Death Race 2000
Creative, low budget, anything goes independent filmmaking is a lost art form that has gone out of style in recent years with the proliferation of whiny âpersonalâ pieces and boring tripe made by those with not a smidgen of inspiration. A far cry from the glory days of Roger Corman, the genius maverick involved as a producer and / or director on more than 300 films made independently, some good, many bad, but his greatest achievement as a producer was this 1975 masterpiece directed by Paul Bartel with an inspired b movie cast, biting and surprisingly still relevant social and political satire, and an insanely violent yet hilarious tone that packs it all into an economical 79 minute running time that helps it to never wear out its welcome. The story involves a world society where for all intents and purposes (several hints in the dialogue), the much feared New World Order has instilled a one world government with âminority priviledgeâ (billionaires control everything and are untouchable) and complete media manipulation where everything more or less is under the control of a leader known only as âMr. Presidentâ (who begins his addresses with âMy childrenâ and is played off as a messiah figure). In order to âgive the people what they wantâ and satisfy their thirst for violence (as well as maintain population control) he has created a race called The Transcontinental, where five larger than life racers speed across The United States not just to win, but to run down and kill as many pedestrians as possible for point scores (a sure inspiration for Grand Theft Auto and many other video games). Among the racers are Nero The Hero (played by legendary Karate Kid villain Martin Kove), a bumbling boob with a Roman Gladiator gimmick; Matilda The Hun (70s b movie starlet Roberta Collins), a beautiful blue eyed blonde sporting a Nazi attitude and a navigator played by future Love Boat star and Republican Congressman Fred âGopherâ Grandy; Calamity Jane (Cult movie legend and legit beauty Mary Woronov) who claims to be a cowgirl and has an intense rivalry with the Nazi Girl; and the two best of all: Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, the much hated Ultimate Bad Guy of The Death Race World, dressed like a gangster and played to the hilt by none other than a pre Rocky Sylvester Stallone, ranting and raving and hating like never again in his legendary career; and of course, The Legend Himself, Frankenstein, said to have been completely reconstructed by Swiss doctors and played by the also uber legendary David Carradine. And off they go, rampaging across the country and killing everything in sight, all while a very ragtag group of rebels conspire to bring them (and the government) down and we learn some surprising things about Frankenstein while witnessing the sheer brutality of Viterbo. In addition, we get hit with some grand doses of the aforementioned satire, mostly in the verbal exhanges amongst the race announcers which include LA radio legend Don Steele and 60s blonde bimbo actress Joyce Jameson. We also get heavy amounts of the Frankenstein-Viterbo rivalry particularly when it comes to their gorgeous navigators played by Simone Griffith and Louisa Moritz, and a number of surprisingly touching and emotional moments as well, such as the young fangirl who insists on meeting Frankenstein before âofferingâ herself to him on the road. Obviously, we have a lot going on here for a 300K budget, and yet it all holds together brilliantly for a truly warped, anarchic ride that almost seems at times like Cannonball Run on acid and never runs out of steam going into the game changing ending. Overall, one of the greatest cult movies ever produced, a Grand Masterpiece that got it all done perfectly and never compromised what it was trying to say, something we wish a lot of indy guys would have the courage to do todayâŚ
10/10