Death Race 2000 *** (1975, David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone, Simone Griffeth) – Classic Movie Review 8946

Director Paul Bartel’s 1975 exploitation classic Death Race 2000 stars David Carradine as leather-clad sports driver champion Frankenstein, who battles tough opponents Chicago challenger Machine Gun Joe Viterbo (Sylvester Stallone), cowgirl killer Calamity Jane (Mary Woronov), neo-Nazi Matilda the Hun (Roberta Collins) and Roman gladiator Nero the Hero (Martin Kove) for the Death Race championships.

Death Race 2000 is a successful Seventies black comedy sci-fi action thriller, with a lot of robust action and a nasty sense of humour, about the year 2000’s favourite pastime. It is a Death Race – sports drivers compete to kill people.

Director Bartel drives it along, and it is very engaging if you can accept the sinister premise and the gratuitous casual violence. Death Race 2000 is Rollerball played for laughs.

The screenplay by Robert Thom and Charles B Griffith is based on a story by Ib Melchoir.

Sequel: Deathsport. Bartel and Carradine followed it up with the similar Cannonball (1976).

Also in the cast are Simone Griffeth, Louisa Moritz, Don Steele, Joyce Jameson, Fred Grandy, T R Sloane and John Landis.

Death Race 2000 is directed by Paul Bartel, runs 80 minutes, is made by New World Pictures and Columbia Associates, is released by New World Pictures (1975) (US) and Focus Film Distributors (1975) (UK), is written by Robert Thom and Charles B Griffith, based on a story by Ib Melchoir, is shot in Metrocolor by Tak Fujimoto, is produced by Roger Corman and is scored by Paul Chihara, with special effects by Richard Maclean and production design by Robin Royce.

The BBFC cut three scenes in the original UK cinema version, now restored.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8946

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