Death Race 2000 (1975)

2008's Death Race starring Jason Statham came and went without much care, but you might be interested to know, and undoubtedly not too surprised to discover, that it was actually a remake to a little classic called Death Race 2000, starring none other than David Carradine and a very young Sylvester Stallone. It's one B-movie that appears to receive love from viewers and surprisingly critics as well, is it corny? Completely. But highly entertaining as well, if senseless comedic hit and runs strike your fancy.

It's the year 2000 and the United States of America is now under dictator rule by the current President whose been serving for twenty years. The people no longer have a say in how they live or what they do and the blame for the decline of the economy is placed on the Europeans, specifically the French. As the President places holds on the people and institutes laws that support the minority, he like the ancient Romans has discovered a way of disillusioning the people, distracting them from their misery, violence!

Much like the Roman Gladiator games, the institution of Transcontinental Road Race provides pleasure to the masses as a sport bent on killing innocent people. Unlike any normal race the winner is not only determined by who finishes first but who scores the most points, and points are gained by hitting pedestrians, with the highest points going those who take out toddlers, children and old people!

The favorite of the race is Frankenstein (David Carradine) a man who has supposedly been put back together so many times from the disasters of previous races that it is a miracle he's still alive. Pitted against his archenemy Machine Gun Joe Viterbo (Sylvester Stallone) the two rivals will stop at nothing to win, or kill each other. But there's a special twist to this years race, this time the drivers themselves are targets, as a group of rebels are determined to sabotage the race and capture Frankenstein in hopes of forcing the President to return America's civil liberties. To assist in doing this the rebels have planted a spy in the midst of the race, the navigator for Frankenstein, who is none other than the grand daughter of the rebel leader.

Recently searching through the depths of the B-movie morgues I finally stumbled upon another bad movie worth watching, and this one has actually received high scores on IMDb.com compared to most B-movies! The film is produced by Roger Corman, who if you aren't familiar with is practically known as the present day Ed Wood, producing and directing bad movies since 1954; visit his IMDb.com page and be amazed. Corman has a knack for making bad films enjoyable through humor, a prime example of this is Creature from the Haunted Sea, which is a horribly written, terribly low budget film that I thoroughly found myself enjoying, Death Race 2000 is really no less.

Amazingly there are some shocking political similarities in this film that are not too far out. Cramming laws down people throats, passing insane legislation that protects and rewards the minority, and blaming economic climates on others instead of taking the responsibility for how it's currently being handled... sound familiar? Well lets just say we better not walk the streets alone or we better start driving incredibly fast vehicles if bloodsports suddenly appear in our cities; I've got a Bullitt so I'll be ready!

But aside from some rather eerie political similarities Dead Race 2000 does offer a bizarre 84 minutes of entertainment. Bizarre in the sense that the film makes senseless hit and runs enjoyable, even humorous. But again it's the classic weaving of an outlandish story, mixed with bizarre characters, and a strange satirical and sadistic humor that makes Death Race 2000 worth watching. And lets not forget the cast of David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone and the lovely Simone Griffeth, who only make this film that much cheesier and brilliant. Carradine is perfect as the mysterious, emotionless role of Frankenstein, and Stallone plays the meat-head gangster brilliantly. As for Simone Griffeth I'm surprised she didn't go on to do more films, only TV bit parts, aside from being beautiful she's not that bad of an actress. Overall, if your looking for an entertaining popcorn flick, Death Race 2000 is worth a look, besides watching David Carradine beat the crap out of Sylvester Stallone pretty much makes this film worth watching alone.

8/10