The Lord Zirpola character
Actor David McLean did a good job portraying the unscrupulous, mean-spirited, and psychotic citystate dictator, Lord Zirpola, although looking at him, he does sort of look like he's the heavy-drinker type.
Does it make one wonder how his Lord Zirpola character passed the censors? Lord Zirpola was one old, lecherous, mean, sadistic, son-of-a-b****. He had the right idea in arranging for beautiful women to dance au natural on a darkened stage among hanging, glass rods. I mean, what warm-blooded guy wouldn't enjoy the sight of beautiful nude dancers on a dark stage. But then he degenerates into an unbelievably misogynistic and sadistic bast**d by electrocuting the dancers. There was an implication that the dying, psychotic Lord Zirpola was not only suffering neurotic dementia, but was impotent. He expressed his sexual rage by hurting defenseless women. Many a viewer of DEATHSPORT missed the finer points of this movie by just simply ridiculing it. Sci-fi producer and direct Roger Corman never intended to produce Oscar-award blockbusters. His grand purpose was to entertain us efficiently and economically, to which he has brilliantly succeeded.