Dom DeLuise as Captain Chaos (from Cannonball Run)
"Dunnt dunt DU-UH-UHHHHNNN!-- I... am Captain Chaos!"
(~Victor Prinzim, in his initial appearance as Captain Chaos in Cannonball Run)
Captain Chaos is a character and self-styled superhero from the 1981 film The Cannonball Run and its 1984 sequel Cannonball Run II. He is portrayed by comedic actor Dom DeLuise.
Captain Chaos is the not-so-secret identity of cowardly mechanic Victor Prinzim. Though psychiatrists have diagnosed Victor as having dissociative identity disorder, Victor himself is convinced that he channels the spirit of an actual living superhero who arrives just in the nick of time to save the day.
Author David Quinlan wrote of Cannonball Run in The TV Times Film and Video Guide, stating that "the best thing in the film is Dom DeLuise who, as the schizophrenic Victor, turns moments of stress into tubby superhero Captain Chaos!"
The character[]
Captain Chaos is the alter ego of Victor Prinzim, a wimpish mechanic who works for racecar driver J.J. McClure (played by Burt Reynolds). When situations arise that Victor himself feels he cannot handle, he is compelled to don his satin cape and cowl and turns into the heroic Captain Chaos. After his transformation, he speaks in a slightly lower vocal register with basso profondo inflections similar to that of a typical animated superhero. His appearance is often prefaced by his vocal fanfare, "Dunnt dunt DU-UH-UHHHHNNN!", to approximate Chaos' theme music.
The costume, which Victor puts on over whatever he happens to be wearing at the time, is a kitschy long-flowing orange satin cape and matching cowl with an attached black domino mask, and the word "CHAOS" written in white across the cowl's forehead; in the sequel film the cape and cowl are more reddish-orange. Added to which, while he wore only a mustache in the first film, Victor/Chaos had a full beard in the sequel.
Origin[]
In the first film, when Pamela (Farrah Fawcett) asks how he came to know Captain Chaos, Victor explains:
"When I was real young, I didn't have any friends like I do now, like J.J. and... like J.J. One day I was in the schoolyard, nine guys were beating me up pretty good, and there he was- 'Dunnt-dunt-DUUUHNNN!'- Out of the blue! Pow! Slam! Bam! Boff! I sure was grateful. And nobody bothered me at school after that."
Role in Cannonball Run[]
Most people who meet Victor are somewhat bewildered at the eventual emergence of his valiant counterpart, whose courage greatly contrasts with Victor's milquetoast personality. Though Captain Chaos is revered by others, he is seen as an annoyance to J.J; consequently, Victor is expressly forbidden to utter the name of Captain Chaos in J.J.'s presence, hence the reason he cautiously refers to the hero simply as "...Him." (usually followed by a twinge of magical music).
Near the beginning of the first film, Victor makes mention of "...Him", but audiences are briefly left wondering to whom Victor refers. Later, after J.J. crashes their test race car at a police road block and one of the officers asks, "Who do you think you are?!", Victor dynamically emerges from the passenger side door, replete in cape and cowl, and introduces himself as "Captain Chaos", while J.J. (whom he refers to as his "faithful companion, Kato") sits humiliated in the driver's seat.
During the race, Chaos shows up again at a temporary road construction closure when the racers, particularly corporate mogul Brad Compton (Bert Convy), are manhandled by a biker gang (led by Peter Fonda). Chaos immediately jumps in the middle of the melee and then rescues Lamborghini racers Marcie and Jill (Adrienne Barbeau, Tara Buckman) as they were about to be abducted. Having dispatched the bikers- and with the road reopening, the racers all make their way back to their cars, with Captain Chaos taking off his cape and cowl, reverting back to Victor.
The race goes into the home stretch with the other racers passing the fainthearted Victor who was behind the wheel, but he again becomes Captain Chaos and easily retakes the lead, but then the entire field is stopped just short of the wire due to a near-accident, and the last few yards of the race have to be finished on foot, so J.J. gives the time card to Captain Chaos, who is just steps away from the finish when he hears a woman crying for help. As Chaos cannot resist helping someone in need, he runs off to the aid of the woman (who lost her dog) and loses the race to Marcie and Jill. J.J. angrily rips the cape and cowl off of Victor's person and shouts that he doesn't want to see Captain Chaos ever again. But Victor then immediately dons a new costume saying, "I've always wanted to be... Captain U.S.A.!", now sporting a blue star-spangled cape and cowl with "USA" embroidered upon the forehead. (An outtake shown in the closing credits shows the original take would have him calling himself Captain America - a name that presumably would have been vetoed by Marvel Comics, owners of the name.)
In the sequel film, Cannonball Run II, J.J. is more tolerant of Captain Chaos, seeing his value, especially when he shows up during a fight with the Mafia.
Abilities[]
Captain Chaos' "powers" include:
- Increased strength and endurance - fueled by rushes of adrenaline when Victor feels threatened
- Fearlessness - Captain Chaos will instantly dive into a fray of any size, effortlessly subduing any and all opponents, and then stand with arms akimbo, laughing in hearty triumph amidst his defeated enemies.
- Expert driving skills - known at least to veteran racer and fellow Cannonball opponent Jamie Blake (Dean Martin), who derisively refers to Victor as "The Blimp", but then warns his partner Morris Fenderbaum (Sammy Davis Jr.), "...when he puts on that mask, he'll blow your goddamn doors off!"
Gallery[]
