Gangsters, Nazis, Boobies and Close Personal Friends: Deathrace 2000 for SCIENCE!

[Stef]

"You know Myra, some people might think you're cute. But me, I think you're one very large baked potato." -Machine Gun Joe Viterbo

This movie made a whole lot of WTF into something amusing. I think, though, we have to start right off discussing America's 'Swastika Sweetheart', Matilda The Hun. Also her navigator, Herman the German. She had an accent identical to Violet Beauregard in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and only had one surprisingly inoffensive joke about the master race. Even though I've seen the movie before, a crowd of cheering sports fans waving swastika flags at a car race was shocking and pretty creepy. Wasn't the swastika as offensive in the early seventies as it is now?

[Apathy]

I don't think anything was offensive back then. Except being 'close minded'.

That said, maybe they just decided that seeing as how they were making a film that involves euthanasia by car, that they might as well see how far they could go with it.

[Stef]

We were discussing here a second ago that perhaps they were using that as just another way to show that people were pretty desensitized to everything except entertainment.

OR, they needed to start the movie off with some serious WTF. And they succeeded. The high points of WTF in the movie, for me, were Matilda the Hun, the first killing, and David Carradine inexplicably ballroom dancing with his navigator whilst wearing some really dorky black underpants.

[Apathy]

That does make sense. Especially considering that Machine-Gun Joe firing off a tommy gun at the crowd of Frankenstein fans is pretty much ignored by everyone.

But you've missed the biggest WTF of all: The Hand Grenade. I mean, over an hour buildup of what's under the glove, to possibly the worst visual pun in the history of film.

[Stef]

Oh god, yeah. I groaned loudly at that. Not that the happy-happy wedding at the end wasn't a big WTF as well-- I mean, they spend the whole movie playing mind games and running people over, but then they get married and live happily ever after AS THE PRESIDENT??

[mario]

Because Stef demanded that I bring this up: there sure were a lot of boobies in this film. The brazen nudity being displayed on national television during the first pit stop seemed odd to me, not because it was inappropriate (it seemed to fall in line with the overall moral decay that goes hand in hand with dystopic films), but because it was just the ladies. Matilda the Hun was all talking about the master race being women (showing that women are empowered to some extent), and yet there didn't seem to be much in the way of equal rights! Even though there were multiple female racers, they were still being objectified. Quite odd.

[Stef]

Hey now. David Carradine had those dorky little Vader-panties, and they were constantly undressing him to prove that he was not bionic.

[Apathy]

Originally Posted by Stef

but then they get married and live happily ever after AS THE PRESIDENT??

And then ran somebody over. Although, I was waiting for that guy to die. Way too hyper and annoying.

As for the nudity? Yeah. Seriously gratuitous. And frequent. But that, once again, was the 70's for you. As soon as they were able to put the nudity into films, they did with great abandon.

[mario]

As is evidenced by Logan's Run, but the guys undressed as well, if I remember correctly.

[Stef]

Yeah, Jon, as soon as you saw that the newlyweds were getting into a car and Junior the Sportscaster was there, you knew Junior's fate.

[mario]

The narrative during the end credits was completely unnecessary. Corman was probably trying to give deeper meaning to his film than was actually there. Kind of sad, really, but I think this was probably the best film he ever made (after all, it never showed up on MST3K, probably mostly because it knew it was cheesy and bad and played on that to some extent).

[Stef]

What MST3K films did Corman do?

[mario]

Looked up via Daddy-O's Drive-In Dirt:

Episode 311 - It Conquered The World
Episode 315 - Teenage Caveman
Episode 317 - Viking Women
Episode 503 - Swamp Diamons
Episode 511 - Gunslinger (the only one in this list I've seen)
Episode 806 - The Undead
Episode H01 - The Day The World Ended

[Apathy]

More importantly, a quick skim of IMDB reveals that Deathrace 3000 is in production.

Truly the B-gods will smile upon this project.

[Stef]

It better be as awesome as it totally should be.

Do you think they'll bring David Carradine back? I mean, he isn't doing much besides Kill Bill, is he?

[Apathy]

I really hope so.

It just wouldn't be the same without him.

Maybe he'll have a new artificial limb-weapon by that point! Like a laser shooting eye. Or a shotgun leg.

[Stef]

Or a presidential pancreas!

[Apathy]

Maybe tiny rocket launchers built into his right nostril. And a flamethrower in the other.

It'd make for great party tricks.

[Stef]

Mario pointed out that the next appendage has got to be something that is a pun to top the "Hand Grenade". I suggested a "Head of State".

[mario]

I think Corman will need to out-pun the previous weapon. I suggest that his feet be outfitted with TOW missile launchers.