''Sidecar Racers'' is a 1975 Australian film about an Australian motorcycle rider (John Clayton) who teams up with an American surfer ( Ben Murphy) to take part in a motorcycle racing tournament.

Plot

Jeff Rayburn, an American surfer visiting Australia, gets involved in the world of sidecar motorcycle racing. He becomes friends with Dave Ferguson and the two of them form a champion team.

Cast

* Ben Murphy as Jeff Rayburn *

Wendy Hughes Wendy Hughes (29 July 19528 March 2014) was an Australian actress known for her work in theatre, film and television. Her career spanned more than forty years and established her reputation as one of Australia's finest and most prolific actors. ...

as Lynn Carson *

John Clayton John Clayton may refer to: Arts and entertainment Writing *John Clayton (architect) (died 1861), English architect and writer *John Bell Clayton and Martha Clayton, John Bell Clayton (c. 1907–1955), American writer *John Clayton (sportswriter) ( ...

as Dave Ferguson *

Peter Graves Peter Graves (born Peter Duesler Aurness; March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Jim Phelps in the CBS television series '' Mission: Impossible'' from 1967 to 1973 (original) and from 1988 to ...

as Carson *

John Meillon John Meillon, ( ; 1 May 1934 – 11 August 1989), was an Australian character actor, known for many straight as well as comedy roles, he became most widely known internationally as Walter Reilly in the films ''Crocodile Dundee'' and ''Crocodil ...

as Ocker Harvey *

John Derum John Bernard Derum (born 9 January 1946) is an Australian stage, film and television actor. He has also directed and produced for theatre companies throughout Australia and for television. Career Theatre Derum walked in on Wal Cherry's ...

as Pete McAllister *Peter Gwynne as Rick Horton *

Serge Lazareff Serge Constantine Lazareff (7 August 1944 - 20 August 2021) was an Australian actor and screenwriter/editor, who was born in Shanghai, China. He appeared in 54 roles from the late 1960s until 1999, before starting a second career as a writer fo ...

as Stumpy Wilson *Paul Bertram as Bob Horton *Patrick Ward as Tex Wilson *Loretta Saul as The Girl Singer

Production

Producer Richard Irving was a vice-president at Universal. He said he got the idea for making the film after attending a side car race in Sydney. He thought the sport "captured the Australian spirit . . . the sense of fun, a certain recklessness, energy and the desire to win" and wanted to make a film with the sport as a backdrop. Novelist

Jon Cleary Jon Stephen Cleary (22 November 191719 July 2010) was an Australian writer and novelist. He wrote numerous books, including '' The Sundowners'' (1951), a portrait of a rural family in the 1920s as they move from one job to the next, and '' The ...

was hired to write the script, an original for the screen. He says Universal were keen to make lower budgeted films aimed at the youth audience in the wake of the success of ''

American Graffiti ''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard (billed as Ronn ...

'' (1973) – although he remains unsure why they picked him to write the script since he was in his fifties at the time. Cleary decided to make the lead character a former surfboard rider because of the aerobatic skills needed to be a sidecar racer. TV producer Richard Irving was meant to produce and direct but could not go to Australia due to an actors strike and directing duties were ultimately taken over by

Earl Bellamy Earl Arthur Bellamy (March 11, 1917 – November 30, 2003) was an American television and film director. Biography Bellamy was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was also known as Earl J. Bellamy, or Earl J. Bellamy, Jr. "Earl Bellamy." Contem ...

. Shooting began in March 1974 with race sequences shot at the Sydney Showground and

Mount Panorama Mount Panorama Circuit is a motor racing track located in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on Mount Panorama (Wahluu) and is best known as the home of the Bathurst 1000 motor race held each October, and the Bathurst 12 Hour ...

.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production'', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 431 According to Cleary, Ben Murphy was troublesome during filming. "He wanted to rewrite the script, tell everybody how to act, how to produce it", the author says. "He was an absolute pain in the arse to everybody."

, who played the female lead, later said she "didn't quite get on" with Murphy and claimed the director "was very efficient, but we didn't have any in-depth discussions about character. It was left up to me, mainly. Sometimes it worked; sometimes it didn't. I tried so hard."Richard Brennan, "Wendy Hughes", ''Cinema Papers'', October 1982 p. 431 The movie was originally known as ''The Sidecar Boys''.

Reception

According to

David Stratton David James Stratton (born 10 September 1939) is an English-Australian award-winning film critic, as both a journalist and interviewer, film historian and lecturer and television personality and producer. Life and career Born in Trowbridge, ...

, the film did "lackluster business" on its release.David Stratton, ''The Last New Wave'', Angus & Robertson 1980 p. 9 Cleary says that it sold well on television, however, in part because it went out on a package including ''

The Great Waldo Pepper ''The Great Waldo Pepper'' is a 1975 American drama film directed, produced, and co-written by George Roy Hill. Set during 1926–1931, the film stars Robert Redford as a disaffected World War I veteran pilot who missed the opportunity to fly ...

'' (1975).Jon Cleary Interviewed by Stephen Vagg: Oral History
at

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

References

External links

*
''Sidecar Racers''
at

*
''Sidecar Racers''
at Oz Movies {{Jon Cleary 1975 films 1975 drama films Australian auto racing films Australian drama films Films directed by Earl Bellamy Films scored by Tom Scott Films shot in New South Wales Motorcycle racing films Universal Pictures films 1970s English-language films