''BMX Bandits'' (released as ''Short Wave'' in the United States) is a 1983 Australian crime comedy

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith and starring Nicole Kidman.

Plot

After a successful Sydney bank robbery, with the robbers wearing pig masks and wielding shotguns, the man in charge, "The Boss", plans a further and larger payroll robbery for two days later worth at least $1.5 million, hoping that he can trust his less-than-competent gang headed by Whitey and Moustache to do the job properly, with anyone who doesn't answering to him. Two young

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...

experts, P. J. and Goose, meet Judy, who is working as a trolley collector at the Warringah Mall during the school holidays in order to be able to buy her own BMX bike, and accidentally get Judy fired from her job when they crash into trolleys pushed away by the local "Creep". The three go out in Goose's dad's runabout on the harbour searching for cockles to sell in order to fix their own crashed bikes, as well as getting Judy her own, and stumble onto and steal a box of police-band walkie talkies that the

bank robber Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank Branch (banking), branch or Bank teller, tell ...

s were hoping to use to monitor on police traffic. After stealing the box, the kids pass Whitey and Moustache who are on their way in their high-powered motorboat to pick it up. Judy, P.J. and Goose sell the walkie-talkies to other kids in the area. The Bayside Police are able to hear the kids using the walkie talkies. Judy, P.J. and Goose are also unaware that the robbers know who stole the box. After they are spotted and chased late at night through a cemetery by Whitey and Moustache wearing monster masks (going formal, according to Whitey), they manage to escape. The next day, P.J. and Goose pick up their newly repaired bikes while Judy buys her bike. Judy is caught the next day by Whitey and Moustache while getting a second walkie talkie for The Creep, but escapes with the help of P.J. and Goose. The goons chase the Bandits in a cartoonish chase across various sites around

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, including a memorable escape down the

Manly Waterworks Manly Surf n Slide re-opened in December 2016 after spending over $150k to upgrade what was the former Manly Waterworks. The Manly Waterworks was a water park in Manly, New South Wales, Australia. It was operated jointly with the Mount Druitt ...

water slide A water slide (also referred to as a flume, or water chute) is a type of slide designed for warm-weather or indoor recreational use at water parks. Water slides differ in their riding method and therefore size. Some slides require riders to si ...

s, complete with

bikes. The trio are finally arrested but escape police custody and, with the help of the local kids, launch their own plan to foil the planned payroll robbery. Using the walkie-talkies, the Bandits pinpoint the meeting place for the robbers, then proceed to ambush and apprehend the robbers. The Boss, Whitey and Moustache escape in a removal truck with Judy as a hostage, with P.J. and Goose taking chase. They cause the truck to crash, with police soon arriving to arrest The Boss, Whitey and Moustache. The police build a BMX track as thanks for the capture. In its opening meeting, the BMX Bandits sweep the main awards.

Cast

* Nicole Kidman as Judy *Angelo D'Angelo as P.J. *James Lugton as Goose *

David Argue David J. Argue (born 1959) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as Snowy in ''Gallipoli'' as well as the lead role in the 1993 film ''Hercules Returns'' and Dicko in the 1983 film ''Razorback''. Filmography Films Television ...

as Whitey *John Ley as Moustache *

Bryan Marshall Bryan Marshall (19 May 1938 – 25 June 2019) was a British actor, with a number of major credits in film and television to his name, in both his native country and Australia. Early life Marshall was born in Battersea, south London. He was educ ...

as The Boss *Brian Sloman as The Creep *Peter Browne as Police Constable *Bill Brady as Police Sergeant *Linda Newton as Policewoman *Bob Hicks as Heavy #1 *Guy Norris as Heavy #2 *Chris Hession as Heavy #3 *Norman Hodges as The Drunk *Brian Best as Supermarket Manager *Ray Marshall as Foreman *Patrick Mansfield as Crane Operator *De Vuong as BMX Stunt Rider

Filming locations

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the entra ...

* Warringah Mall * Waverley Cemetery, Bronte *

Manly Oval Manly may refer to: * Manly, an adjective corresponding to man ** Masculinity, a set of attributes generally associated with boys and men Places Australia * Manly, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Manly Council, a former local government a ...

* The Corso * Manly Beach *

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

* Lane Cove Flour bombing scene * Hickeys lane bmx track, penrith in the end credits

Production

The film was originally going to be written and directed by

Russell Hagg Russell Hagg (born 1938) is an Australian designer and director. He studied architecture at Melbourne University before becoming a designer in British films, then worked for Crawford Productions as a writer and director.Andrew Pike and Ross Coop ...

, only it was going to be about nine-year old characters. He was unable to raise finance. The project passed to producer Tom Broadbridge who hired Hagg's frequent collaborator

Patrick Edgeworth Patrick Edgeworth (born 25 December 1932 in London) is an English stage and screenwriter. Early life Edgeworth grew up in England. In 1969, he arrived in Australia to be best man at the wedding of his pianist brother Ron and Judith Durham, f ...

to rewrite the script and make it about teenagers. Brian Trenchard-Smith was hired after the producers had been impressed by his handling of action in ''

Turkey Shoot A turkey shoot is an opportunity for an individual or a party to take advantage of a situation with a significant degree of ease. The term likely originates from a method of hunting wild turkeys in which the hunter, coming upon a flock, intention ...

''. He says the script was originally set in Melbourne but he persuaded them to re-set it in Sydney to take advantage of that city's locations. He set it on the northern beaches and wrote action sequences based on "my concept for the BMX action being putting BMX bikes where BMX bikes aren’t meant to be."Brian Kelly, "Interview: Genre film virtuoso Brian Trenchard-Smith discusses upcoming BMX BANDITS Blu-ray", ''Gordon and the Whale'' 11 March 2011
accessed 8 February 2013 The movie was shot over 41 days, a longer than normal shoot because of the labour restrictions caused by the fact many of the cast were under 16. Trenchard-Smith:

I wanted to capture the spirit of the Ealing comedies and British films of the '50s and '60s that were clearly aimed at children and delivered action and fun in a largely cartoonish way. If you look at the basic premise of the plot, the crooks clearly want to or intend to kill the children at some point, so how do you disguise that and make that palatable to an audience of kids and parents? You make the crooks buffoonish, the gang that couldn’t shoot straight, so that takes the curse off the underlying purpose.

Nicole Kidman sprained her ankle during filming. No female stunt double that looked like her could be found so her bike stunts were performed by an 18-year-old man in a wig.

Awards

Box office

Director Trenchard-Smith states during the Blu-ray commentary that ''BMX Bandits'' grossed more than $1 million in its first 6 weeks and was the 5th highest-grossing film in England for the year of its release. Kidman's performance led to her being cast in the TV series ''Five Mile Creek'' where she was directed by Trenchard-Smith in some episodes.

Critical reception

The film was released in the UK. ''The Guardian'' wrote: "there's a girl called Nicole Kidman who's rather good".

Home media

''BMX Bandits'' was released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in August 2010. The DVD is compatible with all region codes and includes special features such as the trailer and audio commentary with Brian Trenchard-Smith, Eric Trenchard-Smith & Chalet Trenchard-Smith. A bonus disc includes a photo gallery, press clippings, Nicole Kidman discussing the film on ''Young Talent Time'', and a featurette titled ''BMX Buddies'' with Brian Trenchard-Smith, Tom Broadbridge, Patrick Edgeworth, Russell Hagg and James Lugton. In 2013 region free DVD and Blu-ray was released as an updated version which includes all footage and bonus material from previous versions on one disc. A regular edition was released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in January 2012 without the bonus disc.

References in popular culture

American rock band

Wheatus Wheatus are an American rock band from Northport, New York, formed in 1995. They are known principally for their 2000 single "Teenage Dirtbag", which appeared in the films '' Loser'' and ''Bully'', as well as the HBO miniseries ''Generation Kil ...

has a song titled "BMX Bandits" on their album ''

Too Soon Monsoon ''Too Soon Monsoon'' is the third studio album released by American rock band Wheatus. It was released on October 18, 2005 in the United States and on October 24, 2005 in the United Kingdom by the band's own label, Montauk Mantis. The album is cur ...

''. The song has been dedicated to Nicole Kidman, and includes the lyrics "Hey Nicole" in the chorus. In the song's animated

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

, there is an animated caricature of Kidman. The show ''

That Mitchell and Webb Look ''That Mitchell and Webb Look'' is a British sketch comedy television show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb that ran from 2006 to 2010. Many of its characters and sketches were first featured in the duo's radio show ''That Mitchell and W ...

'' parodied the film in the recurrent adventures titled "Angel Summoner and BMX Bandit". The Scottish Indie-rock band BMX Bandits are named after the film.

References

External links

* *
''BMX Bandits''
at Oz Movies *
''BMX Bandits'' at the National Film and Sound Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bmx Bandits (Film) 1983 films 1980s action comedy films 1980s adventure comedy films 1980s action adventure films 1980s crime comedy films Australian action adventure films Australian crime comedy films 1980s English-language films Films directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith Cycling films Films set in Sydney Films shot in Australia BMX mass media Australian action comedy films Australian sports comedy films Teensploitation 1983 comedy films