Le gang des BMX

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?

Excellent movie. Great stunts. Horrible villains. I'll never forget watching this with my friends. It made us want to catch bad guys and then race bikes. The music is just as much fun. Everyone should see this at least once.

If I was on my deathbed, and my loved ones were gathering around me, and if they asked me if there was anything I wanted to do before I died... I would reply, "Show me BMX Bandits, one last time." Obviously, this will never happen, as I have no loved ones, and in fact will probably die alone. But enough about me.

BMX Bandits is an unparalleled achievement in cinema history, ranking right up there with, "Out of the Body" and "Birth of a Nation." It basically features a nubile NIcole Kidman (in tight BMX pants ;-) ) and her band of mates, Goose, and P.J. Confused? That's because those names are BMX lingo. This film is jam-packed with BMX tomfoolery and other high speed things. Look for a wizend David Argue (remember his role in Gallipoli?) as the colorful crook, "Whitey." Watch as him and his partner-in-crime, John Ley (Mustache) are unable to kill three kids on bikes. Even with a muscle car. And a trunkful of guns. Thrills and chills ensue. Scary Graveyard Hide-and-go seek! Foam fertilizer! Male short shorts! Complicated movie-within-movie descriptions. And one extremely awkward kiss. This movie is not to be missed.

No childhood is complete without a fantastically expensive and frivolous fad, and the BMX bike was one such item - and one which I could even take part in (skateboarding was definitely not for me, as I was incapable of standing on one). Who would have thought that Australia, and the king of ozploitation cinema Brian Trenchard-Smith, would produce the movie to capture the zeitgeist of the colourful bicycles. I first saw this film in 1984 at a film club (basically a small room with a projector and screen, filled with us poor kids, whose parents wanted us out of the house).

Three kids, Goose (James Lugton), P.J. (Angelo D'Angelo), and Judy (Nicole Kidman), spend their summer holidays riding around on their bikes, attempting to get into mischief. They stumble across a box containing walkie-talkies (that's massive pre-mobile phone, communication boxes), that belong to a gang of bank robbers. Once the criminals (crims to use the colloquial term) discover that these pesky kids have "stolen" the items, a hapless pair (Whitey (David Argue) and Moustache (John Ley)), chase the trio around the seaside town, with comic effect.

Of course this is a silly film, it is completely unadulterated fun, and doesn't have the ubiquitous saccharine kids of an American "kids" film, and do not fall prey to the kind of posh-kids found in Enid Blyton's Famous Five stories. The young cast never become annoying, and hold the film together throughout. This is how us kids spent our summer holidays back in the day. Nowadays, children miss out on this sense of freedom, and completely lose out on creating mischief, as parents fear "stranger danger" which has been perpetuated by our "objective" media (thanks for that!). I'm going to end on an appeal: Parents out there, let your kids run free, let them get into trouble whilst cycling with friends in a summer sense of autonomy - if you don't believe me when I state that this will enrich your children, then watch this film and see what happens.

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This may be interesting to fans of this movie. Most of the movie was filmed in Manly, NSW, Australia which is a coastal town not far from Sydney. A ferry ride across sydney harbour away, in fact.

The BMX track at the end of the movie, just before the credits roll is actually Hickeys Lane BMX track which was located in Penrith, New South Wales, Australia.

Penrith is a city west of Sydney and I lived there from 1984 to 1989.

I have fond memories of riding my BMX at Hickeys Lane and it's great to actually see it in a movie.

If you play the BMX track part of the movie slowly, you can see the Blue Mountains in the background behind the park.

In the end credits there is a thank you message to Western Sydney BMX Club. Penrith now has a new BMX track and from what I have read on the internet, Hickeys Lane BMX track is no longer in use.

Regards,

Ashley Irons