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| “ | Lousy sons of bitches. Frankestein? You want Frankestein, I'll give you Frankenstein! | „ |
| ~ Machine Gun Joe to the crowd |
| “ | How does it feel to know you're gonna spend the rest of your life in pain? The rest of your life is about a minute and a half. | „ |
| ~ Machine Gun Joe while strangling Annie |
Machine Gun Joe Viterbo is the secondary antagonist of the 1975 satirical action film Death Race 2000. He is one of the most dangerous and infamous drivers of the transcontinental road race, who has a seething hatred of his arch-rival Frankestein, while planning to beat the latter in the race.
He was portrayed by a pre-Rocky Sylvester Stallone, in one of his few villainous roles.
Biography[]
Overview[]
Machine Gun Joe Viterbo is a homicidal maniac, even starting from when he was a boy, as according to Junior Bruce during a live broadcast, Machine Gun Joe used to have a pet snake as a kid that he ran over. During the transcontinental road race, he is one of the most feared, and hated drivers, scoring the second highest all time score in the races behind only the mysterious "Frankenstein", where drivers get additional points for running over pedestrians, with more points being awarded for running over women, children, and the elderly. Unbeknownst to him, "Frankenstein" is actually multiple different men specially trained by the United States government to take up the Frankenstein mantle, in the event of the previous Frankenstein being killed, and thus needing to be replaced by another, while always wearing the same black leather suit, and having makeup applied to have the appearance of being almost superhuman, and capable of withstanding injuries that would obliterate most, meaning that Joe most likely has the highest kill count even superseding Frankenstein himself.
Death Race 2000[]
Machine Gun Joe first appears onscreen after being announced by Junior Bruce as being "loved by thousands, hated by millions". After getting the welcome that he deserves but doesn't like, Machine Gun Joe retaliates by opening fire on the crowd with his namesake machine gun, much to the encouragement of his girlfriend. As the race begins, Machine Gun Joe strikes the first kill on the scoreboard, doing so by hitting a pedestrian's genitals with the front blades attached to his car, with Junior Bruce remarking that this is the second year in a row that Machine Gun Joe has gotten the first kill of the race.
After scoring more kills, including someone putting up a Frankenstein banner, they take a break while he tries to get information from Annie, and he slaps his navigator and girlfriend Myra when he sees her talking to Frankenstein. As the race continues, Annie tricked him by leading him off course. Joe asks a fisherman for the way back, and then promptly murders him when the latter mistakes him for Frankenstein. When questioned by a government agent about the drivers suddenly being killed, Joe dismisses their deaths as the result of their poor driving, and when the agent tries to coerce Joe's cooperation and silence, Joe throws clam sauce at him, and then blows up at three violinists for playing a song he dislikes.
Realizing that Annie tricked him, Joe interrogates her and then tries to retaliate by attempting to strangle her to death, only being stopped by Frankenstein appearing and beating Joe bloody.
Defeat and Death[]
With the final stages of the race entering play, Calamity Jane tells Frankenstein and Annie that regardless of what happens, it was an honor to race with them, while he and Annie accept her grace, Joe blows her off when Jane tries the same with him, and when the race starts, Joe runs over his own mechanics. While it seems like Frankenstein is cornered by the rebels, with Joe attempting to leave him to his fate, Frankenstein escapes their grasp. As Joe and Myra are closing in on and attempting to kill Frankenstein and Annie, Annie gets the upper hand on them by blowing them up with Frankenstein's hand grenade.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Machine Gun Joe is one of Sylvester Stallone's few villainous roles, as he is most famous for playing heroic, although not uncommonly anti-heroic characters. Although the role was early in his career. It's also one the few roles where he plays a character who dies, unambiguously, onscreen, and canonically.
- Stallone was cast based his previous performance in The Lords of Flatbush.
- One year after this film, Stallone would land his star-making (and academy award nominated) role as Rocky Balboa in the first Rocky film.
- Stallone did most of his characters driving, and rewrote some of Joe's dialogue.
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| Death Race Villains |
| Death Race 2000 Frankenstein | Mr. President | Machine Gun Joe Viterbo | Junior Bruce
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