Cannonball (film)

Cannonball
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Paul Bartel
Written by	Paul Bartel Donald C. Simpson
Produced by	Samuel W. Gelfman
Starring	David Carradine Bill McKinney Veronica Hamel Gerrit Graham Robert Carradine
Cinematography	Tak Fujimoto
Edited by	Mort Tubor
Music by	David A. Axelrod
Distributed by	New World Pictures
Release date	July 6, 1976 (1976-07-06) (United States)
Running time	93 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$780,000[1]
Box office	$1.5 million (rentals)[1][2]

Cannonball (stylized on-screen as Cannonball!, and released theatrically in the UK as Carquake) is a 1976 American comedy film directed by Paul Bartel and starring David Carradine. The film is one of two released in 1976 that were based on a real illegal cross-continent road race that took place for a number of years in the United States (the other being The Gumball Rally). The same topic later became the basis for the films The Cannonball Run, Cannonball Run II and Speed Zone. The film was written and directed by Paul Bartel, who also directed Death Race 2000.

The name of the film and the plot were inspired by Erwin G. "Cannon Ball" Baker (1882–1960), who traveled across the United States several times, and by the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, an illegal cross-continent road race introduced by Brock Yates to protest against the 55 MPH speed limit.