‘Loved by thousands, hated by millions’

3 comments June 24th, 2008

Here’s a viewing tip: Turner Classic Movies, which usually focuses on black-and-white films of a more genteel nature, will be showing the 1975 cult classic DEATH RACE 2000 at 1 a.m. Saturday, June 28. It’s worth staying up for — and best viewed in the middle of the night, with eyes weary from lack of sleep — but if you can’t manage that, set your DVR or VCR now.

A dark comedy about a future (well, it was the future back then) cross country race where drivers get bonus points for collateral damange, DEATH RACE 2000 looks wonderfully cheap, moves incredibly fast and features a great cast of characters. David Carradine is Frankenstein, the reluctant hero; Sylvester Stallone (pre-ROCKY) is “Machine Gun” Joe Viturbo (that’s a description of him in the headline above), and Fred Grandy, future LOVE BOAT star and Iowa congressman, is Herman the German, assistant to the deadly racer Matilda the Hun.

There’s a semi-remake due later in August, by the way, starring Rochelle’s own Joan Allen. Here’s a link to the trailer.