10 Things to Know About 'BMX Bandits' (1984) Starring Nicole Kidman

If you're aware of BMX Bandits today it's because 15 year old Nicole Kidman got her big break playing one of three best friends who love riding BMX bikes together and accidentally thwarting bank robbers by stealing their walkie talkies.

That said, we should have known what BMX Bandits was in 1984 but we all missed out thanks to a distributor who didn't even use his own distribution company to distribute the movie he made and released the same year. More on that in our 10 Things to Know About BMX Bandits.

10 Local Showings of BMX Bandits in England Included BMX Bike Giveaways

Nothing to do with the movie, per se, but I was delighted to see that BMX was as big in the rest of the world as it was here in America where I, myself, was obsessed with BMX bikes. Showings in England included ticket giveaways and bike giveaways as part of the first screenings of BMX Bandits. You can try the puzzle yourself, it’s fun, find the names of the characters in word find puzzle above.

If only the American distributor of BMX Bandits had thought to market the movie by promoting BMX bikes, it might have become a hit.

9 Pom

Again, nothing related to the movie but, I have to thank Australian film critic, Neil Jillett, for teaching me Aussie slang that I didn’t know existed before. Referring to Bryan Marshall, the big bad of BMX Bandits, Jillett refers to his character as 'Pommy.'

"Pom" (or "Pommy") is a classic bit of Aussie slang for folks from the UK, specifically the English. It’s mostly used casually—sometimes with a bit of affection and other times as a light jab—and you’ll often hear it in the phrase "whingeing pom" when describing someone who loves to complain. It likely dates back to the early 1900s as rhyming slang, connecting "pomegranate" with "immigrant."

8 Tagline Fun

The poster tagline for BMX Bandits in America was:

“Thrills, Chills, Spills, Live the Power of the BMX Bandits.”

In England the tagline was:

“A High Flying Adventure”

Another English tagline

“See BMX Action! BMX Comedy, BMX Stunts!”

It’s utter nonsense but it’s fun utter nonsense.

7 Choc Tops

More Aussie lore with little to do with the movie, we’re having fun, just go with it. Do you know what Choc Tops are? We didn’t but thanks to an Aussie film critic, who for some reason wasn’t given a byline in the January 1st, 1984 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, we learned that Choc Tops were a popular hard chocolate over ice cream snack sold at movie theaters.

6 BMX Bandits was Director Brian Trenchard Smith’s Turkey Shoot

BMX Bandits was certainly a change of pace for director Brian Trenchard Smith after Turkey Shoot. Turkey Shoot was an R-Rated Sci-Fi adventure starring Steve Railsback and Olivia Hussey as innocent citizens caught in a future Australia version of The Most Dangerous Game as they are hunted across an island filled with danger by bloodthirsty hunters.

According to a conversation with Talkhouse:

“Back in 1983, some critics considered my career over after Turkey Shoot, it was so reviled by a humorless Australian media. Luckily, my next film was BMX Bandits with Nicole Kidman. Audiences and critics seemed to click with that one.” - Brian Trenchard Smith

5 Nicole Kidman’s Bike Double

None of the three young stars of BMX Bandits did their own stunts for the film and this presented a unique challenge for the filmmakers, finding a female BMX rider who could match Nicole Kidman’s height and body type believably. Unable to find one, an 18 year old boy was put under an orange wig to perform stunts as Judy, Kidman’s character.

4 Brian Trenchard Smith Claims A Lot of Credit for Nicole Kidman’s Career

In an appearance on the YouTube series, Trailers from Hell, director Brian Trenchard Smith claims that he predicted Nicole Kidman would be a huge star and cast her against the wishes of producers in BMX Bandits. He then beefed up her part, featured her more prominently in scenes, and after the film was over, helped arrange her follow-up work, a Disney series, Five Mile Creek. He then helped her get an agent and bragged to every reporter around that she’d be “Australia’s Audrey Hepburn.” He may be boastful, but is he wrong?

3 The Original Trailer Cut by Director Brian Trenchard Smith is Lost Media

In that same Trailers from Hell Video, Director Brian Trenchard Smith noted that the original trailer for BMX Bandits that he cut himself, is now lost. All that survives are a pair of TV commercials, cut from the same footage, but the full length trailer is a piece of Australian lost media.

2 BMX Bandits Was Successful Around the World but Not in America

It seems impossible, given the obsession with BMX bikes in the 80s, but BMX Bandits flopped in America. How did it fail? The premise is irresistible and the BMX craze was in full swing, especially in America? The problem was Charles Sellier. Comworld Pictures, just two years away from closing its doors, picked up the distribution rights for BMX Bandits and failed miserably to help it get to theaters and tell audiences it even existed.

Sellier, by the way, is best known for having directed Silent Night, Deadly Night, the controversial Christmas horror movie, released the same year as BMX Bandits, 1984, but distributed by Trimark Pictures and not Sellier’s own, far less successful distribution company.

1 Russell Crowe Once Used BMX Bandits to Prank Nicole Kidman

Nocole Kidman has never shied away from BMX Bandits. She was only 15 years old when she starred in the film and has shared only positive recollections of the film. One fun anecdote shared by Kidman came in 2018, when co-starring with longtime friend and countryman, Russell Crowe. While the movie, Boy Erased, was a serious drama, Crowe kept things light on set by pranking Nicole, having the crew show up for a day of shooting wearing BMX Bandits t-shirts.

No word if Nicole pranked him back but if she needs any ideas, she could consider looking into Russ Le Roq.