Death Race 2000

For the 1999 album by the Dayglo Abortions, see Death Race 2000 (album).

For the 2008 remake, see Death Race (film).

Death Race 2000
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Paul Bartel
Produced by	Roger Corman Jim Weatherill
Screenplay by	Robert Thom Charles Griffith
Based on	The Racer by Ib Melchior
Starring	David Carradine Simone Griffeth Sylvester Stallone Sandy McCallum Louisa Moritz Don Steele
Music by	Paul Chihara
Cinematography	Tak Fujimoto
Editing by	Tina Hirsch
Distributed by	New World Pictures
Release date(s)	April 27, 1975 (1975-04-27)
Running time	79 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$300,000[1]

Death Race 2000 is a 1975 cult action film directed by Paul Bartel, and starring David Carradine, Simone Griffeth and Sylvester Stallone. The film takes place in a dystopian American society in the year 2000, where the murderous Transcontinental Road Race has become a form of national entertainment. The screenplay is based on the short story The Racer by Ib Melchior.^[2]

Plot

In the year 2000, the United States has been destroyed by a financial crisis and a military coup. Political parties have collapsed into a single Bipartisan Party, which also fulfills the religious functions of a unified church and state. The resulting fascist police state, the United Provinces, is headed by the cult figure "Mr. President" (Sandy McCallum). The people are kept satisfied through a stream of gory gladiatorial entertainment, which includes the bloody spectacle of the Annual Transcontinental Road Race, depicted as a symbol of American values and way of life. The coast-to-coast, three-day race is run on public roads, and points are scored not just for speed, but for the number of innocent pedestrians struck and killed.

Frankenstein (David Carradine) is the most celebrated racer and is the government's champion. He is reputed to be part machine, rebuilt after many crashes. He regularly battles with the other teams, particularly "Machine Gun" Joe Viterbo (Sylvester Stallone), who hates being second.

The film is set at the start of the 20th annual race, during which a resistance group led by Thomasina Paine (Harriet Medin), a lineal descendant of Thomas Paine, one of the original American revolutionaries of the 1770s, is attempting to assassinate Frankenstein and replace him with one of their agents. The "Resistance" is assisted by Paine's great granddaughter Annie (Simone Griffeth), Frankenstein's navigator, who is intending to lure him into a planned ambush where he is to be replaced by a double. Disruption of the race by the Resistance is blamed on the French by the state, who are also blamed for ruining the country's economy and telephone system.

It emerges that Frankenstein is not a willing government stooge, nor is there a single Frankenstein. The current Frankenstein is simply one of many people specially trained to race in the role. "When one is used up, they bring in another," he tells Annie. The current Frankenstein also has his own plan to end the tyranny: win the race and shake hands with Mr. President, detonating a grenade which has been implanted in his prosthetic right hand (he refers to it as a "hand grenade".)

Frankenstein successfully outmaneuvers both the rival drivers and the Resistance, and is declared the winner and sole survivor, although he is wounded and unable to carry out his original grenade attack plan (with Annie using the grenade to kill Joe Viterbo when he attacks them near the end of the race). Annie dons Frankenstein's disguise and plans to stab the President on the victory podium. Greeting the president as he congratulates Frankenstein (and declares war on the French), Annie is mistakenly shot and wounded by her grandmother. Frankenstein finally succeeds in killing the President by ramming the podium with his car.

In an epilogue, Annie and Frankenstein are wed, and Frankenstein, now President, abolishes the race and the perverse laws of the Provinces, though he does make a point of running over objecting (and objectionable) reporter Junior Bruce (Don Steele).

Cast

• David Carradine as Frankenstein
• Simone Griffeth as Annie Smith
• Sylvester Stallone as "Machine-Gun" Joe Viterbo
• Sandy McCallum as "Mr. President"
• Louisa Moritz as Myra
• Don Steele as Junior Bruce
• Mary Woronov as "Calamity" Jane Kelly
• Roberta Collins as Matilda the Hun
• Martin Kove as Nero the Hero
• Joyce Jameson as Grace Pander

Cars and Aircraft

The cars in the Transcontinental Road Race each have a specific theme. Each contestant represents the fantasy of a reckless driver.

• Nero the Hero - Roman. The car (a modified Fiat 850 Spider) resembles a lion complete with teeth (the historical Nero enjoyed throwing his enemies to the lions). Nero is the first to be destroyed when he runs over a booby-trapped doll planted by the Resistance, which he mistakes for a real baby. His Navigator is named after Cleopatra.^[3]
• Matilda the Hun - Nazi. The car (a modified VW Karmann-Ghia) resembles a V-1 flying bomb and has what appears to be a pulse jet engine. Her car is destroyed after driving off a cliff due to a fake detour set up by the Resistance. She is the second to die in the race. Her navigator is named "Herman the German' Boch^[4]
• Calamity Jane - Cowgirl. The car resembles a bull and runs over a matador early in the film. She is lured to a junkyard and blown up by the Resistance. Her navigator is named Pete; Pete is run over by Matilda while fixing Calamity's car.
• Machine Gun Joe Viterbo - Gangster. The car resembles a black Cadillac, has a knife and (non-working) machine guns mounted on the front. Joe is the last to die (killed by Frankenstein's grenade).^[5]
• Frankenstein - American. His car (a Shala Vette by Dick Dean, also known as "Gator's Car") resembles a monster with red eyes, scales and teeth. He is the only one who survives the race.^[6]

Many of the cars were re-bodied VWs and a few were sold after the film to museums for more than it cost to make them, according to Roger Corman.

The aircraft seen in the latter part of the film is a Rutan VariViggen.

Reception

Roger Ebert gave the film zero stars in his review, deriding it as being in "poor taste, unnecessarily gratuitous in both nudity and violence."^[7]

The film, however, has long been regarded as a cult hit,^[2] and was often viewed as superior to Rollerball, made in the same year; another dystopian science fiction sports film, similarly focusing on the use of sports as an "opiate".^[2]

Home media

Shout! Factory released a Deluxe Edition DVD and Blu-ray on June 22, 2010 in region 1.^[8]

Previous editions were released on DVD and VHS by Buena Vista Home Entertainment and New Concorde, among others.^[9]

Legacy

Comic book series

A sequel comic book entitled Death Race 2020 was published in 1995 by Roger Corman's short-lived Cosmic Comics imprint. It was written by Pat Mills of 2000 AD fame, with art by Kevin O'Neill. The pair had already worked together on several comics including Marshal Law. The comic book, as the title indicates, took place 20 years after the film and dealt with Frankenstein's return to the race. New racer characters introduced included Von Dutch, The Alcoholic, Happy the Clown, Steppenwolf, Rick Rhesus, and Harry Carrie.

The comic book series lasted eight issues.

Remake

Paul W. S. Anderson directed a remake entitled Death Race, which was released August 22, 2008, starring Jason Statham. The prequel began production in late August 2007.^[10] Besides Statham, this new version also stars Ian McShane, Joan Allen, and Tyrese Gibson.^[11] It also includes a cameo (by voice-over) of David Carradine reprising his role as Frankenstein. A direct-to-DVD prequel titled Death Race 2 starring Luke Goss, Ving Rhames, Tanit Phoenix and Danny Trejo was released on January 18, 2011

Other references

• The 1982 video game Maze Death Race for Sinclair ZX81 computers (and 1983 for Sinclair ZX Spectrum computers) resembles the film by its cover artwork and title, and car-driving content.^[12]
• The Carmageddon video game series (Carmageddon, Carmageddon 2: Carpocalypse Now and Carmageddon 3: TDR 2000) all borrow heavily from the plot, characters and car designs in the film.
• Deathtrack was another video game based around car combat. In it, you traveled across the country, blowing up other cars. The obvious similarities between the game and this film suggest that the game was inspired by it.
• In the beginning of the song Isle of Dead by Buckethead, a short excerpt from the movie can be heard.

See also

• The Cars That Ate Paris
• Rollerball (1975 film)
• The Running Man
• The Road Warrior

Video games

• Death Race (1976 game)
• Roadwar 2000
• Carmageddon
• Death Rally

References

1. ^ "Death Race 2000 - The Numbers". The Numbers. http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1975/0DR2K.php. Retrieved 2011-07-24. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Brosnan, John; Nichols, Peter (1998). "Death Race 2000". In Clute, John; Nichols, Peter. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2nd Edition ed.). Orbit. 
3. ^ http://www.horrorphile.net/death-race-2000/
4. ^ "Lessons of Darkness: Death Race 2000 (1975): B". Nickschager.com. 2008-08-25. http://www.nickschager.com/nsfp/2008/08/death-race-2000.html. Retrieved 2011-03-21. 
5. ^ "Death Race 2000 (1975) - The Bad Movie Report". Stomptokyo.com. 1998-03-22. http://www.stomptokyo.com/badmoviereport/reviews/D/deathrace.html. Retrieved 2011-03-21. 
6. ^ "Death Race 2000 Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/death_race_2000/. Retrieved 2011-03-21. 
7. ^ "Roger Ebert's review". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19750427/REVIEWS/808259998/1023. Retrieved 2011-03-21. 
8. ^ Creepy, Uncle (2010-04-01). "The Original Death Race Gets the Deluxe Blu-ray and DVD Treatment and More Corman Classics to Come!". Dreadcentral.com. http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/36732/the-original-death-race-gets-deluxe-blu-ray-and-dvd-treatment-and-more-corman-classics-co. Retrieved 2011-03-21. 
9. ^ "DVD releases for: Death Race 2000". allmovie.com. http://www.allmovie.com/dvd/releases/death-race-2000-12891. Retrieved 31 July 2010. 
10. ^ Graser, Marc; Garrett, Diane (2007-06-01). "Film: Universal Restarts 'Spy Hunter', Paul W.S. Anderson To Direct Adaptation". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117966153.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&query=death+race. Retrieved 2007-06-01. 
11. ^ "Ian McShane Joins Death Race". ComingSoon.net, sourcing The Hollywood Reporter. Aug. 8, 2007. http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=23127. Retrieved 2007-08-08. 
12. ^ http://zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/generated/tapeinfo/m/MazeDeathRace.html

External links

• Death Race 2000 at the Internet Movie Database
• Death Race 2000 at the TCM Movie Database
• Death Race 2000 at AllRovi
• Death Race 2000 at Rotten Tomatoes