ROADRACERS (1960)

Joel Lawrence

ROADRACERS (1960). Director: Arthur Swerdloff. 

Rob Wilson (Joel Lawrence) has a difficult relationship with his father, Harry (John Shay). Harry is obsessed with car racing and sort of forced his son into the sport. When a man dies during a race, Harry blames Rob, who takes off for Europe. Coming home he takes up racing again, but tells his father he hates it -- and him. He is also upset over his former girlfriend, Liz's (Marian Collier) relationship with a rival racer, Greg Morgan (Skip Ward). It doesn't help that Harry has decided to sponsor Greg instead of his own son.  Naturally the two drivers will have a grudge match at the American Grand Prix in Riverdale, California.  

Rivals: Joel Lawrence, Marian Collier, Skip Ward

Roadracers, a slick black and white flick from American International, has some good acting and a script that leaves many cliches of the genre intact: the rival drivers after the same girl; the conflict between a father and his son; the driver haunted by someone's death in a race etc. The script at least tries to flesh out the characters and the performances help, but the movie sort of strains for dramatic currency. The racing scenes are fairly exciting but they've been done better elsewhere. The good-looking lead, Joel Lawrence, is solid as Rob but mostly appeared on television after starring in this picture. Ditto for Skip Ward, although he also played Hank the driver in Night of the Iguana. Marion Collier sings the memorable "Here You Are" at one point but doesn't have much of a voice. However, she's much better than Jimmie Madden croaking out "Leadfoot" over the opening credits. Sally Fraser and Mason Alan Dinehart are also in the cast. 

Verdict: Standard race track meller with some decent acting. **1/2.