em roll

From sea to shining sea

Ball

Cannonball

What do you do

when the mountain is there

Move it

How do you answer

the challenging dare

Take it

When your back's against the wall

Feel it

What do you do

when you've done it all

Cannonball

It's not what you do

it's how you do it

Be anything you want to be

It's not what you've got

it's how you use it

You be you and I'll be me

It's just a matter of style

You can't fake it

Mile after mile, feeling free

If you've got the soul

You can make it

Move 'em out

Let 'em roll

From sea to shining sea

Ball

Headquarters, we are still

in pursuit of the black Lamborghini.

Car 42, you've been in pursuit

for two hours.

Another five minutes,

and you'll be in Arizona.

Yeah, and we're gonna stay in pursuit

until we catch him.

It didn't take us that long

to catch Dillinger.

Hi, guys.

- You're two hours late.

- I'm sorry.

Where the hell you been?

I'm sorry.

Fuel-injection system...

It's driving me crazy.

I'm really sorry I'm late, but one

of my hamsters had an anxiety attack.

I couldn't leave him

until he was settled down.

He was acting so crazy.

He ate a piece of tail.

And Henrietta wasn't even

bothering him.

Then he ate his treadmill.

They got vets for that.

We got other things to worry about.

Hamsters are a big responsibility.

Let me paint you a mental picture,

all right, Victor?

I want you to think of your hamsters

as a little army...

marching along on a treadmill...

running their little legs off,

running as fast as they can...

making that engine just

purr right along the road.

Oh,j.j. What a wonderful way

to put it.

Wouldn't it be great if we could share

winning the Cannonball with them?

That would be a real team effort...

you, me, the hamsters and him.

Don't start with him.

I don't want to talk about him.

- If you need any help...

- I don't want to talk about him.

- Sir james!

- Oh, my God. You again?

Fenderbaum, do me a favor.

You're drawing flies.

Get the hell out of here.

Wait a minute, Greek.

Only thing I want to know is...

how are you figuring the odds

on this Cannonball cockamamie?

It takes brilliance

and years of hard work...

and you wouldn't understand

any part of that.

Do me a favor.

A race is a race, right?

The only thing you gotta do

in the Cannonball is drive steady...

stay out of trouble

and have a good cover.

Do you know what that is?

You want to talk

or do you want to bet?

Anti- radar paint,

turbocharged,j.j.

Nobody can stop us now.

Nobody.

What are you, some kind of nut?

Who do you think you are?

I am Captain Chaos.

And this...

This is my faithful companion, Cato.

Say hello, Cato.

Been a cop long?

Funny!

You wanna talk or you wanna bet?

- You got 50 to 1.

- And you know what you got?

You got yourself a bet.

Twenty big large ones.

That's a million dollars.

If you win.

I don't know if you know my partner.

Jamie, you remember jimmy the Greek.

Jamie Blake.

You used to drive

that Formula One...

when high- button shoes

were in style.

Let me tell you something, Greek.

We got a secret weapon.

- God is our copilot.

- You'll need him.

"God is our copilot"?

- Remember our car?

- Yeah.

- Two seats?

- Two seats.

Where's he gonna sit?

Where?

Listen to me, El Porko.

We're not in the Indianapolis 500.

We can't have a car with numbers on it.

- We have to camouflage the car somehow.

- Like what,j.j.?

How about a limousine

with diplomatic plates?

I know. A bloodmobile.

They'd never stop

a bloodmobile, would they?

Ice cream truck!

An ice cream truck!

You know. They got to get there

before it melts.

Terrific.

- We're out of beer, Victor.

- Sorry.

Take it easy! You're acting crazy

since this Cannonball thing!

I'm gonna pull in here

and get some beer, all right?

How about an armored personnel carrier?

They wouldn't stop that, would they?

Hey, don't bother to park.

I'll be right out.

Thank you.

We could get a black Trans Am.

No, that's been done.

Hello, Mother.

I trust you've had a pleasant day.

A nightmare.

A living nightmare.

You are killing me, Seymour...

killing me a slow death

with this idiot spy business.

- Mother, you don't understand.

- What is there to understand?

I'm looking at my son,

Seymour Goldfarb,jr...

son of Seymour Goldfarb,

God rest his soul...

and heir to the Goldfarb Girdles

fortune.

And what is he doing?

Walking around, acting...

like he was some goy movie star

named Roger Moore.

And for this I sent you

to the best schools?

For this I'm spending 8,000

on orthodontia work?

For this I'm going broke

paying that Beverly Hills analyst?

And now...

this.

The sleep-in maid found it

under your pillow this morning.

What is the meaning of this?

The meaning, Mother dear,

is a quick death.

I warned you not to interfere

in my affairs.

Seymour, put that away.

It's liable to go off.

I'm terribly sorry, Mother...

but you know too much.

You see, in my business...

even the deepest family relationships

aren't worth a farthing.

Farthing, schmarthing.

Zie gezunt, Mama.

Where did I go wrong?

You know something, Mama?

You're too jewish.

Of course, we could always go

with a nice, plain- jane Chevy...

with a truckload

of Sidewinder missiles.

J. J., maybe you should slow this down

just a little bit.

- I can't hear you.

- I said, you're making waves.

- You're bothering the people.

- What the hell does going too fast...

got to do with being

in the Cannonball?

J. J., you're making very big waves.

How are ya?

You guys are lucky.

You tore the heck out of that boat.

- You all right, Victor?

- Oh, I'm fine,j.j.

It only hurts when I point.

You know, maybe

it would've been better...

if you didn't pay

so much attention to those girls.

- Nobody's perfect.

- That's true.

Nobody's perfect...

but him.

Sorry.

How far is it

to the hospital?

- About ten miles.

- Oh, yeah?

How long will it take us

to get there?

About four or five minutes.

You can smoke through traffic like

shot through a gun in this thing.

Camel.

Not the Camel, schmuck. Winston.

Starting tomorrow, you and George

will be riding in the car with me.

Yes, sir.

How goes your driving, my brother?

Allah be praised, dear sister.

My speed is rivaled only by

the lightning bolts from the heavens.

And I suppose you still intend

to go through that race...

with the infidel Americans.

Cannonball will fall...

to the forces of Islam!

My dear sister, I pledge it!

Drink! Drink!

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes

Brock Yates

Brock Wendel Yates (October 21, 1933 – October 5, 2016) was an American print and TV journalist, screenwriter and author. He was longtime executive editor of Car and Driver, an American automotive magazine. He was a pit reporter for CBS' coverage of certain NASCAR Sprint Cup (at the time, the Winston Cup) series races in the 1980s, including the Daytona 500. He was also one of the main commentators on the TNN motor sports TV show American Sports Cavalcade with Steve Evans. Paul Page, Gary Gerould, and Ralph Sheheen also occasionally appeared on the show. He served as a commentator on racing and vintage cars for the Speed Channel, a U.S. cable television channel affiliated with Fox Sports. Yates was a best-selling author, most frequently about automotive topics and motor sport. Some of his articles and commentaries for Car and Driver magazine and other publications have had considerable impact within the auto industry and general public, beginning with his 1968 critique of the American auto industry, its management, and its products: "The Grosse Pointe Myopians". A recurring theme of his nonfiction work was the way American automotive management frequently grew arrogant, lost touch with its markets, and failed to respond to changing public needs/tastes, technology, and energy/environmental concerns. Yates' first articles appeared in Science and Mechanics Magazine when he was 16 years old.Yates wrote for The Truth About Cars briefly in January and February 2008.On January 26, 2017 Yates was named to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. more…

All Brock Yates scripts | Brock Yates Scripts

0 fans

Submitted on August 05, 2018

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "The Cannonball Run" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_cannonball_run_5018>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    The Cannonball Run

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.


    Quiz

    Are you a screenwriting master?

    »
    What does "A/B story" refer to in screenwriting?
    A The main plot and a subplot
    B Two different genres in the same screenplay
    C Two different endings
    D Two main characters