Review of The Gumball Rally

Talk about a sub-genre being popular in the 70s, and through into the early 80s. "The Gumball Rally" is a boundlessly, cheerful and comically illicit cross-country road race from New York to Long Beach, Los Angeles. What's waiting for the winner at the finish line… pride… and a tiny gumball machine. The fruitful characters, are thoughtfully picked to participate in the race. The secret word is… Gumball. They are quite stock-like, but in this case it's the mettle and happy-go-lucky awe that makes them all rather bearable, and actually enjoyable to watch. Dialogues are arrantly sharp, and amusing in the character's exchanges. Mainly for me, it was that of the Norman Burton's hell-bent police detective, who's doing anything possible to bring to a halt the race. Burton's straight performance is rather humorous, and truly makes for some pleasurable sequences. The presentable cast; Michael Sarrazin, Tim McIntire, Raul Julia, Susan Fannery, Joanne Nail, Harvey Jason and Gary Busey are all good-willed, living it up in their parts. Since it's a one-trick pony premise, director Chuck Bail delivers on the flavorous, episodic goods (outrageously chaotic vehicle stunts and getting those engines purring) in a nippy fashion that never loses momentum, or in what it wants to be. There are sight gags aplenty. Sure some might be misfires, but the bang-up visual feast makes up for it. The cinematography is smoothly done, and the playful music score pines into the upbeat groove of the film. It wasn't as good, as I first remembered it to be (mainly the slow beginning to set-up the whole situation), but this gimmicky, light-headed farce lazily passes the time.