| Death Race 2000 (1978) Cast:David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone, Simone Griffeth, Martin Kove David Carradine and Sly Stallone star as two rival racecar drivers who compete over how many people they can kill before the race is over, see whoever has the biggest bodycount ranks up the most points along the way a rebellion who sees this as wrong looks to sabotage the race in this hilarious, suspenseful and downright ingenius satire. There was a time when B.movies meant imagination, and intellegence rather than cheap exploitation, sure the latter was always importiant but of course the insight and black comedy is what makes Death Race 2000 so enjoyable, there are scenes of such humorous cruelty that at times one is left with their jaw open, one particular scene finds Sly yelling at one of Carradine's fans, giving the finger and then finally yelling "I'll fix you!" which proceeds to have Sly track down the hapless fan and run him over in Bean like fast pace. It's really something to behold since this movie is much more than just a bunch of guys running over pedestrians, the satire on the media, reporters, sports fans and the drivers themselves all make Death Race 2000 stand out as more than exploitation. If anything else it's fun to see Sly Stallone play an imposing heavy, which breaking the norm features a performance you can actually understand him in. D.Paul Bartel ***1/2 |