#Death gif machine driver#
#Death gif machine series#

This film appears, at first blush, as a comedic celebration of violence. The photography is excellent, and on par with John Carpenter's straightforward visual subtlety. As such, it parodies tough-guy talk in films and in real life.

#Death gif machine series#

The script for this film is a series of well-delivered clichés strung together with cleverly choreographed racing action sequences. The cinematographer makes no effort to hide the absurdity of this scene. As short as he is, Stallone is still a much larger and more fit man than Carradine, but gets handily whooped. Carradine is typically bizarre, and even parodies himself with a few poorly choreographed kung fu techniques during his absurd fight scene with Stallone. Stallone is particularly amusing, and gets great support from his sidekick. But the occasional pacing disaster just enhances the humor-value of the film. The acting is predictably campy and sometimes just a little too B grade. Sly Stallone plays his arch-rival Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, and an ensemble cast of fellow racers, media mavens, politicos, and willing and unwilling victims of 'the great race' lend strong support. As despicable as the empowered elite may be in this film, the critique of the media is even more scathing.

About a quarter of the way through the film, it becomes clear that the real story is about the connection between the US government, religion, mass-produced violence and a resistance movement, all focused on either promoting or ending the race once and for all.

#Death gif machine driver#

They are joined by navigators who double as concubines, which, I suppose, illustrates the trust and intimacy a driver must have with any partner involved in a high speed transcontinental race where the goal is to kill as many pedestrians as possible along the way. Ostensibly, the film is about a race involving five participants - Frankenstein (Carradine), Machine Gun Joe Viterbo (Stallone), Calamity Jane (Woronov), Mathilda the Hunn, and Nero the Hero - all of comic book stature. Paul Bartel (of Eating Raoul fame) deserves the directorial credit here, and he really did well given the mediocrity of the material he had to work with. Much is made of Corman's production of this film, but this is really not a Corman film in any sense - except for its very obviously low budget. If you're a Carpenter fan, you really need to see this. You could lose this film in the repertoire of John Carpenter. Deathrace 2000 is the 20th anniversary of the murderous trans-continental road race, or, in the words of the US president 'what you all want'. David Carradine stars in this classic cult creation.