There's a shit-ton in a name

Last night the GF and I got an invitation to head down to our favorite bar, Level B, and watch a movie and play some Rock Band and grab some drinks. The Rock Band and the drinks were great. The movie our friend decided to show, which is in my collection as well, was Death Race 2000. No, it's not set in the year 2000, the film makers just tacked on the "2000" at the end to jazz up the title. That pretty much explains most of the artistic choices in this movie. Death Race 2000 is a Roger Corman movie. If you don't know who Roger Corman is, think of someone who likes bad movies so much that he purposefully makes them on shoe-string budgets, and in so doing has given many many talented actors/writers/directors their starts in Hollywood. That's right, Roger Corman, the man who brought us, among others, Piranha, Deathsport, The Wasp Woman, A Bucket of Blood, Little Shop of Horrors (1960) and Frankenstein Unbound, also allowed the following people to get to work on their big careers: Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante, Jack Nicholson, Talia Shire, Peter Fonda. This is a partial list.

It just goes to show that the lowest rungs on the movie ladder are not to be taken lightly. You don't begin your career by directing The Godfather, you begin by directing a little movie called Dementia 13. But this is all just exposition. Death Race 2000 sparked a little conversation between the GF and I about iconography in cult movies. Why do you like movies like Death Race 2000? she asked. Well, I began, there's just something about witnessing movies that are financially and creatively the antithesis of big-budget Hollywood extravaganzas. (It didn't come out quite so eloquently at the time, but I've had almost 24 hours to think about it.) Also, certain names just make you excited, even if the movie is a total piece of shit when compared to a greater film such as, Days of Heaven or The Sting. Names have resonance. If some people [me] were to see that there was in existence a move that starred David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone, produced by Roger Corman and guest starring Martin Kove (the evil sensei from The Karate Kid), about a race set in the future wherein high scores depended upon the number of people you ran over, you'd rush out to view the ridiculous spectacle. Some things just cannot go unseen.

There are a few people that make me excited when I hear their names. I see them in movies, usually in cameos and walk-on roles, and it makes the complete viewing experience that much better. Here's a list of some of the ones that come readily to mind: Bruce Campbell, David Carradine, Tim Curry. Whenever these guys are involved in a movie you know that there's a good time to be had, even if it's just their particular scene. (Examples: Campbell in The Majestic, Intolerable Cruelty, The Hudsucker Proxy; Curry in Home Alone 2, Scary Movie 2, Legend; Carradine in Kill Bill, Circle of Iron, Hell Ride.) Lately a lot of movies, mostly comedies, have been making the most of this concept by giving famous actors little guest spots in movies where you wouldn't expect to see them. The best example of this is in Austin Powers: Goldmember. In the opening sequence an Austin Powers movie is being filmed within the movie you're watching. It's been some years, so I think it's safe to give it all away: Tom Cruise plays Austin Powers, Gwyneth Paltrow plays Dixie Normous, Danny Devito plays Mini Me and Kevin Spacey plays Dr. Evil. It's fucking hilarious and completely unexpected. Tom Cruise also played a fat, washed out Hollywood agent in the recent Tropic Thunder. Ben Stiller does cameos all the time and it just lights up my face to see him as the guitar store owner in Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny, or as the head of a local Spanish news station in Anchor Man: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Tim Robbins also got in on the Anchor Man... set as another anchor in a big fight scene between rival news stations.

It's nice to know that there is still some fun to be had in Hollywood and that actors understand the joke. So in closing, Death Race 2000 has elements within it that make it a fun movie. Being reminded of what some actors can bring to the table is a good time, but seeing people in their infant stages on screen is also rewarding. For some fun, check out Leslie Nielson in Forbidden Planet, George Clooney in Return to Horror High, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris O'Donnell and Cole Hauser in School Ties, and Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini in True Romance.