History Film / TheGumballRally

* RecycledTheSeries: ''Gumball 3000'' (only not played for laughs, it was a serious rally).

* TheSeventies: It's a period piece, with a significant motivation for the race being a protest against new regulations like the mandatory catalytic converter (which reduces pollution but also restricts the exhaust, lowering performance) and the nationwide 55mph speed limit.

A 1976 American action comedy film directed and co-written by veteran stuntman Charles Bail, about an illegal cross-country road race. The large EnsembleCast includes Michael Sarrazin, Creator/RaulJulia, Tim [=McIntire=], Nicholas Pryor, Normann Burton, and Creator/GaryBusey.

Wealthy but bored businessman Michael Bannon (Sarrazin) issues the code word "Gumball" to his fellow automobile enthusiasts, who gather in a garage in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity to embark on a coast-to-coast road race "with no catalytic converter and no 55-mile-per-hour speed limit." Their nemesis, LAPD lieutenant Roscoe (Burton), also learns of the race and most of the film is devoted to the adventures of the various driving teams and Roscoe's ineffectual attempts to apprehend them. HilarityEnsues.

A 1976 American action-comedy film, directed and co-written by veteran stuntman Charles Bail, about an illegal cross-country road race. Its large EnsembleCast includes Michael Sarrazin, Creator/RaulJulia, Tim [=McIntire=], Nicholas Pryor, Normann Burton, and Creator/GaryBusey.

Wealthy but bored businessman Michael Bannon (Sarrazin) issues the code word "Gumball" to his fellow automobile enthusiasts, who gather in a garage in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity to embark on a coast-to-coast race "with no catalytic converter and no 55-mile-per-hour speed limit." Their nemesis, LAPD lieutenant Roscoe (Burton), also learns of the race and most of the film is devoted to the adventures of the various driving teams and Roscoe's ineffectual attempts to apprehend them. HilarityEnsues.

* WalkingSwimsuitScene: Angie spends the whole movie wearing an American flag bikini top.

* ArtisticLicenseCars: Lapchik rides a Kawasaki KH400, but for most of the movie it sounds like a dinky 50cc scoot, possibly for comedic effect.

* JusticeByOtherLegalMeans: Roscoe is completely unable to stop the race and gets quite the HumiliationConga from trying, but he gets a ([[HereWeGoAgain temporal]]) last laugh by asking the rules in the Queen Mary parking lot to be changed so he will have all of the cars towed while everybody's celebrating.

* WetBlanketWife: Jose's girlfriend Angie spends the whole film whining that she didn't wanted to be part of the race and nagging Jose about going back to New York/just stop the car so she can get off and go back on her own even if she is in the literal middle of the country (and at one point makes him lose control of the Rolls-Royce by giving him a DopeSlap, which causes a multiple-car pile-up).

* SuddenlySpeaking: Lapchick was TheVoiceless until the very end, as he loses control of his bike (again) and plunges into the water alongside the ''Queen Mary'':

* ArtisticLicenseCars: Lapchik rides a Kawasaki KH400, but for most of the movie sounds like a dinky 50cc scoot, possibly for comedic effect.

-->'''Gibson''': Dammit, man, can't you take a joke?

** Bannon calls Smith a "schemer" early in the film, and it shows. He hired one of the best race drivers in the world, his support crew, and pre-arranged refueling and maintenance stops alonside his racing route, including one inside of a rolling truck that helps them also get across a roadblock. The biggest obstacle to his victory is not having the entire police force of the country out to get him, but his driver being an impulsive horn-dog.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: The 911 Porsche team unfortunately makes it to the finish line at night because they were pulled over in Los Angeles by a pair of highway patrolmen that wanted to flirt with them.

* SuddenlyVoiced: Lapchick at the very end, as he loses control of his bike (again) and plunges into the water alongside the ''Queen Mary'':

* TheVoiceless: Lapchick, the "Mad Hungarian," who becomes SuddenlyVoiced as the film's very last gag.

** The Porsche 911 team also are this: they spend a big part of their screen time talking about being ready for the race in such ways as checking out in a computer (in TheSeventies!) traffic and weather conditions, check that they know the CB lingo, and such. The Porsche's engine blows out somewhere in New Mexico and must accept the help of a pair of good ol' boys that were chasing them because they flirted with them, and one of the girls gets a quick bout of LoveAtFirstSight and [[MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces has sex with the guy in the field as the car's being fixed]].

* TemptingFate: The Porsche team flirts with a pair of cowboys in New Mexico and race off with them in pursuit, saying that if they can catch them, they can have them. A few minutes later, the Porsche's engine blows out, letting the cowboys catch up to them. The cowboys are nice enough guys to help fix the car, and one of the girls gets LoveAtFirstSight and has sex with one of them in the meanwhile.

* CrazyPrepared: Bannon calls Smith a "schemer" early in the film, and it shows. He hired one of the best race drivers in the world, his support crew, and pre-arranged refueling and maintenance stops alonside his racing route, including one inside of a rolling truck that helps them also get across a roadblock. The biggest obstacle to his victory is not having the entire police force of the country out to get him, but his driver being an impulsive horn-dog.

* RhethoricalQuestionBlunder: After Roscoe is humiliated in front of the biggest bunch of cops he wrangled to create a roadblock (because Bannon and Smith, the two men that Roscoe ''really'' wants to arrest, got past it [[LawfulStupid by driving at exactly fifty-five MPH]]), he pitifully looks [[HeavenAbove up at the sky]] and asks "[[ButtMonkey why me?]]"

* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: Kandinsky and Avila (the Dodge Polara team) disguises their car and themselves as policemen from every state they pass in order to keep the cops away. For further irony, they are actual cops (from L.A.) At one point, the both of them discuss the pros and cons of this idea by pointing out that a police car roaring down the street with lights on parts traffic "like Moses at the Red Sea", but if any cops catch them there is going to be a gigantic shit-storm falling on their heads. The cop that pulls them over even accuses them of doing this with these exact words.

* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: Kandinsky and Avila (the Dodge Polara team) disguises their car and themselves as policemen from every state they pass in order to keep the cops away. For further irony, they are actual cops (from L.A.) At one point, the both of them discuss the pros and cons of this idea by pointing out that a police car roaring down the street with lights on parts traffic "like Moses at the Red Sea", but if any cops catch them there is going to be a gigantic shit-storm falling on their heads.

* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: Kandinsky and Avila (the Buick Skyhawk team) disguises their car and themselves as policemen from every state they pass in order to keep the cops away. For further irony, they are actual cops (from L.A.) At one point, the both of them discuss the pros and cons of this idea by pointing out that a police car roaring down the street with lights on parts traffic "like Moses at the Red Sea", but if any cops catch them there is going to be a gigantic shit-storm falling on their heads.
* ImposterForgotOneDetail: Kandinsky and Avila's plan to disguise themselves and their patrol car to look like the police of every state they pass hits a snag when an Arizona patrolman notices that the car they are using (a Buick Skyhawk) is not the one the Arizona police uses (Dodge Polaras) and pulls them over. They end up [[BavarianFireDrill having to pretend on the fly]] that they are part of a film crew to avoid being arrested.

¨ActuallyPrettyFunny: Gibson finds pretty funny when the cop team makes them pull over so they can drive past at one point. Preston is pretty damn angry that it happened, though.