THE GUMBALL RALLY (1976)

 

Directed by: Charles Bail

Starring: Michael Sarrazin, Nicholas Pryor, Tim McIntire, Raul Julia, Norman Burton, John Durren, Gary Busey, Joanne Nail, Susan Flannery, J. Pat O'Malley, Vaughn Taylor, Lazaro Perez, Tricia O'Neil, Harvey Jason, Steven Keats, Wally Taylor, Eddy Donno, Dick Karie, Alfred Shelly, Whitey Hughes, Larry Silvestri, Wes Dawn, John Morton, Stephen Blood, Linda Vaughn, Walter R. Smith, John Lawlor

105 minutes

(PG - adult language, adult themes, adult situations, some violence)

PLOT:

Michael Bannon, the wealthy but restless president of New York based Richter Chocolate and Confections, secretly issuing the code word "gumball" to those in the know across the country signifies that interested parties are to convene in New York City for the next Gumball Rally, an approximate one-and-a-half-day illegal motor vehicle race from a hidden New York City garage to the Queen Mary parking lot at Long Beach, California. There is only one rule for the race: there are no rules. The race was initiated and is organized by Mike and his twenty-year best friend and competitor Steve Smith - Smitty - who will this year have as the seconds in their respective vehicles Samuel Graves, a Boston university tenure track Classics professor who is worried about getting caught which would threaten his tenure, and Italian race car driver Franco Bertollini, who arguably has the opposite sex on his mind more than the race. One hopeful new entrant this year is Jose, the car-less gopher at the garage and the race starter, who not only wants to show his overbearing aspiring actress girlfriend Angie that he has a car - a stipulation she has before she will go on anymore dates with him - but also to get her to Hollywood. What happens during the race will be a combination of skill, perseverance, luck, motivation, priorities and a little improvisation on the run. Someone who may factor into the results is LAPD's exasperated Lieutenant Roscoe, who for years, along with police forces he has co-opted across the country, has tried to nail specifically Mike and Smitty on some legality to get them out of the race business, which he has so far been unable to do as Mike and Smitty always seem to have the leg up on him. As this may be Roscoe's last year as he inches toward retirement, he would see success on this front as a crown in his retirement.

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