Review of The Gumball Rally (1976) by Tom H — 14 Nov 2011

This is the original movie based on the real cross country car races that took place in the 1970's after Nixon implemented the 55 mile per hour speed limit. This movie came out in 1976 just before the gasoline shortages.

The 55 MPH speed limit started after the 1973 Arab Oil Emargo but the public was getting rebellious and no one was driving the speed limit. That was why movies like this were popular. In the real race the drivers were supposed to pull over when they got caught and take the ticket and pay the fine.

The idea was to prove that you could drive across country at a high rate of speed and not get caught or have an accident. They haven't held one of these races for several years now. Today you can't get a cheap muscle car like you could in the late 1960's and early 1970's and the speed limits have been raised and running from the cops is not a joke and is dangerous.

This movie is just one car chase or car crash after another. There is also a bad guy cop chasing them accross country trying to catch them like the coyote chasing the Road Runner. At one point they were supposed to be in Oklahoma but they filmed it at night and you couldn't tell where they were.

The cop cars had fake looking Oklahoma Highway Patrol emblems on the doors but the paint job was wrong. The real Highway Patrol cars have a unique paint job that is different from the local police or county sheriff's cars.