Death Race 2000

Did you ever drive down the road, see someone walking along the side, and say to a passenger, "how many points do I get if I hit him/her?" Did you ever wonder where that particular sentiment came from? Perhaps Death Race 2000 will provide some answers.

The film is set in a future America (as conceived of 20 years ago that is), where our status as a world power is reduced, and the country is ruled by a dictator who doesn't even stay in this country, but rules from somewhere else. The story concerns the annual Trans-continental Road Race, where reaching the finish line first is not as important as scoring 'points' along the way (the dialog early in the film gives the breakdown as far as scoring goes). The racers are: Nero The Hero, Mathilda the Hun, Calamity Jane, Machinegun Joe Viturbo, and Frankenstein. They start at one end of the country, with stops at St. Louis, and Arizona, and end up at New Los Angeles. But, a small group of rebels, in an attempt to end the carnage, plot to sabotage the race. Their first victim is Nero the Hero, whom they simply blow up. They then break into the race broadcast and announce their demands. The government denies it even happened, and the race goes on. At the first stop in St. Louis, we find that Frankenstein is not what the government says he is. Supposedly, whenever Franky was in one of the frequent pile ups, he was repaired and rebuilt in time for the next race. In reality, the government secretly bred, raised and trained drivers to replace each Franky when he died. This one doesn't want to end up like his predecessors. Franky wants to win the race, because he wants to kill Mr. President, and only the winner can get close enough to do that (the weapon he plans to use has to be one of the all time bad puns in cinematic history). Unfortunately for him, the rebels want to kidnap him, thinking that they can use him as a bargaining chip for the abolishment of the race. They kill another driver (Mathilda the Hun) by tricking her into driving off a cliff. Then they make their first attempt at nabbing Franky. They almost succeed, mainly because Franky's navigator Annie is on their side. Then they get Calamity Jane to run over a land mine, and try for Franky again. They fail again, and Mr. President goes on TV and blames the whole mess on The French. Franky let's Annie in on his plan, which has to change after they use his secret weapon to get rid of Machine Gun Joe. People get squashed, blown-up, skewered, gored, splattered, and decapitated before the conclusion of the film, where the hero & heroine live happily ever after.

The film stars David Carradine (of Kung Fu fame) as Frankenstein, Simone Griffeth (if anyone has ever seen that name pop up elsewhere I'd like to know) as Annie, his navigator and granddaughter of the rebel leader, and Sylvester Stallone (who hadn't heard of Rocky yet, and probably needed the work) as Machine Gun Joe. A few other people you might of heard of include the former congressman from Iowa, Fred Grandy (Love Boat's lovable Gopher) as Mathilda's navigator Hermann the Germann, Mary Woronov (also the good mad scientist in Night Of The Comet) as Calamity Jane, and in a brief shot as a mechanic, John Landis (director of An American Werewolf in London and Animal House).

Death Race 2000 is not a perfect movie by any means; the effects are the ultimate in cheesy, the race cars are downright silly (VW Beetle kit cars), and the acting is downright wooden in places (although sometimes it works, as in the case of the senior announcer). Even more annoying is the quality (or lack thereof) of the video transfer. Rental stores may have the studio release of the film available, but if you buy it, you'll probably be stuck with an EP recorded cheapie release (my copy has one scene recorded twice, like a skip in an old phonograph record) But then again, this was a 'B' movie (you know, the film at the drive-in where you and your significant other would be too busy in the back seat to care about the film), and when taken as such, proves to be a good example of the genre. Besides, Death Race 2000 was taking a satirical look at America's obsessive love with violence 20 years before Quentin Tarrantino and Oliver Stone brought us Natural Born Killers, and it is a good way to kill an hour or so.