Goodnight, Captain Chaos

Funnyman Dom DeLuise is dead at 75. To me and my brother he will always be Captain Chaos, the alter ego of his character in The Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II.

Watching the gag reels during the credits of both, but especially the first one, is pure pleasure. He and Burt Reynolds were a funny pair. People forget, and young people might never learn, that Burt Reynolds was funny. More important, he enjoyed being funny and wasn't afraid to show it. I can't think of a current mega-movie star/sex symbol who is as funny and as willing to be, well, silly. I guess Brad Pitt and George Clooney have shown shades of it, most recently in that Coen brothers spy farce.

Of note: Dom was named as "King of Brooklyn" at the Welcome Back to Brooklyn Festival in 1984.

One final point, both Cannonball movies are fun and funny. Just to see that many stars of the day being ridiculous and getting into cross-country madcap hijinx is a treat. Cannonball Run II had Frank Sinatra AND Charles Nelson Reilly. Shirley MacLaine AND Jackie Chan.

No studio budget today could afford to put the comparable talent of today in a movie like that. Why? Because today's stars are image-conscious pussies. And I don't think there's enough blow left. They finished it all off while making the Cannonball Run movies!

Dun dun DUN!