Deathcheaters (1976/Region 4 PAL Import/Madman DVD Set/Australia)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Film: C+
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD set can only be operated
on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Four/4 PAL
format software and can be ordered from our friends at Madman Entertainment at
the website address provided at the end of the review.
In
between his epic action fest The Man
From Hong Kong (1975) and cross between a wild Rock concert and more
amazing stuntwork in Stunt Rock
(1978, both reviewed elsewhere on this site), Director Brian Trenchard-Smith
made Deathcheaters (1976) with his
usual combination of great fight scenes, great stunt work, wacky humor and
action plotting that owes something to the James Bond films. This one also owes something to the TV series
The Persuaders too as two wildmen
(Grant Page and John Hargreaves) are pushed into a suicide mission in the Philippines.
They are so over the
edge that part of the idea (especially implied at the time) is that they are a
two-man Wild Bunch, so this film
even has elements of a Professional Western, but without the larger cast. Along the way, there are all kinds of
eccentric characters, bad people and other outrageous moments that make it
another amusing and very watchable Trenchard-Smith film.
Sure, the story is derivative (shamelessly too) and the script somewhat
thin, but once the action kicks in, that does not matter and he odes it better
than most of his Hollywood counterparts,
especially now.
The leads
are well matched, with Page a real-life stuntman doing as good an acting job as
the film needs, while Hargreaves is convincing as his no-stunt-is-too-dangerous
best friend. Michael Cove’s script also
throws in elements of the karate films of the time and James Bond films to that
time, so this is a mix, but one that works well enough to catch and
Trenchard-Smith’s action directing is top notch, even when the story is left
behind. Peter
Collingwood (Razorback, Newsfront), Margaret Gerard, Roger Ward
(the original Mad Max) and Noel
Ferrier (Turkey Shoot) also star.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.85 X 1 image represents the first major work of award
winning Director of Photography John Seale, who would go on to lens Witness, Children Of A Lesser God, The
Mosquito Coast, Rain Man, The English Patient, The Firm, The Perfect Storm, Cold
Mountain, Harry Potter & The
Sorcerer’s Stone and Prince Of
Persia: The Sands Of Time. This was
shot in 35mm and the print looks good for its age, while the film itself looks
good overall with editing that holds up and some nice locations. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono shows its age too, but is just fine considering the
budget of the film.
Extras include another Trenchard-Smith feature-length
audio commentary with Gerard & Executive Producer Richard Brennan,
trailers, stills and DVD 2 has his amazing documentary Dangerfreaks, narrated by Nick
Tate (Space: 1999) that is even
better than the actual film, but should be seen afterwards.
As noted
above, you can order this PAL DVD set import exclusively from Madman at:
https://www.madman.com.au/actions/channel.do?method=view
-
Nicholas Sheffo
