''Deathcheaters'' is a 1976 Australian

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

adventure film directed by

Brian Trenchard-Smith Brian Medwin Trenchard-Smith (born 1946) is an English-Australian filmmaker and author, known for his idiosyncratic and satirical low-budget genre films. His filmography covers action, science fiction, martial arts, dystopian fiction, comedy, ...

and starring John Hargreaves and

Grant Page Grant Page (born 1939) is an Australian stuntman who worked mostly during the seventies and eighties. Page was the stunt coordinator for the popular Australian action movies ''The Man from Hong Kong'' (1975) and ''Mad Max'' (1979), as well as othe ...

Plot

Steve and Rodney are two ex-Vietnam commandos who do stunt work for television. They are hired by the government to raid the island stronghold of a Filipino racketeer and secure papers from his safe. The two men make the raid and escape using a hang-glider.

Cast

* John Hargreaves as Steve Hall *

as Rodney Cann *Margaret Trenchard-Smith (as Margaret Gerard) as Julia Hall *

Noel Ferrier Noel Ferrier AM (20 December 193016 October 1997) was an Australian television personality, comedian, stage and film actor, raconteur and theatrical producer. He was a regular panelist in Graham Kennedy's popular game show '' Blankety Blanks ( ...

as Mr Culpepper *Judith Woodroffe as Gloria *Ralph Cotterill as uncivil servant *John Krumme as Anticore director *

Drew Forsythe Drew Forsythe (born 23 August 1949) is an Australian actor, singer, writer, and comedian. He has appeared on film, stage, and television, as well as in satirical sketch comedy television programs. Early life Born in Sydney, New South Wales, F ...

as battle director *

as hit and run director *Michael Aitkens as police driver *

Roger Ward Roger Ward (born 1936) is an Australian actor who has had a considerable career in film and television, noted for "tough guy" roles in which he often did his own stunts. Biography Ward was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1936. His care ...

as police sergeant *Wallas Eaton as police sergeant *Dale Aspin as lady car driver *Peter Collingwood as Mr Langham *

Chris Haywood Chris Haywood (born ) is an English-born Australian actor, writer and producer, with close to 500 screen performances to his name. Haywood has also worked as a casting director, art director, sound recordist, camera operator, gaffer, grip, l ...

as butcher *Ann Semler as Lina *Max Aspin as bank robber *David Bracks as bank robber *Reg Evans as army sergeant *

Vincent Ball Vincent Martin Ball OAM (born 4 December 1923) is an Australian retired character actor of radio, stage and screen, active in the industry for nearly 55 years (with a brief return) firstly in Britain and then his native Australia. He has also ...

as naval intelligence officer

Production

The film was funded by the Australian Film Commission, Channel 9 and D.L. Taffner. It was intended to be a pilot for a TV series that could be shown theatrically in Australia and sold to television outside. It was shot in 16mm and blown up to 35mm for theatrical release. Trenchard Smith had worked with stuntman

several times and gave him his first lead role here. He also cast his wife, Margaret Gerard, as the female lead.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p 307 Trenchard Smith says the movie went $7,000 over budget.

Release

The film performed disappointingly in Australia theatrically.David Stratton, ''The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival'', Angus & Robertson, 1980 p266 It had a presale to Channel Nine for $50,000, overseas sales of $40,000 and local rentals of $30,000, so made $120,000. In 1979 Trenchard-Smith was still confident the film would be profitable. (In 1977 Antony I. Ginnane claimed the film netted $130,000 in overseas sales.Antony I. Ginnane, "The Australians at Cannes", ''Cinema Papers'' July 1977 p33)

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, Andrew L. Urban of ''Urban Cinefile'' positively commented "nobody in their right minds would do it again, not with real actors today not even with stuntmen. Unmissable!"

Accolades

Ron Williams was nominated for Best Editing at the 1977 Australian Film Institute Awards.

References

External links

*
''Deathcheaters''
at Grindhousemovie Database
''Deathcheaters''
at Oz Movies {{Brian Trenchard-Smith 1970s action adventure films Films directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith 1976 films Films set in the Philippines Films about stunt performers Australian action adventure films Films shot in Sydney 1970s English-language films