Deathsport (1978)

Why so much hype?

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This is one of those films where everything, and I mean everything, explodes. Which is a good thing. Also, this is the type of seventies film where, if you're of a certain age, you'll start feeling anxious about your mortality as every single lead actor here is dead. Sigh.David Carradine and Claudia Jennings are range guides (whatever that is) in the post-apocalyptic future (which is my favourite kind of future). I don't know what a range guide is, but they sure do spend a lot of time spouting semi-philosophical crappenshite. Bottom line is they are a threat to a dictatorship and kidnapped and forced to partake in Deathsport.Deathsport somehow means making subversive non-citizens go up against Death Machines, which to you and me are motorcycles. Before we get to see that we get to see Carradine and Jennings are prisoners of Lynch having their arses kicked an awful lot, but once Deathsport starts Carradine turns the table.Mostly this film involves people riding motorcycles and things blowing up. Some full frontal nudity too within some weird disco set up where the boss of the evil folk can electrocute girls in the skud or something. I paid a pound for this and it was worth every penny.I spent most of the film to be honest wondering what was up with Richard Lynch's skin. Now I've read that the poor guy set himself on fire in the sixties after taking LSD? Jesus.Also, Jesus directed and starred in this.

Worst movie I've ever had the displeasure of watching. Reminds me of something they would show on Mystery Science Theater 3000. The effects are God awful, they look like they spent $5 to make this movie using a home video camera and a VHS tape, and the sound effects on Atari are better. I will never get the time back in my life that I wasted watching this. It was good for a laugh I suppose lol. Not sure why they even have this movie on Netflix, unless of course it is for entertainment purposes for people bored out of their skulls. I see many mistakes in filming, they most likely put the props together in someone's back yard shed, and the actors were probably homeless people picked up off the streets. Oh but there is full frontal nudity, so it was all worth it. I only wish they knew how to use razors in the 70's :/

Holy Mozzarella! I can not believe this was *not* made by Italians. It's about as bonkers as Castellari's THE NEW BARBARIANS. And it's definitely far more warped. David Carradine plays some kind of futuristic hippie-warrior (they call them Range Guides, or Mystical Nomads if you will). He gets captured, imprisoned and forced to play the Deathsport game. He escapes on a silver bike, together with his fellow-hippie love interest and some blond dude who can't act. The rest of the movie they get chased by the evil Richard Lynch on a bike. Oh, and there's mutants running around the wastelands too. Bonkers, I tell you.There are a few charming matte-paintings to behold (mainly of two futuristic cities). Lots of psychedelic color schemes, full frontal female nudity and utterly spaced-out sounds. Will you just listen to those motorcycles when they fly by? They either sound like they're screaming or farting. Even those plastic see-through swords of Carradine & his girl make undefinable "weesh"-sounds. Those big red-laser-beaming hand-blasters are pretty mind-boggling too. People and things get all red and vanish into thin air when they get hit.One of the highlights is the sequence where Carradine (on his bike) gets chased by Lynch and his henchmen (also on bikes, of course). They drive into some abandoned military domain, and end up driving some sort of improvised but pre-arranged race circuit. There's really no explanation as to why it's there. It's just there, although it shouldn't be. Plus, during their pursuit, things just keep blowing up and randomly catch fire.In the end, Carradine and Lynch get to face off one another during a weirdly edited sword-boss-fight. The outcome? Evil Lynch gets decapitated and Carradine gets the girl. I love it when a movie ends that way! Well, not just any movie, of course. Only the ones that star David Carradine as a womanizing hero. Well, "womanizing" probably isn't the exact word; as she's more like some soul-mate or something. But whatever, he gets the chick and that's what counts.

Some film makers, such as Ed Wood, produce movies so bad that they have a peculiar charm in spite of their overwhelming flaws. And then there's Roger Corman."Deathsport" was meant to ride on the coat tails of its successful predecessor "Death Race 2000," using motorcycles in place of automobiles as principal motif. However, although it does feature the same leading man (David Carradine), it lacks two key elements from the first film -- the self-caricature known as Sylvester Stallone, and the arch humor of director Paul Bartel who went on to direct cult favorites "Eating Raoul" (1982) and "Lust in the Dust" (1985). Principal director Allan Arkush, on the other hand, was soon relegated to the wasteland of television. Roger Corman wears his producer's hat for "Deathsport" but is also listed as an uncredited director. One noteworthy point: listed in the credits for "guitar" is Jerry Garcia. Could it really be THE Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead fame?This film should be seen by anybody interested in learning how NOT to make a movie. It is bad in so many ways that the 1000 word IMDb comment limit precludes me from even beginning to describe them. I would rate this film as low as possible if it weren't for two redeeming features: hilarious trailers for other Corman productions (in the video version), and completely gratuitous full frontal female nudity. Rating: 2/10.