Made in the wake of THE CANNONBALL RUN (1981), this racing-car comedy actually features David Carradine in the lead, who had starred in the similar (but more violent) DEATH RACE 2000 (1975) and the unrelated CANNONBALL (1976). The heroine, then, is Stockard Channing and the villain Christopher Lee – appearing here in a silly Darth Vader get-up, albeit claiming to be a descendant of the Borgias and irritatingly prone to opera singing, not to mention being flanked by an unfunny and long-suffering "navigator"!
The African setting allows both ample travelogue footage and, ostensibly, added peril for the contenders; that said, the race itself is curiously lacking in excitement and, besides, while we are told there are as many as 93 participants, we only ever see a handful of stereotype members (Brits, French, Japanese, Australians and one female team) apart from the central rival duo who, needless to say, end up neck-and-neck near the finishing line but, unsurprisingly, Carradine and Channing emerge victorious in spite of Lee's every attempt to thwart their progression. Incidentally, this could have taken a leaf from the "Wacky Races" cartoons of the late 1960s, itself inspired by THE GREAT RACE (1965) – that is to say, it should have been broader, but perhaps the film-makers did not want to go the route of THE CANNONBALL RUN which rather let the result fall between two stools, hence s virtual obscurity since its year of release!
While it is watchable enough for what it is, especially as the picture runs for a mere 86 minutes, there is hardly anything memorable going on for the entire duration – which makes the involvement of renowned producers Jules V. Levy and Arthur Gardner (their last effort) and Oscar-winning composer Ernest Gold all the more baffling!
The African setting allows both ample travelogue footage and, ostensibly, added peril for the contenders; that said, the race itself is curiously lacking in excitement and, besides, while we are told there are as many as 93 participants, we only ever see a handful of stereotype members (Brits, French, Japanese, Australians and one female team) apart from the central rival duo who, needless to say, end up neck-and-neck near the finishing line but, unsurprisingly, Carradine and Channing emerge victorious in spite of Lee's every attempt to thwart their progression. Incidentally, this could have taken a leaf from the "Wacky Races" cartoons of the late 1960s, itself inspired by THE GREAT RACE (1965) – that is to say, it should have been broader, but perhaps the film-makers did not want to go the route of THE CANNONBALL RUN which rather let the result fall between two stools, hence s virtual obscurity since its year of release!
While it is watchable enough for what it is, especially as the picture runs for a mere 86 minutes, there is hardly anything memorable going on for the entire duration – which makes the involvement of renowned producers Jules V. Levy and Arthur Gardner (their last effort) and Oscar-winning composer Ernest Gold all the more baffling!