Death race 2000 car
Mysterious hero Frankenstein (David Carradine) is the government’s champion and a national icon. The big score, however, is anyone over 75, worth a big 100 points.įive racers take part in the rally, each with a navigator/sex partner, and a car that matches their ideology. The scoring system is easy to follow: women are worth 10 points more than men in all age brackets, teenagers are worth 40 points, toddlers under 12 are worth 70. The citizens are kept satisfied through gory gladiatorial games like the Transcontinental Road Race, a three-day, coast-to-coast murder rally where points are scored not just for speed but for the number of pedestrians killed. The deadly car bodies were designed by Dean Jeffries (who also customized the "Monkeemobile") and fitted onto Volkswagen chassis, and Bartel's ingenious use of a meager budget epitomized the Corman aesthetic, reaping impressive box-office profits on its way to becoming one of the most beloved cult classics of all time.In the future, a fascist regime run by Mr President (Sandy McCallum) holds power over the population. Strangelove and gave the material a satirical spin, resulting in non-graphic road-kills that are more hilarious than horrific, especially with the play-by-play race commentary by legendary disc jockey "The Real Don Steele," whose priceless performance (along with Carradine's deadpan drollery) turns Death Race 2000 into a low-comedy classic. Although it originated as a serious short story by Ib Melchior (best known as the writer-director of The Angry Red Planet), Corman took a cue from Dr. Filmed for $300,000 on desert-road and freeway locations throughout California's San Fernando Valley, Death Race 2000 packs more entertainment into 78 minutes than most movies can muster in two hours or more. Liberally infused with director Paul Bartel's macabre sense of humor, Corman's mandatory formula for success (R-rated violence and nudity, served up at least once every 15 minutes) is zanily applied to a near-future scenario (similar to Rollerball, also released in 1975) in which a fascist empire appeases its oppressed citizens with "Death Race 2000," an automotive spectacle in which five costumed racers drive wacky race cars cross-country from New York to "New Los Angeles," scoring points with hit-and-run killings awarded on a sliding scale, with highest points for hitting children and the elderly! In addition to "Calamity Jane" (played by former Andy Warhol acolyte Mary Woronov), "Matilda the Hun" (Roberta Collins), and "Nero the Hero" (Martin Kove), the hottest contestants are "Machine Gun" Joe Viturbo (Sylvester Stallone, on the verge of Rocky stardom) and the reigning champion "Frankenstein" (David Carradine), whose "Death Race" prowess has reached near-mythic proportions. A crown jewel in the career of B-movie king Roger Corman, it's a sublime example of exploitative filmmaking from a time when Corman's low-budget quickies were about to be swept aside by the blockbuster success of Jaws and Star Wars, and all of its outrageous ingredients combined to create a schlock-movie masterpiece. No doubt about it, Death Race 2000 is one of the greatest B-movies ever made.