Death Race 2000
November 13th 2008 22:31
A line of cars, engines revving at the start line, preparing for the greatest race that America has ever seen, a delirious tribute to big engine sports. Fans in the audience cheer for one of the racers, and a bitter rival pulls out a machine gun and fires into the crowd.
What?
This is "Death Race 2000", one of the most dearly loved Roger Corman-produced B-movies to come out of the 70s, a dizzying combination of car racing, ultra-violence and exploitation, all hammed together.
"Death Race 2000" is part of Umbrella Entertainment's 2-disc collection, paired with "Death Sport", and is released at a portentous time, as the financial crisis looms larger, and we've just come off the back of a particularly fervent US election.
But this is Filthy Friday, and we delight in the excesses of cinema sin... "Death Race 2000" imagines a future where some major global upheaval has left the US in a sorry, dismal shape, with the new President mollifying the population with Rome-style arena theatrics. The big race is from East to West coast, and the racers get a variety of points for killing pedestrians along the way.
Their cars are decked with blades and knives, and the accompanying deaths are cheered by fans and elaborated by the commentators. This is bloodthirsty sport, taken to its natural conclusion, where only the loss of human life can excite the crowd.
Director Paul Bartel was obvious struck by how mercenary and violent sport was becoming in America, paired with big commercial sponsors and the crowds howling for more.
The average viewer will look distastefully at the low production values of the film, as well as the poor acting (including Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine), and dismiss the film entirely. To me, though, this is glorious filmmaking, taking a low budget in exchange for freedom to be as ludicrous and unconventional as possible. Roger Ebert gave the film zero-stars, imagining a world where children would grow up thinking that "Death Race 2000" was a great movie - well, I'm that child, grown up, responsible, cheering on the racers, howling at the action, leering at the fine array of naked female racers.
I would argue that the film is enjoyable as B-movie trash and, furthermore, delightfully relevant in a world where the invasion of Iraq seems justified, as well as the detention of prisoners of war in an offshore facility. Is it so different? Are we distracted from the gross injustices of government, just because the Superbowl is on? Because the Olympics just passed?
"Death Race 2000" is a movie for exploitation-lovers, a seedy, ridiculous imagining of a world that has raced to its own demise and then predictably offers hope. Is there a Frankenstein in our reality? Probably not - so we'll have to hope that the general consensus never allows the grotesque barbarism of "Death Race 2000" never has a chance to leave the realm of laughable fantasy.
I say: B-movie lovers will find this to be unequalled in trashy cinema, with the low budget being wonderfully used for car racing footage and delightful set pieces. I loved it...
See it for: Exploitation movies from the 70s always thrill me with the display of women with wonderfully natural bodies, a far step away from the homogeneity of women in modern cinema.
*the second image is from Cinema Strikes Back!
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