Windrider

It seems like they made a movie like this for every cool activity in the 80s, and since windsurfing was at the height of its popularity it got the treatment too. Think Top Gun with much lower stakes and one tenth the budget. Despite a bad script and some marginal acting, I actually enjoyed this movie. Forget about the cliché plot and you can actually get a kick out of the clothes and hair and all the other 80s elements. The film is shot in Australia so for an American it was fun to pick out the cultural differences as well. Also, Nicole Kidman stars as a rock star, putting on a good performance and giving the film an excuse to fill the soundtrack with some era appropriate synth cheese. The windsurfing scenes will only appeal to the real hard core since the sport has changed so much in the last couple decades, but again I enjoyed the look back.

This is a surprisingly good film, bearing in mind it was probably made on a miniscule budget. What's unforgettable about it is a 19-year old Nicole Kidman as a sassy rock singer in a red leather jacket and slit skirt (as well as in the nude for about 5 scenes - all too brief). There's more than a hint of the famous actor she was about to become, with some feisty dialogue and a totally believable intensity in her relationship with her screen boyfriend. It's a pity that the credits reveal her 'singing' was dubbed by someone else, as Moulin Rouge showed she was quite capable of doing it herself. Oh, and if you like windsurfing, or huge waves crashing on Australian beaches, you'll also like the film for those reasons, and it's even got quite a good storyline with tension rising towards the end. The scriptwriter's attempts at humour - and the briefly-glimpsed plastic shark - are a bit embarrassing though!

I have just watched this movie on late-night TV & it reminds me of when I saw it the 1st time at the Beechboro Drive-in in Perth's north eastern suburbs back in 1986/87 as an 18yr old. It was good then, but much better now, 24 years later. Only a local would pick up on the scene backgrounds that were far from accurate, e.g. when they were filming the final sequence off Trigg Beach, when you saw the coast from the water there was no crowd, or buildings even, as the actual windsurfing would've been shot further north beyond the suburbs. The film is a great period piece that any Aussie would enjoy.. the clothes, the hairstyles, the cars, etc. Tom & Nicole are definitely very cute together. If you have never been to Perth, as the movie shows, there is plenty of beaches & plenty of sun. I loved seeing the movie again.

This film inspired me to windsurf, and for that I can only be eternally grateful. It also has some really nice shots of Nicole Kidman's butt. If you are not an Aussie the rest might not be of too much interest, but does that wind ever blow over in Perth!

"Windrider" is a movie that's quite hard to find nowadays. It's never been released on DVD, and it didn't sell that many VHS copies when it was released on that format years ago. This is despite the fact that one of its stars is a pre-famous Nicole Kidman. There's extra interest for some fans of Kidman since in this movie she takes off her clothes a couple of times. But does the rest of the movie have anything good to offer? Well, it's nicely photographed, and the windsurfing sequences are energetic. There is also a nice musical score. But the movie is ultimately forgettable. It's never really BAD, but you will have seen the characters and the various plot turns in many other movies before, resulting in the movie having no surprises at all. Best watched as a background movie when you are busy with some activity at home.