When movies were fun

Today I had pause to reflect back on a great, great movie from 1981--Cannonball Run.

This movie had it all--cars, speed, action, hot chicks...and good clean comedy. It did lack a few things--nudity, violence, profanity--that are these days apparently required in a movie before anyone wants to buy a ticket, but it was a different time 27 years ago when this movie came out and I went to see it with my family. (Damn...27 year ago. I suddenly feel old.)

The movie had an all-star cast: Burt Reynolds (back when he was funny and had hair), Farrah Fawcett (back when she was smoking hot) Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Junior, Jamie Farr, Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore (parodying himself), Terry Bradshaw, Adrienne Barbeau, Jack Elam, and a young Jackie Chan among others. That was some major star power back in the early 80's, and the only thing flashier than the cast was the array of fast cars that they drove across country in a winner-take-all race. Yeah, it's a bit silly compared to today's movies, but it was made to be fun and it was. I'd even go so far as to call it a "family film" and Hollywood seems to have forgotten how to make those these days. Here's the opening sequence to the movie. Either a great memory for you if you've seen it or a reason to go out and rent it if you haven't.


Anyway, what made me remember this classic was a discussion that I was having on another blog site with some cop friends. The topic was women traffic violators who accidentally or otherwise manage to show off their cleavage when the officers approach to talk to them. (For the record, the general consensus is that it's deliberate and meant to persuade the officer to let them slide on the ticket. And it doesn't work.) One of the officers, Liz, said "I'd like to see one try that with me."
(Yeah, I'd pay to see that, too!) ;-)

But it brought to mind this great scene from Cannonball Run:


Classic!

And I recall watching this movie with Liz a couple of years ago up in Seward, Alaska. She'd never seen it before and her opinion was that the movie was sexist.
Yeah, it was. But that was acceptable back in the 70's and early 80's. In fact it was part of what made it all fun!