An assortment of people gather at a countryside inn in preparation for the infamous "Cannonball Run", an illegal three-day cross-country race from Washington, D.C. to Santa Monica where the winner and five runners-up will receive $1 million. However, the hot-headed Washington Chief of Police, Spiro T. Edsel, along with his long-suffering sidekick Whitman, arrest all of the drivers to prevent the race from happening. As a result, sponsors must find replacement drivers by the next day. Leo Ross, seeing that his old school rival, Charlie Cronan, has driving skills while working as a parking valet, bullies him into driving his BMW. Ross also persuades Charlie to bring along Tiffany, a dimwitted Marilyn Monroe-esque actress. Vic DeRubis is a hitman-for-hire sent to kill Alec Stewart, an English deadbeat and compulsive gambler who has squandered money that he borrowed from loan sharks. Alec convinces Vic to ride with him, hoping to win the Cannonball Run and pay off the various mobsters. They team up in a Jaguar XJS. Lea Roberts and Margaret take over a Ferrari Daytona Spyder after the driver they are trying to woo is arrested. MIT graduates into electronics and gadgets, they are tempted by the prize money and the challenge. When the driver of the Lamborghini is arrested, a skittish Italian porter, Valentino Rosatti is forced to drive it by Flash, a former policeman who wants the money for his own reasons. Nelson and Randolph Van Sloan, two millionaires and the only drivers not arrested in the police sweep, enter in a Bentley Corniche convertible. They spend most of their time trying to secretly catch a flight to Los Angeles in order to win by cheating. Following the race are a pair of television reporters, Heather Scott and Jack O'Neill, who get so caught up in the action that they decide to race their Ford news van. In hot pursuit is Edsel, who grows increasingly insane in his unsuccessful efforts to stop the racers. Edsel and his men manage to arrest Vic and Alec, who quickly escape and steal the police car. Edsel and Whitman chase after them in their Jaguar. At the race conclusion, Edsel and Whitman themselves win the Cannonball Run by driving the Jaguar across the finish line at Santa Monica Pier first – saving Alec, because as he points out to Vic; the winner is the car, not the driver – followed by Vic and Alec in their stolen police car. Charlie and Tiffany driving the BMW finish third, Lee and Margaret fourth, Heather and Jack fifth, Flash and Valentino sixth, with the Van Sloan brothers coming in last while riding on roller skis. The ending credits features the cast playfully driving bumper cars.
The film received negative reviews from critics and was nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture and Worst Director, with Brooke Shields winning Worst Supporting Actress. The very brief cameo by Shields has her playing herself, saying that she hopes not to end up "doing bit parts in movies". Chicago film criticRoger Ebert gave the film zero stars in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, stating: Ebert's colleague Gene Siskel also gave a harsh review to this film - he said "it is an atrocious excuse for entertainment. If I have a pet peeve about movies is that they are so that don't even try to be good. That's Speed Zone." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale.
Home media
The film was released in North America on VHS in 1990 by Media Home Entertainment. It was also issued on laserdisc by Image Entertainment for American and Canadian markets in 1990. In Japan, the film was released on laserdisc by Towa-Pioneer and packaged as The Cannonball Run III: Speed Zone. The Japanese disc release did not feature an on-screen credit "The Cannonball Run III", but carried the same "Speed Zone" on-screen credit as found in the North American release.
