BMX Bandits
Cast & Crew
Read More
Brian Trenchard-smith
Director
David Argue
Whitey
John Ley
Moustache
Nicole Kidman
Judy
Angelo D'angelo
Pj
James Lugton
Goose
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Adventure
Release Date
1983
Production Company
Arclight Films Pty Ltd.; Colorfilm; Opticals & Graphics; Panavision, Ltd.
Distribution Company
Rank Film Distributors Ltd
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 30m
Synopsis
Director
Brian Trenchard-smith
Director
Cast
David Argue
Whitey
John Ley
Moustache
![](https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/NicoleKidman.101739.jpg?imwidth=188&height=141)
Nicole Kidman
Judy
Angelo D'angelo
Pj
James Lugton
Goose
Bryan Marshall
Boss
Brian Sloman
Creep
Peter Browne
Police Constable
Bill Brady
Sergeant
Linda Newton
Policewoman
Bob Hicks
1st Heavy
Guy Norris
2nd Heavy
Chris Hession
3rd Heavy
Norman Hodges
Drunk
Tracey Wallace
Buxom Lady
Michael Gillette
Vicar
Brian Best
Supermarket Manager
Jerry D'angelo
1st Boy
Malcolm Day
2nd Boy
Ray Marshall
Foreman
Patrick Mansfield
Crane Driver
Alan Mcqueen
Workman
Anthony Alafaci
Fat Kid
Craig Hopcroft
1st Kid
Marty Irwin
2nd Kid
Fiona Gage
Young Girl
Paul Flaherty
Businessman
Andy Clarke
Man With Mattress
Claude Lambert
Trendy Delivery Man
Rocky Mcdonald
Man On Escalator
Deanne North
Lady Golfer
Wayne Pleace
Man On Ladder
Avril Wynne
Waitress
Chris Galetti
Road Gang Foreman
Jeff Brown
Worker
Gavin Critchley
1st Frasers Foam Man
Jack Morton
2nd Frasers Foam Man
Ray Marshall
Crew
Rosslyn Abernethy
Production Secretary
Kimbal Anderson
Production
Ross Berryman
Additional Photography
Sam Bienstock
Best Boy Electric
Sue Blainey
Assistant Editor
Tom Broadbridge
Producer
Sally Bryant
Medic
Brian D Burgess
Associate Producer
Gary Carden
Grip
Derrick Chetwyn
Props Buyer
Andy Clarke
Security
Miriam Cortez
Negative Cutter
Roger Cowland
Titles And Opticals
Gethin Creagh
Sound Mixer
Jan Crocker
Unit Publicist
Andrew Cunningham
Sound Effects Editor
Carolynne Cunningham
Location Manager
Danni Daems
Construction
Paul F Davies
Producer
Roxanne Delbarre
Assistant Director
Candice Dubois
Production Accountant
Patrick Edgeworth
Screenwriter
Derry Field
Loader
Reg Garside
Gaffer
Bill Gooley
Liaison
Sally Gordon
Makeup Artist
Russell Hagg
Source Material
Ken Hammond
Sound Recordist
Dave Hardie
Special Effects Technician
Bob Hicks
Stunt Coordinator
Bob Howard
Assistant Director
Louis Irving
Additional Photography
Boris Janjic
Best Boy Grip
Phil Judd
Sound Mixer
Robin Judge
Assistant Sound Editor
Joanne Kennedy
Tutor
Ian Kenny
Assistant Director
Willi Kenrick
Hairdresser
Alan Lake
Editor
Igor Lazareff
Props
Terry Lord
Construction
Suzie Maizels
Casting
Ross Major
Production Designer
Peter Mardell
Key Grip
Steve Mason
Camera Focus Puller
Lesley Mclennan
Wardrobe
Jenny Miles
Wardrobe (Standby)
Steve Miller
Boom Operator
Robbie Moreton
Stunt Rider
Chris Murray
Special Effects Coordinator
Jim O'neill
Stunt Rider
John Patterson
Post-Production Sound
Linda Ray
Continuity
Helen Rixon
Caterer
Murray Robertson
Assistant Director
Joanne Rooney
Production Assistant
John Seale
Director Of Photography
Phillip Shapiera
Grip
Colin Stead
Music
Andrew Steuart
Supervising Sound Editor
Frank Strangio
Music
Mark Sullivan
Assistant
Bliss Swift
Photography
Kathy Troutt
Caterer
Jim Walker
Sound Effects Editor
Craig White
Stunt Rider
Des White
Technical Advisor
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Adventure
Release Date
1983
Production Company
Arclight Films Pty Ltd.; Colorfilm; Opticals & Graphics; Panavision, Ltd.
Distribution Company
Rank Film Distributors Ltd
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 30m
Articles
BMX Bandits - BMX BANDITS - Nicole Kidman in 1983 Aussie Cult Movie
The project originated with Australian writer-director Russell Hagg, who wanted to make a kids' film after watching his own children speed about on their bicycles. As the project passed into the hands of screenwriter Patrick Edgeworth and prospective director Brian Trenchard-Smith (chosen by the producers on the strength of his 1982 film, Turkey Shoot, aka Escape 2000, a sci-fi riff on Richard Connell's oft-filmed The Most Dangerous Game), Water Rats (Hagg's original title) morphed into BMX Bandits, due to the rising popularity of bicycle-motocross games, and its setting shifted from Melbourne to Sydney. The project was adjusted to its ultimate shape with the casting of Sydney teenager Nicole Kidman. Kidman's character had been conceived to offer feminine support to male leads Angelo D'Angelo and James Lugton but was foregrounded during shooting in the face of her perceived star quality. Although her participation in the film gives video store owners an incentive to offer BMX Bandits preferred placement on the "New Releases" shelves, the appearance of the future Academy Award nominee is one of the film's lesser charms, with Kidman contributing a serviceable but hardly star-making performance.
BMX Bandits strings the thinnest of plot lines between a handful of automobile vs. BMX bike chase scenes (one lasting 20 minutes!), telling the unlikely tale of a trio of Manly Beach teenagers who stumble upon a cache of two-way radios imported for use in a payroll robbery. When the criminal gang's Cockney kingpin (Bryan Marshall, from The Long Good Friday) identifies the two-wheeled tearaways as standing between him and a small fortune in ill-gotten gains, he dispatches dimwitted underlings David Argue (the Gallipoli star receives top billing) and John Ley (Mad Max) to retrieve the walkie-talkies by any means necessary. Adding free production value to the low budget affair is the use of such Sydney north beach locations as the Long Reef Gold Club, Bronte's sprawling Waverly Cemetery, and the Warringah shopping mall (which Trenchard-Smith had trashed in his 1976 film Death Cheaters) but the film's capital asset is its inexhaustibility, as the pubescent protagonists evade their pursuers on tarmac, grass (at one point interrupting a rugby match), through warehouses and at one point down the flume of an amusement park water slide. Much wheel well-level photography ensues, with professional stunt drivers and helmeted BMX champs hogging the frame for huge chunks of the film's running time.
Severin Films' packaging parrots cult film aficionado Quentin Tarantino's assertion that "if we'd grown up in Australia, BMX Bandits would have been our Goonies." The transfer is framed at the correct 2.35:1 OAR and anamorphically enhanced for widescreen playback. The image is startlingly clear and chromatically vivid, with primary colors popping from the picture (donated BMX gear is another level of free production value and brilliantly employed). The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack is perfectly acceptable and audio options include a reflective and occasionally regret-tinged audio commentary by director Brian Trenchard-Smith. Trenchard-Smith and his collaborators, including Russell Hagg and actor James Lugton, appear in BMX Buddies, a making-of featurette (approx. 40 minutes) that fills in all of the background information without overstaying its welcome. Kidman's participation is limited to a vintage clip from the Aussie variety TV show Young Talent Time, plugging the product alongside host John Young.
For more information about BMX Bandits, visit Severin Films. To order BMX Bandits, go to TCM Shopping.
by Richard Harland Smith
![Bmx Bandits - Bmx Bandits - Nicole Kidman In 1983 Aussie Cult Movie](https://prod-images.tcm.com/img/film-participant-detail/Featured-Artilce_Placeholder.png)
BMX Bandits - BMX BANDITS - Nicole Kidman in 1983 Aussie Cult Movie
It is a credit to Severin Films, one of only a handful of boutique DVD companies still brokering in cult and niche titles, that
the Australian BMX Bandits (1983) would have had a home there even if its star were not a 15 year-old Nicole Kidman.
Founded in 2006, Severin's back catalogue is rich in vintage exploitation and erotica from all points of the compass, with key
releases including the late night TV perennial Horror Express (1972), featuring British fright kings Christopher Lee and
Peter Cushing in a Spanish mash-up of Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Murder on the Orient Express (1974),
Enzo G. Castellari's Euro-trash fan favorite The Inglorious Bastards (1978) starring Blaxploitation icon Fred Williamson
and Alejandro Jodordowsky's spooky, taboo-tamping Santa Sangre (1989), whose benighted protagonist is the serial killer
son of an armless circus queen. Severin's stock-in-trade encompasses the grotesque and the graphic, with subject matter at
times inclining towards pornography. Dedicated to serving a clientele who never felt at home at Blockbuster, Severin's
aesthetic is fearlessness personified, which makes the inclusion into their canon of the family-friendly BMX Bandits seem
like the ultimate perversion.
The project originated with Australian writer-director Russell Hagg, who wanted to make a kids' film after watching his own
children speed about on their bicycles. As the project passed into the hands of screenwriter Patrick Edgeworth and prospective
director Brian Trenchard-Smith (chosen by the producers on the strength of his 1982 film, Turkey Shoot, aka Escape
2000, a sci-fi riff on Richard Connell's oft-filmed The Most Dangerous Game), Water Rats (Hagg's original
title) morphed into BMX Bandits, due to the rising popularity of bicycle-motocross games, and its setting shifted from
Melbourne to Sydney. The project was adjusted to its ultimate shape with the casting of Sydney teenager Nicole Kidman.
Kidman's character had been conceived to offer feminine support to male leads Angelo D'Angelo and James Lugton but was
foregrounded during shooting in the face of her perceived star quality. Although her participation in the film gives video
store owners an incentive to offer BMX Bandits preferred placement on the "New Releases" shelves, the appearance of the
future Academy Award nominee is one of the film's lesser charms, with Kidman contributing a serviceable but hardly star-making
performance.
BMX Bandits strings the thinnest of plot lines between a handful of automobile vs. BMX bike chase scenes (one lasting 20
minutes!), telling the unlikely tale of a trio of Manly Beach teenagers who stumble upon a cache of two-way radios imported for
use in a payroll robbery. When the criminal gang's Cockney kingpin (Bryan Marshall, from The Long Good Friday)
identifies the two-wheeled tearaways as standing between him and a small fortune in ill-gotten gains, he dispatches dimwitted
underlings David Argue (the Gallipoli star receives top billing) and John Ley (Mad Max) to retrieve the
walkie-talkies by any means necessary. Adding free production value to the low budget affair is the use of such Sydney north
beach locations as the Long Reef Gold Club, Bronte's sprawling Waverly Cemetery, and the Warringah shopping mall (which
Trenchard-Smith had trashed in his 1976 film Death Cheaters) but the film's capital asset is its inexhaustibility, as the
pubescent protagonists evade their pursuers on tarmac, grass (at one point interrupting a rugby match), through warehouses and
at one point down the flume of an amusement park water slide. Much wheel well-level photography ensues, with professional stunt
drivers and helmeted BMX champs hogging the frame for huge chunks of the film's running time.
Severin Films' packaging parrots cult film aficionado Quentin Tarantino's assertion that "if we'd grown up in Australia, BMX
Bandits would have been our Goonies." The transfer is framed at the correct 2.35:1 OAR and anamorphically enhanced
for widescreen playback. The image is startlingly clear and chromatically vivid, with primary colors popping from the picture
(donated BMX gear is another level of free production value and brilliantly employed). The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack is
perfectly acceptable and audio options include a reflective and occasionally regret-tinged audio commentary by director Brian
Trenchard-Smith. Trenchard-Smith and his collaborators, including Russell Hagg and actor James Lugton, appear in BMX
Buddies, a making-of featurette (approx. 40 minutes) that fills in all of the background information without overstaying its
welcome. Kidman's participation is limited to a vintage clip from the Aussie variety TV show Young Talent Time, plugging
the product alongside host John Young.
For more information about BMX Bandits, visit Severin Films. To order BMX Bandits, go to
TCM
Shopping.
by Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1983
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1983