Le gang des BMX

This movie is perfect for a drunken video night at home. Nicole Kidman stars as one of the teenage BMX bandits and a check-out chick at the local supermarket. The kids come across a bunch of stolen walkie-talkies and get caught up with some "nasty" goons. Don't miss the classic going down the Manly waterslides on BMX bikes. Luv Nicole's perm! And the BMX bandits matching outfits! And the goons'"scary" halloween masks!

80's children classic!

A total stinker - but in the "it's so bad it's good" category.

Plus a must see for all those Nicole fans out there.

This family film involves three juveniles (including a very tall, very lovely, Nicole Kidman), wacky criminals, and even wackier cops. It reminds me a lot of the films Disney made for TV in the 1970's. Kids of course would not last long against guns, but movies are about living out our fantasies. What better fantasy than fighting crime on BMX while checking out the lovely scenery and lovely Nicole Kidman?

I have similar feelings about this movie as a lot of the other reviewers.

As kids, my friends and I used to rent it at all opportunities. I can still remember fighting in the car over who got to look at the cover!

I watched it again a few years back. The plot seemed silly. The acting was no longer brilliant. Overall it dropped about 2 stars!

But I still enjoyed seeing it again. It was good memories. Of course having Nicole Kidman in one of her first movies ever is also great fun to watch. Who'd have known she'd go on to become such hot property.

P.s. She must spend a fortune keeping her hair straight!

I'm sure that there have probably been a lot more adventure films centered around BMXing than just BMX Bandits or Rad, but those are all that I have seen as of this writing. And while I thought 'Rad' was far too embarrassingly cheesy and was initially skeptical when I picked up BMX Bandits, BMX Bandits blew 'Rad' right out the water as far as acting, story, humor, and even action sequences.

BMX Bandits is something like an Australian version of the Hardy Boys (plus one girl) mystery on wheels. Three teens desperate for money to not only get new bikes, but also finally fulfill their ambitions for a neighborhood dirt course decide to try and make the cash on their own. Only, their brief, unsuccessful time as fishing entrepreneurs leads them instead to a boat with a mysterious box tied to it. So, they did what any honest citizen would: they cut the rope and claimed the abandoned treasure for themselves. A case full of sophisticated walkie talkies which yield not only a pretty penny as they sell them to the neighborhood kids, but also a lot of trouble as they are chased by their skilled, gangster owners who wish to retrieve their finds and punish the kids for taking them, as well as the cops who think something much more is going on when their radio frequencies are interrupted with the conversations of the three teens on their walkie talkies.

Despite the family film theme, the movie lacks much of the corniness common to the genre, the decade, or the BMX theme. The filmmakers were willing to be a little more daring with the dialog and the story, probably trying to appeal to audiences older than just the pre-teen market and do so in an often humorous manner, thanks mostly to the witty retort of Goose (James Lugton), one of the three main teens. Although, at least for me, one of the drawbacks was a longer-than-necessary conclusion in which the teens and the gangsters duke it out more or less.

Nonetheless, it is an old adventurous cult classic that is well worth checking out.

BMX Bandits is an Australian story and movie. The local kids who are BMX riders need some cash to buy new bikes after an unfortunate wreck. Three of them in a small boat find a heavy box tied to a rope and submerged, upon confiscating it find it filled with walkie talkies. They figure they can sell them to the local kids to raise some cash.

At the same time a group of crooks had hidden the walkie talkies, special models with a private police band, that they were going to use in a heist. So most of the movie has the crooks chasing the three BMX riders, two boys and a girl, to get the walkie talkies back. As such most of the movie includes slapstick humor and chases through most unlikely places, such as a shopping mall, a Rugby game, a water slide park, a golf course ... in each case narrowly avoiding getting caught. There is also an extended scene at night in a cemetery which didn't really add too much to the story.

So it is just a silly movie, the entertainment value is marginal, maybe mostly for kids. But the reason I watched it is for Nicole Kidman, this is one of her first movies filmed when she just just about to turn 16. For her inexperience she actually does very well in the role and shows the beginning of acting chops which has made her one of the best of her generation.

I found the entire movie on Youtube streaming with no commercials. The movie comes across really well with good cinematography and mostly very vivid colors.