Death Race (1973)

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

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."

This is for all you "Death Race" fans who want to see this movie one more time. It was re-released on VHS in 1986 under the title: "State of Division". Please Note: that the cover and description don't really match the original movie, but it is indeed "Death Race". The quality of the video / audio is iffy at best but it most certainly watchable. My understanding is that the movie is out of print (OOP) but I have found several copies. I paid a whopping 9 bucks for a new copy. Best of luck...

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.

I remember seeing this movie during college at University of Houston and I remember being spell bound by the concept of a tank chasing a plane across a desert, and the psychological warfare that was taking place in side the tank,because of his endless pursuit of the enemy who was crippled like an animal, but was not ready to show mercy. until the surprising end.A great movie that brings you into there struggle.Would like to find a copy of this movie somewhere for purchase