DEATH RACE 2000
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| Rated R
| | Copyright 1978 New World Pictures.
| | Reviewed by Andrew Borntreger on 'a long time ago' |
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 | Frankenstein - David Carradine! Dark and brooding racer, he is believed to be a myriad of replaced limbs.
|  | Machine Gun Joe - Sylvester Stallone! Racer with a classic gangster motif, except he stresses. A lot. Him and his ulcer say hi to a grenade.
|  | Annie Paine - Daughter of the rebel leader who is out to capture or kill Frankenstein, she falls in love with him instead.
|  | Myra - Joe's amazingly blonde navigator, helps him welcome the grenade.
|  | Calamity Jane - Crazed female driver, her car looks like a steer until it runs over a land mine.
|  | Matilda the Hun - Aryan poster girl, drives off a cliff.
|  | Nero the Hero - Hits an explosive baby, points zero.
|  | Junior Bruce - Hyper reporter, he won't stop campaigning for the race until Frankenstein runs him over.
|  | Grace Parker - Heavy female reporter, she's the kind who is everybody's "dear friend."
|  | Thomasina Paine - Leader of the resistance, Betsy Ross' daughter or something.
|  | The President - Emperor of America who loves us all. Run down by Frankenstein.
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| David Carradine running around in a leather jumpsuit, what else could you want? Well, maybe somebody other than David Carradine in the jumpsuit, but then Stallone wouldn't have anyone to stress about.
In 2000 America has been rebuilt by one man, the President has become an emperor. With this power he created the Race. Every year violent role-playing psychopaths are placed behind the wheels of high performance killing machines and sent across the country. Their goal? Finish alive with the most points from running down as many pedestrians as possible and it's all perfectly legal. See a line of doctors and nurses on the sidewalk? Thump, thump, thump: 110 points.
Lucky for us there are rebels who believe in safe highways; led by Thomasina Paine they decide to fight back. You have to feel sorry for Nero, he makes to run over what seems to be a cute little toddler and it turns out to be a doll full of explosives. The rebels really want to get Frankenstein though, he's favored to win the race and a personal friend of the President.
Having planted Annie as Frankenstein's navigator they try to capture or kill him to no avail; he is a man on a mission. His right hand was removed, in the real thing's place is an artificial one with a grenade embedded in it. (Believe it or not, Carradine makes the "hand grenade" joke - I didn't even get a chance.) Frankenstein hates the President and his race more than anyone else and he knows the winner gets to shake hands.
Okay, the entertainment value of this movie should be obvious. People are getting churned into road mush left and right with sports reporters acting like it's the Super Bowl.
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| Things I Learned From This Movie: | |
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 | In the future marching bands suck.
|  | David Carradine is a little skinny to be the imposing evil guy.
|  | Every generation has one person who speaks like Howard Cosell.
|  | Don't try to play matador with a car.
|  | Blondes are not dumb; they are hard of hearing.
|  | If you love someone set them free, if they come back turn them into road kill.
|  | Stallone hates fly fishermen.
|  | People do not make effective speed bumps.
|  | David Carradine can kick Sylvester Stallone's ass.
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 | 1 min - This title sequence does not bode well.
|  | 7 mins - Yo Adrian! (You knew that was coming, your friends knew that was coming, the door knew that was coming...)
|  | 25 mins - Pop goes the brain cavity!
|  | 26 mins - Hey, how about sitting up? Thank you!
|  | 26 mins - RANDOM GRATUITOUS BREAST SHOT!
|  | 37 mins - RANDOM ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST CLERGY! Wait a minute, he just ran over the Pope!
|  | 44 mins - "Make fast my V1 rocket?"
|  | 52 mins - RANDOM ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST A VIOLIN!
|  | 56 mins - RANDOM GRATUITOUS BREAST SHOT!
|  | 59 mins - RANDOM ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST A PIT CREW!
|  | 76 mins - She's Batman! (Hehehehe!)
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| | Audio clips in wav format | SOUNDS | Starving actors speak out | |
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| File | Dialog |  | deathrace1.wav
| Junior: "Frankenstein, who lost a leg in 98, an arm in 99, with half a face and half a chest and all the guts in the world he's back! God only knows what he looks like under that mask, but he is back."
|  | deathrace2.wav
| Junior: "Once again: Mr. President." The President: "I have made the United Provinces of America the greatest power in the known universe."
|  | deathrace3.wav
| Harold: "Which only goes to show that even the fearsome Frankenstein has a one hundred percent red-blooded American sense of humor."
|  | deathrace4.wav
| Grace: "She was a great, dear friend of mine and I shall remember her forever howling down that freeway in the sky, knocking over...the angels."
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| | Click for a larger image | IMAGES | Scenes from the movie | |
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| | Watch a scene | VIDEO | MPEG video files | |
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 | deathrace1.mpg
- 3.0m
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| This takes some explaining and I'm not the man to do it, but here goes. Old people are worth mondo points, but the doctors and nurses are probably in their twenties or thirties and are worth much less as road kill (this all makes sense in a weird Kevorkian sort of way). By running over the individuals worth less points it shows Frankenstein has a sense of humor.
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| | Leave a comment | EXTRAS | Buy the movie | |
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| Death Race 2000
Reply #1. Posted on August 28, 1999, 08:40:51 PM by Joe80
This movie rules! I think it is one of the GREATEST movies ever made in the history of films! Extremely hilarious, this one has me on the floor laughing every time! And it's something you can watch over and over!!!
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Reply #2. Posted on November 25, 2006, 05:09:49 PM by Chris Schneider
THE 70's! THE 70's!! I want that decade back so badly; great music like P-Funk and great movies that inspired so much hope and promises for the future, such as Roller Ball, A Boy and His Dog and Death Race 2000. It seems that modern life is just as crappy as they predicted in those movies, except we don't have moon bases or monorails leading to major shopping malls.
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Reply #3. Posted on March 11, 2000, 01:58:36 PM by http://tuff5.8m.com
I got this movie as a birthday present on DVD. How about a nice moment of appreciation for a movie which mixes together poor dialogue, abused talent, vehicular homicide, obviously incorrect "futuristic" settings, and a crappy budget. If you have seen this on TV or rented the video, you MUST see the DVD somehow. The Leonard Maltin/Roger Corman interview is almost too hillarious to believe. Also the "action-drama" classification is very interesting. Good drama always shines through even the most astounding action scenes. What a great use of 78 minutes of expensive film. Roger Corman is brilliant.
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Reply #4. Posted on March 19, 2000, 12:34:40 PM by Dr. outtime
Yo, all Carmageddon fans out there, if you want to see a movie at least close to carmageddon then this is the film. I think that original eagle´s (first car in Carmageddon)design was inspired a bit from frankenstein´s car. Sylvester Stallone was pretty good in this film. I laughed a lot when Machinegun joe crushed that fisher and that hilarius sound effect came (heheh).
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Reply #5. Posted on November 25, 2006, 05:09:49 PM by MessiahMan
This film is a guilty pleasure of mine. Truthfully, I still laugh as hard as the first time I watch it each time I put it in...it's that good. 3 slimes is a modest rating, in my opinion, but four just seems to be a bit too much. Anyway, it's earned it's niche in my movie collection. Money well spent.
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Reply #6. Posted on June 01, 2000, 05:25:18 PM by David
Death Race 2000 is one of the best moves ever. Simply because it is a perfect combination of a mystery, action, comedy, porn flick, and drama. Mostly comedy because it is so freaking dumb. I like it.
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Reply #7. Posted on June 03, 2000, 11:09:19 PM by little timmy
amazing. I truly never thought I'd hear Slyvester stallone call a woman a "baked potato" as an insult. wow. david carradine and all his replaced parts just truly blew me away. holy frankenstein. also a bonus: old people are worth 100 pts. i always joked about that rumored tidbit of info, but now I know it to be true.
PS: rawhead rex would be another movie I recommend.
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Reply #8. Posted on July 28, 2000, 01:10:48 AM by Mark Sheffield
Ah, Death Race 2000! A great movie. I first saw this movie when I got my first movie network up and running on my cable (Showtime to be exact) way back in the summer of 1981 and when I was in my teens. I saw DR2000 late night one night and on the advice of my friends who told me I HAD to see it. It was cool then and its even cooler now especially watching it IN the year 2000!!! The version out now on video is digitally remastered (is it just me or was there a scene shown that when that jackhammer dude gets splattered by Stallone they showed briefly blood dripping off the jackhammer? Maybe it was an extra scene they just slapped on the cable version but its not on the version out now. Damn, it looked cool!) and a great job it is too. By all means see DR2000 and see it now! Yeah its cheap and stuff but thats whats makes it FUN! And those women look great without their clothes on. And oh by the way the best line is not Sly's "baked potatoe" insult but his characters introduction - "Here he is ladies and gentlemen Machine Gun Joe Viterbo. Loved by thousands hated by millions!" Whoa!
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