Book review - "The Last Action Heroes: The Triumphs, Flops, and Feuds of Hollywood’s Kings of Carnage" by Nick de Semlyen

 This was fine. Easy read. Very surface. Very kind on Chuck Norris who I gather is more terrible. Seagal is lively as he always is. I was hoping for more of a deep dive. These Hollywood stars are so addicted to log cabin personal narratives - I mean, Stallone went to finishing school, for crying out loud.

Movie view - "Cannonball Run II" (1984) **

 For ten years Burt Reynolds, it seemed, couldn't put a foot wrong, at least not when he got behind the wheel of a car, then with this and Stroker Ace it seemed he couldn't put a foot right. Like City Heat I think this made money but it's a film few people seem to like. Maybe the public tired of it, maybe Burt just got a little bit too old... being a big kid is a little less charming.

This skews older than the previous film - instead of Farrah Fawcett there's Shirley Maclaine, it has a strong Rat Pack presence with a plot about paying back loan sharks and a cameo from Frank and other old timey stars like Sid Caesar, Doug McClure, Tim Conway, Don Knotts, plus Telly Savalas as a baddy.On the new talent there's Tony Danza and a comic chimp and Shawn Weathley as a girl Martin is rooting. Oh and Menudo's song.

Susan Anton and Catherine Bach (both gorgeous) replace Tara Buckman and Adrienne Barbeau and Danza replaces Terry Bradshaw as Mel Tills' sidekick, Robert Kiel is Jackie Chan's new sidekick.

The first movie felt like all ages, this one feels old. Also it doesn't have the same heart and feeling of camraderie as the first one - in that, Burt's romance with Farrah was sweet (well, apart from the abduction), but here he just makes out with Shirley Maclaine in the backseat like two old ageing movie stars (instead of having Maclaine and Marilu Henner I think they just should've had Henner). In the first, it was lovely how Dom DeLuise talked about how he was lonely til he found a friend in Burt, and how Burt explained to Farrah the joys of cannonballing - scenes like that are missing. There's not even that much car action.

It is fun to see Frank Sinatra, and while Dean Martin looks old and weathered Sammy Davis Jnr is full of life and Jackie Chan gets more fight senes.

Movie review - "The Cannonball Run" (1981) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 The story had already been told via Gumball Rally and Cannonball but this is the one to watch with all its stars, and engaging sense of fun. Burt Reynolds is, as ever, a confident center for this gang, there's a superb support cast including Dom de Luise, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr (making one wish they'd made more films together), Roger Moore, Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Farr, Burt Convy, Jackie Chan. I loved this as a kid and it has a feeling of infectious good humour that is very winning.

It hasn't all aged well - Jackie Chan playing a Japanese, all the boob gags, Farrah gets abducted for laughs. And it's not fun to know that a stuntwoman was rendered a quadriplegic as a result of making this.

But everyone is having a good time and that comes across. It has a genuine family feel - all the cannonballers living their silly lifestyles, teaming up for a convenient brawl at the end. Dom de Luise is touching as well as funny (he invented this split personality to cope), Burt is relaxed, Farrah is pretty (not as good as Sally Field), Sammy and Dean are hilarious, so is Roger Moore, there are fun cameos by Peter Fonda (as a biker), Bianca Jagger and Valerie Perinne, I like it how (spoilers) the women win, the love theme between Burt and Farrah is sweet, mel Tillis and Terry Bradshaw do a fun double act (they were given their own pilot as a result), Rick Aviles and Alfie Wise do anothe double act, Jack Elam is hilarious as a doctor, Burt Convy is hilarious parachuting out of a plane on his bike and doing a wheelie.

Movie review -"The Cannonball Run" (1981) **1/2

Dopey early 80s car racing movie which I remember loving as a kid. It hasn't aged that well but it maintains a genuine good natured air of mischief and fun - you do feel everyone who worked on it got along, and just wanted to have a good time. It presumably helped everyone would have gotten paid a decent amount of money and Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham were friends.

The chief appeal of this is the cast - Burt Reynolds as the nominal hero (a relaxed and self-kiddying performance), and Dom de Luise as his sidekick (who turns into Captain Chaos, which is fun); Farrah Fawcett as the girl who gets dragged along (I always liked her theme song in this); Jack Elam as a crazy doctor; Roger Moore poking fun of his James Bond image (which he kind of did anyway playing James Bond but still entertaining); Jamie Farr playing up the stereotypes as an Arab; ditto Jackie Chan as a technology obsessed Asian; Burt Convy as a tycoon competing for fun doing a wheelie most of the way (this always cracked me up); Tara Buckman and Adrienne Barbeau as a female driver with massive boobs (at least she's allowed to win); Peter Fonda as the head of some bikies, the third act villains (how is that for times are a changin'); Dean Martin and Sammy David Jnr hilarious as priests.

The movie is ramshackle and silly but it works (despite the fact there's actually not that much driving). It has a spirit that is hard to repeat though - so when they did for Cannonball Run II (and also Stroker Ace) it didn't work. (Maybe a crucial element was also Brock Yates, who wrote this - he's a car journalist and added a lot of verisimilitude).