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Deathcheater
Deathcheater
	Australian film poster
Directed by	Brian Trenchard-Smith
Screenplay by	Michael Cove
Story by	Brian Trenchard-Smith
Produced by	Brian Trenchard-Smith
Starring	John Hargreaves; Grant Page; Margaret Trenchard-Smith; Noel Ferrier; Judith Woodroffe; Ralph Cotterill; Roger Ward; Chris Haywood;
Cinematography	John Seale
Edited by	Ron Williams
Music by	Peter Martin
Production; companies	The Australian Film Commission; National Nine Network; Roadshow Film Distributors; D.L. Taffner; Trenchard Productions;
Distributed by	Roadshow Film Distributors
Release date	16 December 1976;
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	A$157,000
Box office	A$30,000 (Australia)

Deathcheaters is a 1976 Australian action adventure film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith and starring John Hargreaves and Grant Page.^[2]

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
Grant Page as Rodney Cann
Margaret Trenchard-Smith (as Margaret Gerard) as Julia Hall
Noel Ferrier as Mr Culpepper
Judith Woodroffe as Gloria
Ralph Cotterill as uncivil servant
John Krumme as Anticore director
Drew Forsythe as battle director
Brian Trenchard-Smith as hit and run director
Michael Aitkens as police driver
Roger Ward as police sergeant
Wallas Eaton as police sergeant
Dale Aspin as lady car driver
Peter Collingwood as Mr Langham
Chris Haywood as butcher
Ann Semler as Lina
Max Aspin as bank robber
David Bracks as bank robber
Reg Evans as army sergeant
Vincent Ball 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.^[1]

It was shot in 16mm and blown up to 35mm for theatrical release. Trenchard Smith had worked with stuntman Grant Page several times and gave him his first lead role here. He also cast his wife, Margaret Gerard, as the female lead.^[3]

Trenchard Smith says the movie went $7,000 over budget.^[1]

Release

The film performed disappointingly in Australia theatrically.^[4] 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.^[1]

(In 1977 Antony I. Ginnane claimed the film netted $130,000 in overseas sales.^[5])

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, 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

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Richard Brennan, 'Brian Trenchard-Smith', Cinema Papers, Dec-Jan 1979-80 p 601
^ Vagg, Stephen (31 December 2019). "Top Ten Australian James Bond Homages". Filmink.
^ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p 307
^ David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p266
^ Antony I. Ginnane, "The Australians at Cannes", Cinema Papers July 1977 p33