Death Race (1973)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

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

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

This film is set in WWII and the Germans in North Africa are on retreat now that the Americans have gone on the offensive. When two P-40 pilots are sent to destroy a mine field (just HOW they would do that, I have no idea), they see a small column of German vehicles. One dives to engage them and is miraculously shot down by the tank*! The second plane lands nearby to rescue the downed pilot and in doing this, the tank damages the second plane so badly it cannot fly. So, it's forced to drive about the desert avoiding the German tank...sort of like a game of cat and mouse. What's next?The one thing that startled me about the film was the casting of Lloyd Bridges as the German tank commander. His accent made him sound just like an American actor TRYING (and not succeeding in the least) in doing a German accent. Why they didn't have him play one of the pilots is beyond me. And, why they didn't have Eric Braeden (who was part of the crew) play the tank commander I do not know...especially since Braeden IS German and played a German commander in the TV series "Combat!" as well as "Rat Patrol".So apart from the difficult to believe premise and odd casting of Bridges, is the film any good? Well, it is rather entertaining watching Lloyd Bridges play a bit of a maniac! Not the least bit realistic...but fun in a kitschy way. Otherwise, no...it's not a very good film.*The German tank in the film is actually an American Sherman tank. This is because after the war, there were very few German tanks left....and there were thousands of Shermans. In fact, in most films the German tanks are American tanks and often Shermans or Walker Bulldogs sub for German tanks.

If you've seen other movies of this ilk, then you can likely predict the ending just by reading a brief synopsis of the premise before even watching it. The film has mediocre-to-average acting, with the exception of the German general who may be considered a little above average.As the movie progresses, it becomes more and more obvious that it will end with a dramatic show-down between the tank and the plane, at least one of which will only have one crew member left, because the director just seems to pass up all other opportunities to end the movie differently, and by the last 15 minutes there really is no room left for any other ending. I saw it coming from the beginning, but I was kind of disappointed. I'm not sure what I think would have been a better/more satisfying ending, but I was just hoping despite knowing better that the director would resist the temptation of doing as so many other war movies seem to, that is, making the plot eventually come down to "Moby Dick but with a submarine/ship/plane/tank/person/whatever". The German general character didn't even seem to be heading that way even though I knew that one way or another that is what would happen. He was set up more as a wise tactician and loyal soldier, and only at the very end do they pull out the "military leader obsessed to the point of madness with pursuing and destroying his enemy" trope.During the movie, the general reveals that pursuing the plane is in reality just a secondary objective en-route a secret rendezvous point in the middle of the desert in which the straggling German forces who got left behind during the retreat are to re-group and attempt to wage guerrilla warfare from behind the Allied front lines. At first I thought the general was just making it up in order to give his men hope to keep them from loosing all morale and mutinying, but then later they reveal though the British characters that this secret base does actually exist and the general really is making his way there, which gave me hope for a different ending than I was expecting. But then they sort of just set that aside and keep going on toward the inevitable dramatic showdown like I originally thought. The secret base they keep referring to, despite being made clear to really exist in the movie's universe, is never actually shown on-screen, probably due to budget limitations. I can get past that, and in fact I think not showing it may have added a special element of suspense, but it was an element of suspense I feel they squandered by not having that secret location have any bearing on the climax. The general, who throughout most of the movie is played as an expert tactician who knows how to carefully bide his time and stalk his wounded prey in order to have his cake and eat it too, suddenly turns into a crazy and unstoppable killer, despite being within just a few hours of the secret base, having more than enough supplies to get there safely, and having two now-defeated enemies whom, instead of taking prisoner as collateral and a source of information as appeared to be his original plan, he decides to just gun down while they are surrendering (one survives), having never displayed any indication before that he considered that an option.Still, even though the ending was extremely predictable and didn't really make sense from a character motivation standpoint, it was still filmed and acted well enough, and ends on a relatively satisfying cliff-hangar. Given the clearly limited budget and promotion they had, I' say they did a pretty fine job all things considered. Not a riveting masterpiece, but it's a fine little film that's worth its short hour and 15 minutes.

A crippled American fighter-bomber tries to elude a tenacious German tank in the North African desert in director David Lowell Rich's "Death Race," a contrived cat-and-mouse World War II thriller, co-starring Doug McClure, Lloyd Bridges, Eric Braeden, and Roy Thinnes. For the record, the plane is an actual, vintage, 1940's era Allied war plane, and two P-40s are shown flying over the desert. However, the German Panther tank is a replaced American Sherman tank. The performances are average, with Lloyd Bridges hamming it up as a German officer who has clearly gone off his rocker. As World War II movies go, "Death Race" is definitely outlandish. The worst problem with this hour and 15 minute epic is its inconclusive ending and leaves the opposing sides in a desert stand-off.Doug McClure plays a happy-go-luck American fighter pilot Lieutenant Del Culpepper who is running low on fuel when he lands at a British airfield, only to find himself recruited back into combat by the English. As turns out, the Africa Korps is in full retreat, and the British want to destroy a German minefield to prevent unsuspecting Arabs from wandering by accident into it and getting blown-up. Culpepper is extremely reluctant to carry out his mission. The British explain that they have a similar P-40 Tomahawk, but their aircraft is not equipped with a bomb rack. Another American pilot, Arnold McMillan (Roy Thinnes of TV's "The Invaders"), who joined the British Eagle Squadron before the United States entered the war, serves as Culpepper's wingman on the mission. Meanwhile, a high-ranking German commander, Hans Pimler (Lloyd Bridges of TV's "Sea Hunt"), has survived a battle that leaves him the lone survivor. Just when things look bad for one of the Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's top officers, Pimler spots a lone German Panther tank tooling through the sand dunes. He hitches a ride on it. About the same time that all this takes place, Culpepper decides to drop his only bomb. Culpepper doesn't have his heart in his mission and only sticks around because McMillan, a fighter ace in his own right, threatens to shoot him down. After Culpepper has ditched his bomb, McMillan sites a German convoy and makes a strafing run on it. The Panther tank and its crew that got lost in the desert is now under Pimler's command, and the high ranking German officer participates in the battle. The Panther's tank commander is wounded, and Pimler manages to shoot down McMillan's plane. Culpepper lands and rescues McMillan, but the two Americans find themselves pursued by Pimler in the Panther tank. As it turns out, Pimler is taking the crew of the Panther tank to a secret rendezvous in the desert where survivors have been ordered to meet in case of disaster. They chase our heroes in the damaged plane who realize that they are bound for their original target, the German minefield. Along the way, Culpepper and McMillan shrug off their differences and struggle to keep their ground aircraft far enough ahead of Pimler so they won't be captured.Eventually, the big showdown comes with Culpepper driving his plane at Pimler's tank in an old West showdown. By this time, McMillan has bitten dust and the tankers under Pimler's command have lost faith in their unhinged leader. As crazy as "Death Race" is, director David Lowell Rich and scenarist Charles Kuenstle, who later provided the story for "Airport '77," could have furnished a stronger ending rather than the wash0ut they end this made-for-television movie. The footage of convoy scene where McMillan strafes the Germans has lifted from the Universal Pictures' theatrical release "Raid on Rommel."

I can still vividly remember the closing sequence to this film even after 10 years. It was just one of those movies that has stuck in my memory.I tried to recall the name of the movie on several occasions and it was only by chance that I found it on IMDB.Excellent roles played by both the late Lloyd Bridges and Doug McClure. It was unfortunate that probably this being a "TV" movie it was not listed in the obituaries of these actors. I have tried unsuccessfully over many years of hunting to find a copy of this movie.The portrayal of the increasing insane Pimler by Bridges was just brilliant. If anyone reading this review ever locates this movie, please get in touch.