Death Race (1973)

 

                When I was a teenager, there were three channels on TV and one of them showed an “ABC Movie of the Week”.  It was a made-for-TV production and usually low budget.  In spite of this, some of them were quality movies and I remember some of them fondly.  Some of the more memorable ones were “Tribes”, “The Night Stalker”, “Duel”, “Brian’s Song”, and “Kung Fu”.  And then there were others like “Killdozer!”  “Death Race” (also known bizarrely as “State of Division”) is somewhere in the middle.  It is typical in that it has a fairly good cast consisting of mainly TV stars.   Doug McClure made several of them.  “Death Race” was directed by David Lowell Rich (a prolific TV movie director) and it took him only 15 days!

                The movie is set in November, 1942 in North Africa in the aftermath of El Alamein. The Germans are on the run.  A P-40 pilot named Culpepper (McClure) is forced to land at a British camp to refuel.  The Brits rope him into dropping a bomb on a minefield.  (The one bomb will set off a chain reaction clearing the mine field!)  We now know the movie will be preposterous, but will it be silly?  When Culpepper’s wingman (Roy Thinnes) is shot down by a tank, Culpepper lands to pick him up.  However, the same tank disables his plane so it can not take off.  What ensues is a chase between the plane and the tank.  The tank is commanded by Gen. Beimler (Lloyd Bridges).  The general is obsessed with revenge for the strafing of his unit.  He is also delusional.  He is not, however, insane and is a dogged adversary.  The tank crew is divided on whether to follow his orders or try to survive.

                “Death Race” is nice little time waster, as were most of the Movies of the Week.  On YouTube it is only 1:12.  Don’t watch it as a documentary.  Obviously, nothing that happens ever occurred in WWII.  There is some suspense to the absurdity.  The cat and mouse works pretty well.  Surprisingly, the plot is not predictable.  The acting is not bad from a decent cast.  The cast includes the underrated Eric Braeden.  Bridges is clearly slumming, but he doesn’t chew the scenery too much.  He even tries a half-ass German accent.  The P-40 looks authentic, but the German tank is decidedly unGerman.  The interior is not shameful, albeit pristine.  The desert is deserty.  The movie was shot on location in North Africa, just kidding.  The dialogue is fine and features some nice snark between McClure and Thinnes.  Thinnes’ character (a Yank in the RAF) is the gung-ho warrior and Culpepper is the save your skin type.  They bond, of course.  The music is snare drummy, nuf’ said. 

                What does it say when an obscure 1973 made for TV movie was better than some big budget feature films?  That’s not saying “Death Race” is a good movie.  It is what it is – junk entertainment.  But there is a place for it.  Especially in the early 1970s when a war movie loving teenager got to see it at home on a Tuesday night.  Commercially interrupted, but who knew there would be an alternative, eventually?

 

GRADE  =  C