BMX Bandits, Brian Trencahrd-Smith (1983)

A children’s bublegum caper film with two-wheeled action in nearly every frame

Teenage mates, PJ, Goose and Judy (16-year-old Nicole Kidman in possibly her first film) are BMX fanatics who inadvertently cross a criminal gang. Not realising that the walkie talkies they have found are key to a forthcoming heist, they sell them to friends so as to raise funds to buy new bikes.

Much of the rest of this Australian film is taken up with the villains taking chase in a progressively smashed up muscle car while our three heroes pedal their single speed bicycles up ramps, down flumes, into shops and inevitably through a pavement cafe. Every film-chase cliché is rolled out, but it is good-natured fun. The goons are cartoonish and the police avuncular. One of the boys does steal a kiss from Kidman but it is immediately obvious that they are happier being mates than navigating the stormier waters of adult relationships.

BMX was a major, mainstream teen craze in 1983. The inaugural BMX world championships took place as this film was being made and a BMX bike enjoyed a starring role in the previous year’s E.T. For those who remember Mogoose M-1s and Diamondback Silver Streaks, BMX Bandits should provide a heady nostalgic rush. Yet despite its age, the film is not so creaky that children of today won’t enjoy the romp. And, shot almost entirely on location in Manly, a north Sydney suburb, it is a highly enticing advertisement for the city’s charms.

PS Oct 12