Movies like The Cannonball Run (1981)
The best movies like The Cannonball Run (1981) are Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Cannonball Run II (1984) and The Gumball Rally (1976). If The Cannonball Run hooked you with its action and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Blues Brothers (1980)7.7/10 from 4,756 votes
- NewestWild Hogs (2007)Released 2007
- Same seriesCannonball Run II (1984)Cannonball Run
Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
A race car driver tries to transport an illegal beer shipment from Texas to Atlanta in under 28 hours, picking up a reluctant bride-to-be on the way.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCannonball Run II (1984)
When a wealthy sheikh puts up $1 million in prize money for a cross-country car race, there is one person crazy enough to hit the road hard with wheels spinning fast. Legendary driver J.J. McClure enters the competition along with his friend Victor and together they set off across the American landscape in a madcap action-adventure destined to test their wits and automobile skills.
Why it matches: Same series: Cannonball Run · both action & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Gumball Rally (1976)
A group of people from different backgrounds have one thing in common: when they hear the world "gumball" whispered by one of the others, they know that it's time for the Gumball Rally: a no-holds barred, secret, winner-take-all rally across the USA.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHooper (1978)
Legendary stunt man Sonny Hooper remains one of the top men in his field, but due to too many stressful impacts to the spine and the need to pop painkillers several times a day, he knows he should get out of the industry before he ends up permanently disabled.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSmokey and the Bandit II (1980)
The Bandit goes on another cross-country run, transporting an elephant from Florida to Texas. And, once again, Sheriff Buford T. Justice is on his tail.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Dukes of Hazzard (2005)
Cousins, Bo and Luke Duke, with the help of their eye-catching cousin, Daisy and moonshine-running Uncle Jesse, try and save the family farm from being destroyed by Hazzard County's corrupt commissioner, Boss Hogg. Their efforts constantly find the 'Duke Boys' eluding authorities in 'The General Lee', their 1969 orange Dodge Charger that keeps them one step ahead of the dimwitted antics of the small southern town's Sheriff, Roscoe P. Coltrane.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisConvoy (1978)
Trucker Rubber Duck and his buddies Pig Pen, Widow Woman and Spider Mike use their CB radios to warn one another of the presence of cops. But conniving Sheriff Wallace is hip to the truckers' tactics, and begins tricking the drivers through his own CB broadcasts. Facing constant harassment from the law, Rubber Duck and his pals use their radios to coordinate a vast convoy and rule the road.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWatch Out, We're Mad (1974)
After a tied 1st place in a local stunt race, two drivers start a contest to decide who of them will own the prize, a dune buggy. But when a mobster destroys the car, they are determined to get it back.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCannonball (1976)
Coy "Cannonball" Buckman and his blazing red Pontiac enter the Trans-America Grand Prix, an underground road race spanning the continent in which there are no rules, no speed limits and no heed for the law. En route, Buckman jockeys with an international ensemble of racers for a $100,000 purse. But there are none more important than Cade Redman, his direct competition for a guaranteed spot on the elite Modern Motors racing team.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisStroker Ace (1983)
Stroker Ace, a champion NASCAR driver, is standing at the top of his career, but is getting fed up with having to do as he's told. In between rebelling against his sponsor (a fried chicken chain)'s promotion gimmicks (like making him dress up in giant chicken suit) he spends the rest of the movie trying to bed the buxom Pembrook.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisHerbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977)
Herbie, the Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own, is racing in the Monte Carlo Rally. But thieves have hidden a cache of stolen diamonds in Herbie's gas tank, and are now trying to get them back.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisSix Pack (1982)
Stopping briefly in a small Texas town, an itinerant race car driver finds that his stock car, on a trailer behind his motor home, has just been quickly and expertly stripped. He chases down the miscreants, who turn out to be six orphan children. He has no recourse to the law, for the corrupt local sheriff takes most of the proceeds of their thievery in exchange for not putting them in an orphanage. They are charming rogues who are in turn charmed by him. Disliking their arrangement with the sheriff, they stow away with him, and he finds himself becoming a reluctant stepfather. Thanks to their enthusiasm and incredible mechanical know-how, he begins to make a name for himself on the racing circuit. But the sheriff doesn't take kindly to losing his extra income...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Bus (1976)
A nuclear-powered bus is making its maiden non-stop trip from New York to Denver. The journey is plagued by disasters due to the machinations of a mysterious group allied with the oil lobby. Will the down-on-his-luck driver, with a reputation for eating his passengers, be able to complete the journey?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisAny Which Way You Can (1980)
Philo takes part in a bare knuckle fight – as he does – to make more money than he can earn from his car repair business. He decides to retire, but when the Mafia come along and arrange another fight, he's pushed into it. A motorcycle gang and an orangutan called Clyde all add to the 'fun'.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisSmokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983)
The Enos duo convince Cletus, aka The Bandit, to come out of hiding and help them promote their new restaurant. With a little coaxing, he agrees, producing an almost-creaky Trigger as his mode of transport. But his nemesis, Sheriff Buford T. Justice, is on the hunt, forcing Cletus and Trigger to hit the road. Can they steer clear of the vengeful sheriff?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisRat Race (2001)
In an ensemble film about easy money, greed, manipulation and bad driving, a Las Vegas casino tycoon entertains his wealthiest high rollers -- a group that will bet on anything -- by pitting six ordinary people against each other in a wild dash for $2 million jammed into a locker hundreds of miles away. The tycoon and his wealthy friends monitor each racer's every move to keep track of their favorites. The only rule in this race is that there are no rules.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMoonrunners (1975)
Grady and Bobby Lee run moonshine for Uncle Jesse, who prides himself on his old-school moonshining methods, and refuses to buckle in to the 'big business moonshine' of Jake, who controls these parts for New York mobsters
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
Every Which Way but Loose (1978)
Philo Beddoe is your regular, easygoing, truck-driving guy. He's also the best bar-room brawler west of the Rockies. And he lives with a 165-pound orangutan named Clyde. Like other guys, Philo finally falls in love - with a flighty singer who leads him on a screwball chase across the American Southwest. Nothing's in the way except a motorcycle gang, some cops, and legendary brawler Tank Murdock.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Blues Brothers (1980)
Just released from prison, Jake Blues puts his old band back together with his brother Elwood to save the Catholic home where they were raised.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGrand Theft Auto (1977)
A rich girl steals her dad's Rolls Royce and heads off to Las Vegas to get married. However, her angry parents, a jealous suitor, and a bunch of reward seekers are determined to stop her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisTalladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
The fastest man on four wheels, Ricky Bobby, is one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. A big, hairy American winning machine, Ricky has everything a dimwitted daredevil could want, a luxurious mansion, a smokin' hot wife, and all the fast food he can eat. But Ricky's turbo-charged lifestyle hits an unexpected speed bump when he's bested by flamboyant Euro-idiot Jean Girard and reduced to a fear-ridden wreck.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Great Race (1965)
Professional daredevil and white-suited hero, The Great Leslie, convinces turn-of-the-century auto makers that a race from New York to Paris (westward across America, the Bering Straight and Russia) will help to promote automobile sales. Leslie's arch-rival, the mustached and black-attired Professor Fate vows to beat Leslie to the finish line in a car of Fate's own invention.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWild Hogs (2007)
Restless and ready for an adventure, four suburban bikers leave the safety of their subdivision and head out on the open road. But complications ensue when they cross paths with an intimidating band of New Mexico bikers known as the Del Fuegos.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHonky Tonk Freeway (1981)
Ticlaw, a small town in Florida, has only one attraction: a safari park. The government constructs a freeway that passes near Ticlaw, but decides not to put an exit into the town. The people of Ticlaw, leaded by its Mayor, will do anything in order to convince the governor to alter the project.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Father Hood (1993)
Deadbeat dad kidnaps his kids from the bus to an abusive foster home and they go on a run. The cops are after them, they bicker constantly and his idea of a way out is grim, yet this dangerous ride might just turn them into a family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisCorvette Summer (1978)
Ken loves to design and build exotic cars. When the High School shop class project car, a fully tricked out dream Corvette, is stolen, he begins searching for it. His search leads him to Las Vegas, where Vanessa, a teenaged prostitute wannabe, helps him try to track it down.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisI'm for the Hippopotamus (1979)
In 1950, in Africa. Tom organizes safaris for tourists, secretly equipping them with guns loaded with blanks. When Slim, Tom’s cousin—a sly slacker and staunch environmentalist—arrives, the two men come into conflict with Jack Ormond, a local animal trafficker. A doctor, a friend of the duo, denounces Mr. Ormond’s exploitation of animals in a newspaper, prompting Ormond to send his henchmen to destroy the clinic where the good doctor practices. But at the medical facility, Ormond’s henchmen find Tom and Slim waiting for them, and in the blink of an eye, the two cousins wipe out these thugs in a brawl. Ormond then tries to bribe the two cousins, and when that fails, has them imprisoned for a theft they never committed. After escaping from prison, the two men rush toward Ormond’s ship, beating the merchant’s men to a pulp...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood (2000)
The Duke Boys and company travel to Hollywood to sell some musical recordings in order to raise money to build a new hospital in Hazzard County. However, when their recordings and money are stolen, they wind up on the run from mysterious hitmen, sleazy record producers, Russian gangsters, and vicious loan sharks.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & action
Far Out Man (1990)
An aging hippie sets out on a trip across America to find his family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both action & comedy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Cannonball Run?
The closest matches to The Cannonball Run are Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Cannonball Run II (1984) and The Gumball Rally (1976). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Cannonball Run?
People who watched The Cannonball Run most often go on to Smokey and the Bandit (1977), The Gumball Rally (1976) and Hooper (1978).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Cannonball Run?
The Blues Brothers (1980), rated 7.7/10 by 4,756 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Cannonball Run?
Wild Hogs (2007) is the most recent release on this list.
Is The Cannonball Run part of a series?
Yes. It belongs to Cannonball Run, which includes Cannonball Run II (1984).
Are there English movies like The Cannonball Run?
Yes: Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Cannonball Run II (1984) and The Gumball Rally (1976).
How are movies similar to The Cannonball Run chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Cannonball Run, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.