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15 Famous Kids with Bikes

This list is likely the only one to put Nicole Kidman in the company of Lori Loughlin.

The Kid with a Bik
Photo: IFC Films

Pedaling its way into theaters this weekend (and surely a lot of hearts too) is the Dardenne brothers’ beautiful and poetic The Kid with a Bike, whose red-shirted, redemption-bound lead, Thomas Doret, should be penciled onto your shortlist of Best Actors for 2012. They may not be as common as the boy-and-his-dog tale, but stories about kids and their bikes have long been hitting screens (as evidenced herein, the 1980s, in particular, had a bike-film free-for-all). So before you check out this new can’t-miss slice of cycling cinema, dig into our list, likely the only one to put Nicole Kidman in the company of Lori Loughlin.


E.T. The Extra Terrestrial

Henry Thomas in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)

It’s only one of the most iconic images in American film: Elliot (Henry Thomas) sailing across the moon on his bike, with little E.T. tucked into a crate strapped to the handlebars. This forest flight has been dubbed by some as cinema’s most magical moment, and Spielberg famously went on to incorporate the shot into his Amblin Entertainment logo. It’s bike riding immortalized, alright. Feel free to grab your Reese’s Pieces before clicking on.


Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

Paul Reubens in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

So this one doesn’t actually feature a kid, but try finding another adult who acts like Pee-Wee Herman. Co-written by Paul Reubens and the late Phil Hartman, this big-screen extension of Reubens’s stage act, The Pee-Wee Herman Show, had Time Burton in the director’s chair, and saw its singular eponymous hero scour the nation in search of his big red bicycle. A year later, the world was exposed to Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, and six years later, guests in a Sarasota porn theater were exposed to Reubens’s real pee-wee.


The Goonies

Sean Astin and friends in The Goonies (1985)

Determined to find One-Eyed Willie’s treasure and save their precious Goon-Dock homes, Mikey (Sean Astin) and his fellow Goonies have to first tie up big bro Brand (Josh Brolin) in his exercise equipment so they can high-tail it on their bikes. Forced to chase them, all Brand is left with is a tiny girl’s bike. Cue Cyndi Lauper!


BMX Bandits

Angelo D’Angelo, James Lugton, and Nicole Kidman in BMX Bandits (1983)

An Aussie kids’ film that proved ’80s bike hysteria had spread ‘round the globe, BMX Bandits features a trio of bike-riding kids who draw attention from police and a pack of thieves when they still the thieves’ walkie-talkies and thwart a planned robbery. Nicole Kidman was all of 16 when the film hit screens in Sydney, her Oscar-winning, Tom-Cruise-divorcing, country-singer-canoodling current self a mere twinkle in her eye.

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Napoleon Dynamite

Jon Heder and Efren Ramirez in Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

An empty high point in the world of modern indie quirk, Napoleon Dynamite scored a lot of uncomfortable laughs with its near-insufferable hero’s random acts of amusement, like his and Pedro’s pathetic attempt to ride a bike off of some “sweet jumps.” No need to kick him in the nuts, he’s got that covered himself.


Quicksilver

Kevin Bacon and company in Quicksilver (1986)

And on go the ’80s. Kevin Bacon’s Footloose follow-up, Quicksilver, reeks of its decade, and yet, it’s all so 2011: A young floor trader grows disenchanted with work and loses everything, so he takes a job as a bike messenger and finds release among the rabble. Amplifying Bacon’s “Six Degrees” power here are co-stars Jami Gertz, Laurence Fishburne, and Louie “Life with Louie” Anderson.


Better Off Dead

Demian Slade in Better Off Dead (1985)

John Cusack was the star of this suicide-laced teen comedy, but the character many viewers remember most is Demian Slade’s pushy paperboy, Johnny Gasparini, who goes to such extreme lengths to collect the money owed to him that he follows Cusack’s Lane Myer onto a ski slope in the film’s climax. “I want my two dollars!” Johnny demands, spawning a catchphrase that, these days, is kinda like what you’d yell after seeing a John Cusack movie.


Attack the Block

John Boyega and the gang in Attack the Block (2011)

The rare contemporary film to showcase bikes prominently, last year’s British genre mash-up Attack the Block harkens back, with transgressive grit, to the ’80s kids flicks on this list, pitting a crop of badass teens against an invading alien force. Gang leader Moses (John Boyega) and his cohorts mount bikes, motorbikes, and scooters as they protect their block from neon-toothed beasties.

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Rad

Bill Allen and Lori Loughlin in Rad (1986)

A joke of a film that birthed a rather sizable geek following, Rad was the penultimate directorial project for now-inactive stuntman Hal Needham, who also helmed Smokey and the Bandit, The Cannonball Run, and their sequels. A hallowed movie among BMX lovers, Rad follows an impassioned cyclist (Bill Allen) who chooses the Helltrack races over his SATs. It also boasts the presence of Aunt Becky herself, Lori Loughlin.


Cinema Paradiso

Salvatore Cascio in Cinema Paradiso (1988)

The widely-beloved Oscar winner is highly overrated, but one of its better scenes sees young Toto (Salvatore Cascio) walking home with the town’s censorship-happy priest before hopping onto a bike with Alfredo (Phillippe Noiret), his tragic father figure. It’s a metaphoric ride into destiny, as Toto, of course, becomes the projectionist’s successor at the titular movie house.


Tron: Legacy

Garrett Hedlund in Tron: Legacy (2010)

Shuttled into a video-game world to go after his mastermind father (Jeff Bridges), twentysomething Sam (Garrett Hedlund) proves surprisingly efficient in the ways of the Tron world (the Grid), including the steering of those sleek and speedy light cycles. Though a disappointingly shallow sequel, Tron: Legacy, as promised, still has style to burn, never more evident than when Sam’s light bike is leaving vivid trails amid a deadly race.


Revenge of the Nerds

Brian Tochi in Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

Brian Tochi certainly left his mark on the ’80s and early ’90s. In addition to appearing in the third and fourth Police Academy films, he voiced Leonardo in three of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies. Yet no Tochi character is more indelible than Toshiro Takashi from Revenge of the Nerds, who gains cheers of applause in a mostly offensive scene that sees him win a tricylce race while chugging beers (it’s the Greek Games, natch). Tochi pedals away while the soundtrack plays an Asian rendition of”A Bicycle Built for Two.”

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Die Hard with a Vengeance

Patrick Borriello in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)

Honestly, the best image to be found of Patrick Borriello’s foul-mouthed punk in Die Hard with a Vengenace is the one above (he’s the fuzzy screamer, Photoshopped in on the right). Bumping in to John McClane after ripping off a quickie mart, Borriello barks, “All the cops are into sumthin! It’s Christmas, you could steal city hall!” Gifted with an epiphany, McClane takes the kid’s bike, enduring a whole lot of curses as he rides.


Breaking Away

Dennis Christopher in Breaking Away (1979)

Of his Breaking Away quartet, which also featured Dennis Quaid, Jackie Earle Haley, and Daniel Stern, Dennis Christopher went on to be the least famous, but he held the spotlight in this coming-of-age crowd-pleaser, which casts him as a globally-minded super-cyclist who’s laps ahead of everyone else in his Indiana town. Known for such scenes as when the friends need to take turns peddling after Christopher’s character’s race injury, Breaking Away netted a screenplay Oscar for Steve Tesich, who also penned the Kevin Costner bike film American Flyers.


Bicycle Thieves

Enzo Staiola in Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Not even the Dardennes’ latest triumph can trump Vittorio de Sica’s sweeping masterpiece, the bicycle movie that any other will always be measured against. Still inspiring films as offbeat as Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy, Bicycle Thieves owes much to lead star Lamberto Maggiorani, but the pain of it all truly lies in the eyes of Enzo Staiola, whose character, the son of Maggiorani’s devastated searcher, witnesses all the desperate, loving, foolish, and fateful acts that are prompted by dire financial straits.

R. Kurt Osenlund

R. Kurt Osenlund is a creative director and account supervisor at Mark Allen & Co. He is the former editor of Out magazine.

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