Death Race 2000

19751975
RR
1h 20min

Sylvester Stallone, David Carradine, and Simone Griffeth in Death Race 2000 (1975)

French Air Force

Play trailer1:22

Action Comedy Sci-Fi

In a dystopian future, a cross country automobile race requires contestants to run down innocent pedestrians to gain points that are tallied based on each kill's brutality.In a dystopian future, a cross country automobile race requires contestants to run down innocent pedestrians to gain points that are tallied based on each kill's brutality.In a dystopian future, a cross country automobile race requires contestants to run down innocent pedestrians to gain points that are tallied based on each kill's brutality.

Director
- Paul Bartel
Writers
- Robert Thom(screenplay)
- Charles B. Griffith(screenplay)
- Ib Melchior(story The Racer)
Stars

See production, box office & company info

See production, box office & company info

Death Race 2000 (1975)

Death Race 2000 (1975)

Death Race 2000 (1975)

Death Race 2000 (1975)

Death Race 2000 (1975)

Death Race 2000 (1975)

David Carradine in Death Race 2000 (1975)

David Carradine in Death Race 2000 (1975)

Death Race 2000 (1975)

Death Race 2000 (1975)

Death Race 2000 (1975)

David Carradine in Death Race 2000 (1975)

Director
- Paul Bartel
Writers
- Robert Thom(screenplay)
- Charles B. Griffith(screenplay)
- Ib Melchior(story The Racer)
All cast & crew

See production, box office, & company info

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In the year 2000--against the backdrop of social turmoil, political unrest, and rampant anarchy--a now-totalitarian United States of America supports a brutal annual event to pacify the masses: the infamous Transcontinental Road Race. Scoring points simply by running over unsuspecting pedestrians, the national champion driver, Frankenstein, has to race against fast contestants such as the beautiful cowgirl killer, Calamity Jane; the neo-Nazi, Matilda the Hun; the Roman gladiator, Nero the Hero, and, first and foremost, the Chicago thug and ambitious challenger, Machine Gun Joe. Who will score the most points in the violent Death Race 2000? —Nick Riganas

tyranny drive in classic dystopia road racing car racing 163 more

Taglines
- In The Year 2000 Hit And Run Driving Is No Longer A Felony. It's The National Sport!
Genres
Certificate
- R
Parents guide

Trivia
Explaining why he took the Frankenstein role, David Carradine says, "I started that picture two weeks after I walked off the "Kung Fu (1972)" set, and that was essentially my image, the 'Kung Fu' character, and a lot of people still believe I'm that guy. The idea actually was: No. 1, if you walk off a television series, you better do a movie right away or you might never get to do one. And the second thing was to do something right away that would create the image of a monster to get rid of the image of that little Chinese guy that I'd been playing for four years. And, you know, it did kick-start my movie career."

Goofs
The racers are shown driving through mountainous terrain even when they are supposed to be in parts of the country such as New Jersey and Missouri that don't have any mountains of this type.

Quotes
Harold: As the cars roar into Pennsylvania, the cradle of liberty, it seems apparent that our citizens are staying off the streets, which may make scoring particularly difficult, even with this year's rule changes. To recap those revisions: women are still worth 10 points more than men in all age brackets, but teenagers now rack up 40 points, and toddlers under 12 now rate a big 70 points. The big score: anyone, any sex, over 75 years old has been upped to 100 points.

Alternate versions
The original UK cinema version was cut by the BBFC to remove a head crushing scene and to edit shots of blood spurts from the car killings and a man's groin being stabbed with Joe's bayonet. All later releases were uncut.

Connections
Edited into Hollywood Boulevard (1976)

Top review

Stupid? Hardly.

I'm astonished by the number of reviewers who see this film as "stupid". It has one hell of a witty script, with amazingly accurate jabs at everything from media hype to uber-patriotic propaganda. Just listen to the president blaming everything on "the treacherous French and their stinking European allies". Sounds chillingly like "Freedom Fries", doesn't it?

This wonderful little gem is far more intelligent that it's usually given credit for, and certainly smarter than 99.9% of the films made today. Those who dismiss it as stupid junk because of its outrageous premise are missing the point. I haven't seen anyone write a film this smart in at least 20 years.

helpful•9

2

wilbrifar
May 16, 2003

Release date
- November 28, 1975 (West Germany)
Country of origin
- United States
Languages
Also known as
- Frankensteins Todesrennen
Filming locations
- Golden State Highway, Angeles National Forest, California, USA
Production companies
- New World Pictures
- Columbia Associates
See more company credits at IMDbPro

Budget
- $300,000 (estimated)

See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

Runtime
- 1h 20min
Color
- Color
Sound mix
- Mono
Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1

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