Presents
Death Race 2000
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With the new
Death Race in theatres this past weekend, I couldn't help myself, I had
to drag out the old DVD of the original Death Race 2000, and I have to
admit, I was shocked at how well it holds up after all these years!
In this original, David Carradine (yes, from Kung Fu) plays
Frankenstein, the most popular driver in the coast to coast Death Race.
Standing against Frankenstein is Sylvester Stallone as Machine Gun Joe
Viterbo. The point of the race is to distract the country from how
corrupt the government has become and how bad things really are.
The real fun of the race is in the scoring, in order to win the race, you
must be the first person to each check point and have the most points.
How do you get points? Well, by running over pedestrians of
course! It's really the selling point of the movie, there are
crazed fans who sacrifice themselves so that their favorite drivers can
gain points, and one driver even scores his entire pit crew! And,
let's be honest, if we're just watching any race to see the crashes, how
cool would it be if they actually ran over pedestrians intentionally?!
I know I'd be the first in line for tickets to that!!!
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Now, while I
haven't had the chance to see the new Death Race yet...but I'm chomping
at the bit, believe me, it seems just a bit sad to me that the whole
'running over pedestrians' has been taken from the the story. Of
course, if they hadn't, then every auto vs. person accident in the next
few weeks would be blamed on the movie, so I really can't blame them
totally. But, the original Death Race 2000
is one of those classic Roger Corman movies from the 70s that's still as
much fun today as it was then! There's political satire here,
there's some fun old cars and there's horror, a bit of something for
everyone in the whole family! If you're a fan of this type of over
the top exploitation movie, then you can't go wrong with Death Race
2000, and the chance to see a pre-Rocky, Sylvester Stallone show you his
acting chops is not to be missed...and just a hint, he can act just as
well today as he did then!! I'm giving Death Race 2000 four out of
four cigars,
not because it's the best movie ever, but because it's still just as
much fun to watch. You'll find yourself wanting to 'score' a few
points yourself the next time you're behind the wheel! So, until
next time, when I'll be waiting for Jason Statham to be attached to a
remake of Gone In 60 Seconds, remember that the best movies are bad
movies! |
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