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Movie review: Mason City man recommends “Death Race” movies

This year marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most entertaining and egregiously bad movies to ever hit the silver screen. Death Race 2000 premiered in 1975 and has since become a cult classic. It was a product of prolific film maker Roger Corman. Why is this important? Because Death Race 2000 has an interesting and surprising Iowa Connection. Before he was “Gopher” on The Love Boat, and before he was an Iowa Congressmen, Fred Grandy starred as “Herman the German” in this campy drive-in sectacle. Set in a dystopian future, race participants drove cross country racking up points by wiping out innocent pedestrians. Seniors were especially high targets considering they counted for 90 points. Also starring was David Darradine of, let me date myself, television’s Kung Fu fame. Carradines character was known as “Frankenstein”put back together with spare parts, and robotics because of his many violent crashes in previous races. Joining them was a rising star named Sylvester Stallone, who played incensed malcontent, “Machine Gun Joe Viterbo.” Grandy’s role was replete with a pickelhaube helmet, and swastika as the navigator for “Matilda the Hun.” Their car resembled a “buzz bomb.” The rocket propelled missiles that terrorized London during WW2.

As a B movie classic, Death Race 2000 had its share of nudity. Taking time out from their nefarious race, drivers and navigators visited a spa where they laid nude on tables receiving massages while gorging on fruit. Stallone refused to do the scene unless a towel was placed over his up and coming derriere. And was Fred Grandy in this scene? Sure he was! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t write this to embarrass, or disparage Mr. Grandy. I find the whole movie facinating, and an obscure part of Grandy’s Hollywood career. In fact, years ago, Congressman Grady was gracious enough to personally present my mother with a POW/MIA medal in honor of her brother, who was captured during the Korean War, and never made it out of the prisoner camp.

Not only was the acting bad, but also the futuristic sets. As a low budget feature, costs had to be kept to an absolute minimum. One scene was filmed in a huge newly built, but abandoned IRS building. The edifice was chosen because of its futuristic architecture. At least one of the crowd scenes was done with obvious amateurish animation. Joe Dante, who worked on the film, years later would comment, “You can’t create the future on $1.98.” Death Race 2000 was in essence a satirical commentary on our society’s growing fascination with violence in sports, which remains true today. MMA fighting, or even professional football with its huge and opulent stadiums, gives merit to this. There is no denying that a gladiatorial presence is ubiquitous in many of today’s sports.

When a remake of Death Race came out in 2008 the original version was in such high demand that it was out of stock for months. Death Race ramains one of my all-time favorite movies. I courage Iowans who have not seen it to do so. You will delight in the extremely absurd and farcical feature. And if not, you just don’t get it.

Phillip R. Sanchez of Mason City

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