Death Race 2000 (1975) ****

I think Death Race 2000 (1975) is really funny, but some people might think it's one very large baked potato. I got two words to say to that: BULL SHIT! I love the fantastic cast, the over the top performances, the wacky quotes, the wild car designs, and the political satire.

One of the all-time great B-movies, this campy and gory dystopian sci-fi black comedy celebrated its 50th anniversary recently. Produced by the legendary Roger Corman and one of his most successful productions, DR2K was directed by Paul Bartel, who made other low budget cult flicks like Eating Raoul (1982) (review) and Lust In The Dust (1984) (review). Bartel died just over 25 years ago, fittingly, in the year 2000.

David Carradine, fresh of the popular TV series Kung Fu (1972–1975), stars as Frankenstein, the reigning champion of the Transcontinental Road Race, in which drivers compete by killing spectators and pedestrians with their cars. Fun fact: Peter Fonda was originally offered the role of Frankenstein but turned it down because he thought the idea was "too ridiculous for words." DR2K also stars a pre-Rocky (released the following year) Sylvester Stallone as the villainous "Machine Gun" Joe Viterbo. Stallone even wrote some of his own dialogue (which is saying something for this film!).

Recommended for fans of Rollerball (1975) (review), The Running Man (1987), Battle Royale (2000), and The 10th Victim (1965) (review).

Paul Bartel Feature Films Ranked