Movie review - "Death Race 2000" (1975) ***1/2

Anarchic, free-wheeling futuristic action road movie that is heaps of fun. Set in the future where America has become a dictatorship and the masses are entertained by a race that involves drivers driving across country and running people over.

There are five drivers (and their navigators) including David Carridine (a good solid anti-hero performance), Sylvester Stallone (very funny), Mary Woronov, Martin Cove and the gorgeous Roberta Collins. The equally stunning Simone Griffeth plays Carradine's navigator, who is also a revolutionary.

Some really off the wall humour - co-writer was Charles Griffith and the film bares his influence. He complained that producer Roger Corman cut out a lot of the laughs but there are plenty there - because most of the movie takes place within fast driving cars the film feels fast paced, and there are some good stunts.

Apart from the action there is also some patented gratuitous New World nudity (courtesy of Griffeth, Collins and Woronv - talk about score). Exceedingly good fun, subversive and wild. Came out the same year as Rollerball and has inspired heaps of imitations, such as Cannonball (1976) and The Running Man (1988). Director Paul Bartel has a cameo. Lewis Teague, who worked on the crew, plays the matador who gets run over and John Landis plays a mechanic.

The DVD has a commentary from Roger Corman and Mary Woronov works very well; unlike some actors who do commentary (eg “it was cold that day”) Woronov is smart and funny. Corman is also fun; he’s always talking about how low the budget as and ways they saved money. He also says he did a lot of the driving and rarely mentions Chuck Griffith at all, who co-wrote it and surely contributed a lot to the insane humour (he only mentions that Griffith added some dialogue). He also says that the film was always meant to be comedy which Griffith and Bartel have denied – but Corman was not averse to black humour throughout his career

Note on Charles Griffith – it was pointed out to me recently that the Paul Bartel-Mary Woronov comedy Eating Raoul used the same structure as Little Shop of Horrors and Bucket of Blood. Obviously the definitive black comedy template.