Monday, August 07, 2006

Peaches Christ and Mary

This weekend's Midnight Mass with Peaches Christ featured "Death Race 2000" as her 'secret find' and preceded with an interview with Mary Woronov, who was featured in the film and is director Paul Bartel's widow.

The live portion of the evening began with Peaches Christ and special guest and previous side-kick Martiny, lipsyncing their guts out! No, I do not remember what the song was, however it was a hoot to see the pair back together. (Yes, I know the photo sort of sucks, but I was in camera-phone mode.)

This was followed by a brief video tribute to Mary Woronov and then the interview. Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that I dozed off here. (It was almost 12:30 and we had quite a few cocktails before! Ok?!) Woronov looked pretty good, though she didn't really have too much to say other than she's a 60-ish year old woman who did a lot of drugs and hung out with Warhol. At least that is what I remember. I did perk back up by the time the movie started, though.

"Death Race 2000" (dir. Paul Bartel, 1975, 79 mins.) is usually remembered for only two things: Sylvester Stallone was in it, and the infamous 'Euthanasia Day' sequence in which a group of elderly people are put out on the course to be killed at 100 points each. The humor is sick and twisted, though it really is one gag: A car race in which pedestrians must be killed for points. There is also a rebellion against it, that just doesn't play as strongly as it could. Seeing it all these years and dozens of slasher flicks later, the violence seems pretty tame, though imaginative. The production values are sloppy (it's a Roger Corman production, after all). The performances are stiff and unnoteworthy. I hadn't remembered that David Carradine is the lead in it, nor did I remember that Mary Woronov played 'Calamity Jane', which probably speaks to Stallone's screen presence, in that he is usually the only character anyone remembers. I was also surprised to find out that the running time is not even an hour and a half, as it feels so much longer.

It is available on a special edition DVD, however, I might pass on that now. It was a piece of my post-adolescent cinematic rebellion, that just doesn't hold up well today. Well, except for 'euthanasia day' and of course when they run over the Pope. hee hee hee...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Is it bedtime?"