Some movies I know by their reputation. That’s enough in many ways. I mean, what more do I really need to know about Death Race 2000? I knew it involved a road race where the drivers earn points for running over pedestrians. I also knew that it came from producer Roger Corman, so it probably had a budget of about a hundred bucks and whatever loose change Corman found between his couch cushions. I also knew it was supposed to be a fairly fun movie.
Then I found it on Tubi.
Set in a dystopian version of America, the country is now a dictatorship under the leadership of Mr. President (Sandy McCallum). After an economic collapse, he took control of the nation but is rarely seen in public, preferring to spend time in the Presidential mansion in Beijing. Once a year, there’s a road race. It goes from coast to coast. Drivers not only need to get to the opposite coast first, but they also gain points by running over pedestrians. Some people, like children and the elderly, are worth more points than others. Each car has a driver and a navigator since the car can take any route they choose to in order to get to the coast first so long as they stop at certain points along the way. The end of the race features the only time of year when Mr. President comes out in public, all in order to congratulate the winner. The driver with the most wins is a man known only as Frankenstein (David Carradine) due to his frequent surgeries to replace damaged parts and what looks like a heavily scarred face underneath the mask he wears.
As for the other drivers, that would be the mobster-themed Machine Gun Joe (Sylvester Stallone in a rare villain role) who is tired to losing to Frankenstein, Wild West-themed Calamity Jane Kelly (Mary Woronov), Nazi-themed Matilda the Hun (Roberta Collins), and the vain Roman Empire-themed Nero the Hero (Martin Kove). But there’s a twist: a rebel group is looking to end the race and Mr. President. Led by Thomasina Paine (Harriet Medin), the rebels have a secret weapon in the form of Frankenstein’s new navigator Annie Smith (Simone Griffeth), who just so happens to be Paine’s great-granddaughter. However, Frankenstein is more than he appears to be, especially considering the targets he selects when he does opt to run people over. He has a plan of his own, and he might be more benevolent than he appears to be.
Director Paul Bartel seems to have put together a fun film even if it is obviously on a limited budget. Crowds are generally stock footage that are no where near a match for the actual scenes filmed for the movie around the racetrack. The rebels’ death traps have a certain Roadrunner cartoon quality to them, and the movie posits what kind of people would live in a place where this is the most popular sporting event of the year. The cars, decked out with blades that don’t look particularly sharp, are cool to look at, and the obviously fake blood flows aplenty while TV announcers discuss the rules and the strategy as if the race wasn’t killing people along the way, including one woman reporter, a Barbara Walters type who refers to every interview subject as a “dear friend of mine”. And despite the fact the blood flows quite obviously, and given Corman’s reputation, any instance of nudity is pixelated out, suggesting this was all on TV where violence is OK but naked people aren’t.
Death Race 2000 is not a subtle movie. It isn’t a big budget movie. And it isn’t a particularly long movie. But it doesn’t overstay its welcome, everyone involved looks like they’re having fun, and it’s probably making a point about violence-as-entertainment and how people can get distracted from what’s really important in life. Meanwhile, the movie seems to be predicting reality television and a host of other things that have since come to pass in the world of sports and entertainment. Or I could just say this was a ton of fun and leave it at that.
Grade: B+
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