Malvern Star SuperMax, Maxi and Speedwell Sting

While researching information for my '81 SuperMax, '83 Speedwell Sting and up-coming '79 5-Hole gusset builds, I got so sick of finding information then losing it again that I started copying images of bikes, parts and advertising material into a single place. To assist others, I have reproduced this information over the following pages .. most of the information can be found on OzBMX and BMXMuseum and I am not pretending that this informtion will replace either of these valuable resources.

Please browse through all of the material I have collected:

If you have any Malvern Star or Speedwell information or photos, please forward them to me and I will add them to the site. I am especially interested in brochures and advertisements as these are most valuable when restoring bikes back to their original glory.

BMX Bandits



BMX Bandits Film

BMX Bandits was released in Australia on the 29 December 1983 and featured Nicole Kidman in here first film. It was predominantly filmed in Manly with the grave yard scenes filmed in Waverley. After grossing $124,649 at the box office in Australia, the film was released around the world including Japan and France (see below).


BMX Bandits Film: Plot

After a successful Sydney bank robbery, the man in charge (The Boss) plans a further and larger robbery, hoping that he can trust his less-than-competent gang. Two young BMX experts, P.J. (Angelo D'Angelo) and Goose (James Lugton), and their friend Judy (Nicole Kidman), all apparently on school holidays, discover and steal a box of police-band walkie talkies that the bank robbers were hoping to use to monitor on police traffic.

With the police unable to track the stolen radios, and the kids unaware that the robbers are now tracking them, the kids are caught by the thieves, but escape. They are finally arrested but escape police custody to launch their own plan.

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BMX Bandits Film: Theatrical Posters

BMX Bandits was released around the world. Below is a collection of theatrical posters advertising the film - check out the Japanese poster!

   

     
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BMX Bandits Film: Video and DVD Covers

BMX Bandits was released around the world. Below is a collection of video and DVD covers including one from France and another from Norway - complete with the stamp from the video shop it was stolen from!

 
 
 

 
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BMX Bandits Film: Critical Review

A review of the film by Matt Shea in 2010:

Confused by the weird Nicole Kidman obsession exhibited in Australian men between the ages of 30 and 40? Then allow me to introduce you to BMX Bandits.

Australian tykes grew up in the 80s watching Kidman on Five Mile Creek, but it was her role in Bandits that would make her the apple of a whole generation’s eye. It now wouldn’t matter if she made ten Australias – she’d still be adored by a certain segment of the down under population.

And Kidman’s definitely the best thing about BMX Bandits: her luminous presence dominates the entire film. But to reduce this 1983 kid’s flick to an exercise in Nicole appreciation would be doing it a disservice. BMX Bandits is loopy and kooky, driven by a whole series of unlikely plot points, and happens to be the proud patron of the most laughable foley work in film history, but to chastise too much what is essentially a candy cane kids’ flick would probably be a little churlish.

To a different generation it might be hard to understand the mid-eighties obsession with BMXing, but E.T.’s infamously awesome chase scene galvanised a craze that would spread throughout the western world. Building a whole film around the budding sport was therefore an obvious way to cash in on the zeitgeist.


What wouldn’t have seemed so obvious was the choice of Brian Trenchard-Smith as director. The exploitation veteran had made his name with lurid, bloodthirsty sub-epics such as The Man From Hong Kong and Turkey Shoot; handing him a kid’s film seemed a little like setting the cat among the pigeons.

But it was a move that worked. Trenchard-Smith has his own inimitable style and he brought it to bear on BMX Bandits. The film pops with primary colour and crisp anamorphic style, famed DOP John Seale making magic out of some meagre resources. Trenchard-Smith proved a skilful communicator with his young cast too, drawing decent performances from the 15-year-old Kidman as well as co-stars Angelo D’Angelo and James Lugton.

Not that there’s too much performing to be done. BMX Bandits is very much an action-orientated picture, one chase scene lasting about a quarter of the running time. What little plot there is centres on PJ (D’Angelo), Goose (Lugton) and Judy’s (Kidman) run in with a bunch of organised criminals, headed up by The Boss (Bryan Marshall).

The Boss is planning on a major operation, but it depends on the clandestine delivery of some high-grade walkie-talkies. When PJ, Goose and Judy stumble upon the stash of walkies, they sell them to finance the replacement of their recently totalled BMX bikes. Little do they know that The Boss’s cronies are already on their trail, and will stop at nothing to get their precious cargo back.


Cue up the banter, chases and a whole lot of stunts – some lame, some bodacious, all unlikely – and you have BMX Bandits. Who cares that the baddies would be better off simply buying another stash of walkie-talkies – logic has no place in the world of this briskly entertaining yarn.

Trenchard-Smith was supposedly hired for his competency with action, and he makes that skill count with Bandits. Besides the ridiculously long chase that fills out the third quarter – which includes our heroes and heroine riding their bikes down a waterslide (rad!) – the director also stages a fantastic graveyard sequence. At this point things perhaps veer a little too close to exploitation, with a muddied Kidman finding herself trapped in an open grave with a rat, but the combination of suspense and humour nicely encapsulates what BMX Bandits is all about.

Other elements of the film have not aged so well. The filmmakers sometimes seem to forget that this is a kid’s picture, lurching into bawdier territory than they really should, and the soundtrack is abysmal, its plasticky synth-pop stylings drilling themselves deep into your brain. Indeed, those returning to the film may be disappointed that it’s not quite as dynamic as they perhaps remembered.

But as a piece of kids’ entertainment, BMX Bandits holds up well. If nothing else, it features a healthily headstrong female character who outshines her sturdy male counterparts. The closest plenty of modern children get to BMXing would be through a Playstation of Xbox, but BMX Bandits’ appeal is pretty timeless, and its release on DVD comes just in time for the original fans to show it to their kids.

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BMX Bandits Book

This BMX Bandits book was published in 1984 by Ashton Scholastic. It's 56 pages is essentially comprised of photos from the film captioned with a brief outline of the story's (admittedly) simple plot. Despite, this film Nicole Kidman went on to be a Hollywood star and has probably since forgotten the film or at least dropped it off her résumé.



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YouTube Videos

You can find the entire BMX Bandits film on YouTube as well as these little gems ..

Official trailer for Bmx Bandits.

Interview with Nicole Kidman.

Australian Advertisement.

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Australian BMX News Dec '83 / Jan '84

A special thanks to Johnny Ringo for these scans from the December '83 / January '84 edition of Australian BMX News. The article details the plot and wraps up with talk of a sequel in which kids travel all over the world racing in BMX events and getting in more trouble. If you a having trouble reading the text click here.

Johnny Ringo hosts a site devoted to the preservation and sharing of old school BMX magazines - appropriately named oldschoolmags.com. Like this site, he relies on donations of magazines or good quality scans from other like-minded people to complete the collection.
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Le gang des BMX

The July '84 edition of the French BMX magazine Bicross featured a review of the 1983 Australian film, The BMX Bandits. From IMDB .. Two BMX expert bikers and a friend of theirs (Kidman) become entangled with a group of bank robbers after discovering a carton of walkie-talkies.
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BMX Bandits Replicas

Nicole's character Judy had a very distinctive SuperMax which just screams 1980s and is a favourite build of many SuperMax fans. The original bike - a Series II SuperMax - was fitted with gold anodised accessories, OPC Takagi cranks and chain guard, Win Alps 'V' Bars, yellow Tuffs, yellow SuperMax pads and a Mongoose stem pad (!).



OzBMXBandit - the name says it all! His BMX Bandits SuperMax shows incredible attention to detail from the beautifully annodised Takagi chainring guard through to the original flick bell.

    

Another BMX Bandits build by OzBMXBandit - he loves 'em. This one is still a WIP and you can follow the build here.


This is one of my bikes. Originally fitted with yellow Tuffs, I swapped them out and fitted Arayas laced to gold hubs and nipples. Overall, the bike is a lot more subtle than the original.. 		   

Not just another BMX Bandits bike - Two Hip's Series II SuperMax is nearly all original from the Alps Bars, Nitto MX2 Stem, Tange Forks, Shimano Tourney brakes right down to the NOS pad set.

'8? Malvern Star SuperMax Series II

David's BMX Bandit replica is a nice blend of original, NOS, restored and new parts. The frame was powder-coated before being fitted with some of Lixy's decals and fitted to original Tange TRX forks. A number of parts were re-anno'd by Benny at Strike a Shine including the WIN handlebars, Tange seat clamp and Takagi Chain guard.

           
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Extra Info / Links

   OldSchoolMags.com  Have you ever wished that you could go back in time to the late 70's and early 80's when you could walk into a newsagency and see the latest issues of BMX Action, BMX Plus, Super BMX and Freestylin' in the racks as crisp and clean as the day they were printed? If you said yes to any of these questions, this is the site for you ..

   BMX Works  This site has everything you will ever need to restore an old school bmx from loose parts - nuts, bolts and bearings - through to complete brake sets, cranks sets and finishing parts, such as pad sets and decals.

   Madman's BMX Painting Services  Pete's work is second to none. I have two frames painted by him - a Hotfoot Freestyle in white and a Hotfoot 24" Cruiser in Hazard Yellow - and both have come out beautifully. Pete can also handle the stripping of paint and chrome and other prep work.

   Re-Rides  Sydney Australia based BMX restoration and photography. Rebuilding retro BMX bikes from 80's old-school, 90's mid-school and 00's new-school era's.

   SDBMX  SDBMX sells a distinctive range of cast alloy BMX rims that will finish of any old-school, mid-school or even new-school build. Styles include the Blizzard, Cyclone, Hurricane, Tornado and Typhoon.

Blizzard Cyclone Hurricane Tornado Typhoon

   Vintage Mongoose  Anyone who is interested in Mongooses (Mongeese?) has probably already found this site. When I was restoring my Motomag, I found this site invaluable for information and reproductions decals and grips. Warren, who is behind this site, is a local who is passionate - no obsessive - about the Mongoose brand and it shows.