Deathcheaters is a 1976Australianactionadventure film directed byBrian Trenchard-Smith and starringJohn Hargreaves andGrant Page.^[3]

Deathcheater
Australianfilm 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 (1976-12-16)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	A$157,000[1][2]
Box office	A$30,000 (Australia)[1]

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.

• 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

The film was funded by theAustralian 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 stuntmanGrant Page several times and gave him his first lead role here. He also cast his wife, Margaret Gerard, as the female lead.^[4]

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

The film performed disappointingly in Australia theatrically.^[5] 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 1977Antony I. Ginnane claimed the film netted $130,000 in overseas sales.^[6])

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

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

• Deathcheaters atIMDb
• Deathcheaters at Grindhousemovie Database
• Deathcheaters at Oz Movies