AFTER DIRECTING Death Race 2000 for Roger Corman in 1975, Paul Bartel found himself in the uncomfortable position of being typecast as a director of car-chase movies. Thing was, he wanted to make black comedies; he hated car-chase movies. But not being able to find any other jobs, he agreed to make Cannonball for Corman the next year.
It's pretty much the same movie (with the same cast) as Death Race 2000, but without the humor, without the interesting plot, without the wacky costumes and cars. It's just a movie about an illegal cross-country road race. Hal Needham lifted the idea (and the title) a few years later, hired Burt Reynolds and made millions.
Even in the accompanying interview footage with stars David Carradine and Mary Woronov, they admit that Bartel's heart wasn't in it, and that it's not a very good picture (I think Woronov uses the word "pathetic").
One reason for movie geeks in particular to pick this up, though, is that it contains a treasure trove of cameos, including Joe Dante, Roger Corman and Carl Gottlieb (who wrote the Jaws screenplay). And where else are you going to find Sylvester Stallone and Martin Scorsese appearing in the same scene?
