‘In the year 2000 hit and run driving is no longer a crime. It’s the national sport!’
Death Race 2000 is a 1975 American science fiction action horror film in which contestants in a car race run down pedestrians to gain points.
Directed by Paul Bartel (Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills; Eating Raoul; Private Parts) from a screenplay co-written by Robert Thom (The Witch Who Came from the Sea; The Phantom of Hollywood; Bloody Mama) and Charles B. Griffith (Doctor Heckyl and Mr. Hype; The Little Shop of Horrors; A Bucket of Blood; Not of This Earth) based on the story ‘The Racer’ by Ib Melchior (director of The Time Travelers and The Angry Red Planet; Planet of the Vampires story and Reptilicus screenplay). Produced by Roger Corman.
Bartel later recalled “We had terrible script problems; David [Carradine] had to finish his Kung Fu series before starting and we had bad weather. We all worked under terrible pressure. Roger [Corman] and I had an essential disagreement over comedy. He took out a lot of the comedy scenes. He may have been right and was probably more objective.”
A sort of major remake, Death Race, came in 2008 with Paul W. S. Anderson at the helm starring Jason Statham but it dropped most of the elements that made the original work. Nonetheless, two direct-to-DVD prequels, titled Death Race 2 (2010) and Death Race 3: Inferno (2013), followed, and a direct-to-DVD sequel, titled Death Race: Beyond Anarchy (2018), was also released.
A very belated Roger Corman-produced sequel, Death Race 2050, was released in 2017.
The New World Pictures production stars David Carradine, Simone Griffeth, Sylvester Stallone, Mary Woronov, Roberta Collins, Martin Kove, Louisa Moritz, Don Steele, Joyce Jameson, Carle Bensen and Sandy McCallum.
Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
Trailer:
Sylvester Stallone clip:
Free on YouTube:
Cast and characters:
David Carradine … Frankenstein
Simone Griffeth … Annie Smith
Sylvester Stallone … Machine Gun Joe Viterbo
Mary Woronov … Calamity Jane
Roberta Collins … Matilda the Hun
Martin Kove … Nero the Hero
Louisa Moritz … Myra
Don Steele … Junior Bruce
Joyce Jameson … Grace Pander
Carle Bensen … Harold
Sandy McCallum … Mr President
Paul L. Ehrmann … Special Agent
Harriet Medin … Thomasina Paine
Vince Trankina … Lt. Fury
Bill Morey … Deacon
Fred Grandy … Herman the German
William Shephard … Pete
Leslie McRay … Cleopatra
Wendy Bartel … Laurie
John Favorite … Henry
Sandy Ignon … FBI Agent
John Landis … Mechanic
Darla McDonnell … Rhonda Bainbridge
Roger Rook … Radio Operator
Paul Bartel … Frankenstein’s Doctor
Charles B. Griffith … Resistance Army Member
Keith Michl … Roadblock Builder
Dick Miller … Chicken Gang
Lewis Teague … Toreador
Filming locations:
California
Technical details:
1 hour 20 minutes
Audio: Mono
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
