#DEATH RACE 2000 CAR DESIGNER DRIVERS#

But, despite the sex, mindless action (the stunts really are terrific) and gory violence (a few of the bystander deaths are wonderfully nasty), the film manages to be a pretty witty socio-political commentary вЂ“ one of the sharpest of its era. There are a few intermissions, but these are mostly used to display some unnecessary, but amusing nudity. There's little room for introductions, backstories, or setup, and even less room for character development. The plot, of course, unfolds during the film's super-tight 78-minute running time.

#DEATH RACE 2000 CAR DESIGNER DRIVERS#

So are a band of rebels who hope to kill Frankenstein and assassinate the President in order to wake up the nearly zombified society вЂ“ people so entranced with the race they sacrifice themselves to their favorite drivers so they can rack up points. He's won this race before, but many of his fellow racers, including Machine Gun Joe ( Sylvester Stallone, pre- Rocky), are out to get him. Enter a mysterious racer known as Frankenstein (played by the colorfully charismatic David Carradine, fresh off of Kung Fu). For example, kill a woman, get 10 points. The story is set in a dystopian future (the year 2000, to be exact) where the world has fallen in love with a gory cross-country jaunt called the Transcontinental Road Race in which the drivers race against one another (in colorfully themed cars) and score additional points for killing innocent bystanders. The film, for those unaware, is loosely based (and I do emphasize the word 'loosely') on the short story 'The Racer' from Ib Melchior. But, as a genre picture, and as a nugget of pure unadulterated cult entertainment, Death Race 2000 is one of the best around. In short, technically, Death Race 2000 is not a good movie. The performances can be a little stagey in spots, the effects are undeniably cheap, the exploitation runs thick and the title cards look hand drawn and resemble color pencil sketches (same goes for the laughable matte paintings). Made on a ridiculously low budget (somewhere in the ball park of $300,000) the film is extremely rough around the edges. The film, admittedly, is pretty cheap вЂ“ even tacky вЂ“ and not always a rock-solid piece of memorable filmmaking, though many veteran cinema legends, both behind and in front of the camera, worked on the movie, including award-winning cinematographer Tak Fujimoto. Death Race 2000 is the film that gave birth to that lovely slice of pop culture. If you've ever been in your car and jokingly mentioned or heard someone suggest hitting an innocent bystander on the road for 'points,' you'll know what I'm talking about. Even if you've never heard of nor seen Death Race 2000, a piece of the Roger Corman-produced epic is permanently etched in modern pop culture.

Death race 2000 car designer