The first film in the series was to be Death Race 2000. Surprisingly taking place in the year 2000 in what is a dystopian weird version of America where the big deal event of the year is the Transcontinental Road Race, which is basically the Cannonball Run but with death.
The movie stars David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone (!) and Simone Griffith, but really it’s notable for having the evil sensei from the Karate Kid (Martin Kove):
It also features radio DJ Don Steele, who is wearing the most 70’s outfit possible for a movie that takes place in the “future”:
Basically the plot is that six, two person teams in weird pro wrestling styled cars and personas have to “race” from New York to New Los Angeles to pacify the public as nefarious types now run the world. The reason I say “race” is because getting there first doesn’t seem to matter I guess, but instead it’s about racking up points by killing randos along the way.
It’s implied the world is a globalized mess run by a guy called “Mr. President” who is your typical dystopian dickwad who rose to power after something called the “world crash of ’79”. There is an underground resistance led by the great great great great great great grand daughter of Thomas Paine, the “give me liberty or give me death guy” and their tactics to bring down the new world order is pretty Scooby Doo overall in terms of sophistication. The hero or really anti-hero of the story is a driver called Frankenstein played by David Carradine who is sipposedly been rebuilt by “future” tech as he’s been badly maimed in previous Death Races (see what they did there?) and is now kind of a cut rate early version of Darth Vader in a car.
Anyway, he’s the big badass of badasses who is favored to win and blah blah blah, it really doesn’t matter. Several weird but mostly predictable twists and turns occur along the way to New Los Angeles that you can find out about by watching it or just going to the wikipedia page because really, I don’t feel like writing it all here as it’s not really the point of this blog.
What They Got Right:
- Dystopian leader with a penchant for false dramatics (e.g. “Mr President loves you!”) although 16 years early
- Reality TV to pacify the populace (spot on)
- White supremacy being normalized by those in power (again 16 years early)
- The role of religion as a means of control in a fascist world
I suppose reality TV is something that MANY Sci Fi writers could easily have predicted as there were several run ups like Candid Camera, every Chuck Barris game show, along with several Sci Fi short stories that appeared in Amazing Stories and the like and really that’s going to be a trope in most of the movies we watch for this series I’m sure.
The white supremacy/Nazi thing is weird to me, but frankly seems spot on given current events but it probably just means I was living way too much in a bubble. I know this theme pops up again in a few more movies in this series so apparently several Sci Fi writers had this same idea. I know that it’s common to portray dystopian societies as being fascist, and for good reason, and fascism has often had racist overtones, but looking at America’s current racial divide, the “joke” that the race wars are just around the corner no longer seems like one. I’ve often thought that fascist societies would look, to some based on perspective, as utopian because the ruling classes wouldn’t allow the malcontents to have a presence at all. Certainly in Death Race 2000, there are VERY few people of color, the only ones really present are members of the resistance so it would appear this future holds that same concept, though there appear to be implied undercurrents that the general populace might be dissatisfied, hence the need for the Transcontinental road race to pacify the population. The population also just seems easily duped and while this might appear to be lazy writing, it also may have been a deliberate point. Anyway, there will certainly be random musing on this in future write ups.
What They Got Wrong:
- Nazis. Not that they are too far off, but they aren’t quite a visible in the mainstream even now
- The city background shows a monorail, clearly every major city had those in 2000
- Fashion didn’t change AT ALL from 1975, ESPECIALLY hairstyles
- Technology didn’t advance much
There really isn’t any “super tech” in this vision of the future and really the entire environment looks like 1975. I guess this is ok, kind of like A Clockwork Orange where the future is just a shitty version of the present, which is mostly spot on. Really the only future tech is the “mono rail” in the city scape background and the fact that for some reason, the starting line looks like a typical city of the future and everything else looks like 1975 Los Angeles. Also, one typical hallmark of “future movies” is someone has outrageous hair, and while Junior Bruce’s hair is a bit silly, it’s still 1975 approved.
Anyway, all in all, if not for Jaws and One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, I would say that Death Race 2000 is the greatest movie of 1975. I mean it has everything that matters: Great presumably improvised dialog, amazing style, great artistic vision, truly goofy over the top visuals and concepts and cocaine (and other drug) fueled madness throughout. Also, did you know that Calamity Jane was a Warhol Superstar!?
Quotes of the night:
(in reference to Junior Bruce): “He clearly ate a pack of cigarettes for lunch” – Erin
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