DEATH RACE 2000
US, 1975, 79 Minutes, Colour.
David Carradine, Simone Griffith, Sylvester Stallone, Mary Woronov, Roberta Collins.
Directed by Paul Bartel.
Take the political science-fiction satire Wild in the Streets, and Rollerball and its criticism of contemporary blood lust and sport, work on a quick screenplay (with plot and character incongruities not fully eliminated), work within a small budget - and you have Death Race 2000. But it's going to be a cult film because its unsubtle attack on complacent and vicious society, its vigorous comic-book characters (named Frankenstein, Calamity Jane, Nero, etc.) its outrageous violence (points for the National Speed Race are gained by killing pedestrians) all combine in a compelling intensity. The film, though rough and ready, will communicate its theme better to a wider audience than the excellent Rollerball.
1. What was the overall impact of this film? Was it a good film? The expectations from the title?
2. How enjoyable was the film, how interesting, how didactic, how exploitive?
3. Comment on the structure of the film: the race and its impact, the three days and the three phases of the race.
4. How well did the film use the techniques of speed colour, music, the atmosphere of cars, the background (some backdrops); the mixture of the real and the fantasy world? How well were these blended? They were obvious to the audience. What kind of response did this draw from the audience?
5. The film gave a comic-book picture of America in the future. The techniques of science-fiction of the future, horror techniques? How well were these used? How simplified were they for the purposes of the film? The reality and unreality of the sets. the caricatures of the characters, the use of sex and violence as in modern films, the names of the characters, the design of the cards, the picturing of the rebels, the satire on the media and the television interviewers, the atmosphere of religion and the President?
6. How realistic were the situations and the characters? If they were not did this matter? What is audience response to comic characters who are presented as such?
7. The film's visualising of the society of 2000 A.D.: the ordinariness and similarity to our own society, the conventions of sport, politics. luxury, atmosphere? The importance of violence. the fascism of violence, no holds barred, blood sport. the desire to win. the race as the only standard of excellence left, the reality of death in 2000 A.D., murder, gory accidents, gory deliberate deaths, euthanasia?
8. The satire on the media: the exaggerated types who did the TV commentary: the dead-pan commentator, Grace and her knowing all her friends, Junior and his enthusiasm? The unctuous style of the TV interviewers, the interviewing of the first victim's widow and the prizes given to her, the double talk about the French invasions? The irony that Junior was the first to be killed in the new regime?
9. The satire on the media as a means of propaganda: the Deacon dressed like the Pope, his religiosity,, his being killed? The President and his platitudes and television appearances, people absorbing all this, the fact that he was killed while making a TV speech? The lies about the French? The suppression of the truth about the accidents? The use of television by Thomasina Payne and the rebels?
10. The film's presentation of the values of life and death: the deaths and their visual presentation. the accidents to the drivers and their cars. the sequence explaining the laws for the killing the skill of the drivers and the way that they killed people: the navigator run over, Frankenstein not killing the old people but the doctors? The fact that the revolutionaries killed by tricking? The ordinary passers-by taunting the drivers: - as matadors. the people over the man-hole etc.?
11. The film's presentation of revolution: the American irony of the grandmother Thomasina Payne, Annie as the spy, the small group of rebels and their tactics, the discussion of violence and non-violence, yet the use of violence? The legitimacy of assassination: Annie killing Frankenstein, Frankenstein killing the President? What attitude did the film take towards revolution and assassination?
12. The irony of the car crews and their names: their place in American popular imagination? The sequences of the meals, massage, fights, taunting of each other, deaths?
13. What heroism was there in the film? Annie as a heroine? Frankenstein as the hero - with his fans and his victims? Frankenstein changing character to become the liberator? The irony of this?
14. How much interest was there in the character of Frankenstein? As a hero for the film, the build-up before he entered, the fact that he was artificially put together, the mask of being more dreadful than the reality, the use of the myth, the nature of Frankenstein as a champion the true story about his life and his hatred for the President? His callousness during the race. his standards of excellence his discovery of the truth about Annie. his relationship with Annie, the discovery of the truth about his assassination attempt? The marriage and the change in Frankenstein? The irony of his running over Junior out of pique?
15. What kind of heroine was Annie meant to be? The glamorous spy? The assassin? Her trying to disguise her intentions. colluding with the rebels. avoiding killing the child on the bike? Her relationship with Frankenstein? Their marriage. her callousness?
16. The irony of such characters as Joe with his Mafia background and his Mafia-like behaviour? Nero? Calamity Jane and the Women's Lib attitude? Matilda the Hun and the female dominance?
17. Thomasina Payne and the rebels? The tradition of American democracy?
18. What did the film have to say about politics, justice, morality, violence, mass hysteria, the future?
18. Was the ending convincing? Too quick a change of pace? An indication that those in authority continue the pattern of the past? was this a good film? An effective end?
