Death Race 2000

Movie poster.

Immediately after the classic "Kung Fu" TV show was finished, David Carradine set himself to become a decent movie actor rather than being considered the neverending chinese good tempered hero he used to be. So, how about everyone's mind forgetting about the chinese good guy by seeing Mr. Carradine becoming the evil twisted hero of a classic cult creation? 

Deathrace 2000 is the 20th anniversary of the murderous trans-continental road race, or, in the words of the US president "what you all want". 

The ultimate modern America.

You could lose this film in the repertoire of John Carpenter. If you're a Carpenter fan, you really need to see this. Much is made of Corman's production of this film, but this is really not a Corman film in any sense - except for its very obviously low budget. Paul Bartel (of Eating Raoul fame) deserves the directorial credit here, and he really did well given the mediocrity of the material he had to work with, but don't be confused by these statement since this movie did really really well after the low budget they had to work with. The storyline being extremely simple proves to be entertaining from start to finish, and the whole idea of a twisted nation celebrating a road race where racers increase their winning possibilites by running over toddlers, pregnant mothers and the elder in town looks and feels very sound minded these days.

Frankestein, my kind of hero.

The storyline is about a race involving five participants - Frankenstein (Carradine), "Machine Gun" Joe Viterbo (Stallone), Calamity Jane (Woronov), Mathilda the Hunn, and Nero the Hero. They are joined by navigators (race assistants) who double as concubines, which, I suppose, illustrates the trust and intimacy a driver must have with any partner involved in a high speed transcontinental race where the goal is to kill as many pedestrians as possible along the way. About a quarter of the way through the film, you realize the movie is not just about car racing but finding out the real story is about the connection between the US government, religion, mass-produced violence and a small resistance movement, all focused on either supporting or shutting down the race once and for all. As despicable as the empowered elite may be in this film, the critique of the media is even more scathing.

Stallone before becoming Rocky & Rambo.

Carradine is race hero Frankenstein. Stallone plays his arch-rival Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, and an ensemble cast of fellow racers, media mavens, politicians, and willing and unwilling victims of "the great race" lend strong support. The acting is not the greatest of the greatest for  a B movie, but the occasional pacing disaster just enhances the sick humor-value of this flick. 

Stallone is constantly raging looking for a way to get rid of Frankestein and his sidekick  is constantly cheering him up on that matter. Carradine is typically bizarre, and even parodies himself with a few poorly choreographed kung fu techniques during his absurd fight scene with Stallone. As short as he is, Stallone is still a much larger and more fit man than Carradine, but gets handily whooped, probably due to the mechanical right hand  Carradine's supposed to have.

Nazi racers?

Security was N°1 priority for the dressing of each racer.

70's future wardrobe.

The script for this film is a series of well-delivered clichés put together with  choreographed racing action sequences. As such, it parodies tough-guy talk in films and in real life. The photography is excellent, and on par with John Carpenter's straightforward visual subtlety.

Top quality massage for the racers.

This film appears, at first blush, as a comedic celebration of violence. But it's really a very campy comment on the use of violence in sport and entertainment, as a way to distract and desensitize the public from serious issues such as economic stress, collectivist totalitarianism, the enshrinement of mediocrity, and "minority privilege"

These cars & movie inspired the famous PC game Karmageddon.

The political messages are worth hearing, the humor is worth every penny you pay for renting it or buying a copy to your private video library, and watching it for the first time will make enjoy it from start to finish.

In style blood loving journalist from the future.

to finish today's awesome movie review a quote from David Carradine himself explaining why he chose to be Frankenstein:

"I started that picture two weeks after I walked off the 'Kung Fu' set, and that was essentially my image, the 'Kung Fu' character, and a lot of people still believe I'm that guy. The idea actually was: No. 1, if you walk off a television series, you better do a movie right away or you might never get to do one. And the second thing was to do something right away that would create the image of a monster to get rid of the image of that little Chinese guy that I'd been playing for four years. And, you know, it did kick-start my movie career."

A woman's job.

New Mr. President's fast car.

The same instructions manual inspired Karmageddon's game play.

Does my suit turn you on?

Frankenstein's cool car also spotted on the Karmageddon PC game saga.

Not your average race assistant.

And last but not least, the movie trailer from a wonderful experience everyone should check soon:

These film was re-released last year as a part of the Roger Corman's Cult Classics collection now fully transfered to HD in a deluxe Blu-Ray disc, featuring a booklet with plenty of pics, info and an interview with Corman himself, plus a two sided movie cover for your viewing pleasure.

Blu-Ray ultimate edition.

A must have for any fan of drive-in movies, B-movies, exploitation movies (yes, there are tits and hairy twats)

See you on the next movie review which will be about 1977's italian classic "Mad Dog" or originally "La Belva Col Mitra"