Ah, the 1975 Roger Corman classic, Death Race 2000! A true gem of classic B-Movie cinema. To this day I still calculate potential points. This film was so fun and different. I still have a great time every time I watch this. This is B-Movie genius that you can always count on from Corman. Grab your popcorn, and get ready for a ride!
David Carrodine stars as Frankenstein, the most famous, and mysterious race car drive in the United Corporation of America. This race, set in the dystopian future, is to be Frankenstein's last. He is pitted up against the like of Sylvester Stallone, Martin Kove (Master of the Cobra-Kai dojo in the Karate Kid), and Roberta Collins in this cross-country race where the winner is decided by the points accumulated from the hitting and killing of pedestrians. Different point values are given to different "classes" of people such as the elderly, teens, and babies in strollers.
It's so cheesy that it's great! From the lore behind Frankenstein's "bionic" body parts, to the over the top line delivery by Sly Stallone as Machine Gun Joe, in some of his earliest work. My favorite scene is when this hospital decides to wheel all of their dying or terminally ill patients into the street as a sacrifice to Frankenstein. However, when Frankenstein arrives and sees what the doctors and nurses have done, he decides to accumulate less points and drives through the hospital killing all of the caregivers! Maybe that's just my sick sense of humor?
This was such an original idea and Corman always seems drawn to those kinds of scripts. He is the king of low budget films and always seems to be able to draw stars into these films. The extremely low budget of the films that Corman produces never seem to deter him from stepping in their and making the best film possible. The design of the cars in this film were great, although at times you can tell that portions or add-ons are made of plastic or wood and then painted. Even the blood looks like buckets of basic red paint.
If you have the kind of warped sense of humor as I do, this is laugh out loud funny, from beginning to end. There is a lot of extreme violence and some nudity, so I definitely wouldn't recommend it for anyone under 14. And, on a side note, this was recently remade and is now called "Death Race 2050". It is a pretty good remake, and casting Malcom McDowell as the President was pure genius. Both films can be found on blu-ray and are definitely worth the price. It is easily one of Corman's best films.
Also, don't waste your time with the "Death Race" franchise that started in 2008 and starred Jason Statham. Although I do really enjoy Statham, these movies were a horrible attempt at reviving this brilliant and original idea.
Thank you for your in debt and informative review of this old school Bee Movie. I was unaware that they had a remake of it and now will be on the lookout. I am for sure one of those warped sense of humor people as this is one of my all-time favorite movies.
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