Director: Arthur Swerdloff
Written by: Stanley Kallis, Edward J. Lasko
Cast: Joel Lawrence, Marian Collier, Skip Ward, Sally Fraser

Year / Country: 1959, USA
Running Time: 73 mins.

Roadracers is not to be confused with Robert Rodriquez’ 1994 TV-movie of the same name. Interesting detail about that film is that it was part of the Rebel Highway series that took the titles of 1950’s-era B-movies and was produced by Lou Arkoff, son of Samuel Z. Arkoff, the producer of this movie, and according to IMDb 138 other B-movies.

The story revolves around Rob Wilson, a young racer who was involved in a lethal accident years ago and recently started driving again. His father, a racing fanatic, wants him to be the best racer on the track. But Rob realizes he doesn’t like racing at all and breaks with his father. He goes to Europe where he continues his racing career, while his father takes Rob’s former competitor as his apprentice. Rob returns to the States to challenge his father in one last race: the Grand Prix.

Many Arkoff movies were shot in a couple of days and this appears to be one of them. A simple plot, lots of stock footage and some notable editing problems expose it for a B-movie pur sang. The upsides are some impressive black and white visuals and a couple of cool songs on the soundtrack. Unfortunately, despite its pleasant speed, Roadracers is a quite boring flick at the end of the day.

Rating:

Biography: Arthur Swerdloff (1921, Baltimore – 2008, Los Angeles) has directed a number of educational documentaries, mostly revolving around social themes. His only effort as feature director is Roadracers.

Filmography: Show ‘Em the Road (1954, short doc), Gang Boy (1954, short), Age 13 (1955, short), Roadracers (1959), What’s the Big Hurry (1977, short doc / co-dir)20