BMX Bandits *** (1983, David Argue, John Ley, Bryan Marshall) – Classic Movie Review 8804

BMX Bandits takes us back to the early Eighties BMX bike craze and a time when Nicole Kidman was a teenager. Where there’s a craze, there’s a movie and here is a bright but daft adventure from Down Under about a gang of youngsters on bikes (two BMX expert bikers and their friend Kidman) who discover a plan for a bank robbery after discovering a carton of walkie-talkies and set out to thwart the thieves.

Tailored for older children, director Brian Trenchard-Smith’s 1983 adventure crime drama BMX Bandits compensates for the lack of an original story with eager performances, impressive stuntwork and pretty scenery in New South Wales, Australia, and an appealing general air of amateur enthusiasm.

David Argue (as Whitey), John Ley (as Moustache) and Bryan Marshall (as The Boss) star. Judy, the girl in the supermarket, is future star Nicole Kidman, then 15. Also in the cast are Angelo D’Angelo, James Lugton, Brian Sloman, Bill Brady, Linda Newton and Peter Browne.

BMX Bandits is directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith, runs 92 minutes, is made by BMX Productions and Nilsen Premiere, is released by Filmways Australasian Distributors (1983), Comworld Pictures (1984) (US) and Rank Film Organization (1984) (UK), is written by Patrick Edgeworth, based on a screenplay by Russell Hagg, is shot by John Seale, is produced by Tom Broadbridge and Paul Davies, is scored by Colin Stead and Frank Strangio, is designed by Ross Major.

Broadbridge and Trenchard-Smith also collaborated on The Quest (1985), Jenny Kissed Me (1986), and Out of the Body (1989).

British actor Bryan Marshall died on 25 June 2019, aged 81. He began his acting career in Rasputin: The Mad Monk with Christopher Lee and Alfie (1966) with Michael Caine, followed by Hammer’s The Witches and Quatermass and the Pit. He played Commander Talbot in The Spy Who Loved Me and Councillor Harris in the crime film The Long Good Friday, emigrated to Australia in 1983 and starred in the Australian daytime soap Neighbours.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8804

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